THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
FRANK  J.  KLINGBERG 


Fna^JL  %  h 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/advancedhistoryoOOtoutiala 


AN  ADVANCED  HISTOEY  OF 
GEEAT  BEITAIN 


An  Elementary  History  of  England 

With  88  Illustrations,  Tables,  Maps,  and  Plans. 

BY 

T.   F.   TOUT,   M.A., 

Professor  of  Mediaeval  and  Modern  History  in  the 

University  of  Manchester,  Fellow  of  the  British  Academy, 

AND 

JAMES  SULLIVAN,   Ph.D., 

Principal  of  the  Boys'  High  School,  Brooklyn, 

New  York. 


An  Atlas  of  English  History 

EDITED    BY 

SAMUEL    RAWSON    GARDINER,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 
With  66  Maps  and  22  Plans  of  Battles,  etc. 


LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO.,  NEW  YORK. 


AN  ADVANCED  HISTOKY 
OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 

FROM    THE    EARLIEST    TIMES    TO    19ia 


WITH  63  MAPS  AND  PLANS 


By  T.   F.    TOUT,  M.A.,  F.B.A. 

PBOPESSOB   OP   HISTORY    AND   DIRECTOR  OP   ADVANCED   STUDY 

IN   HISTORY   IN   THE    UNIVERSITY   OP   MANCHESTER 

FELLOW  OF  THE    BRITISH   ACADEMY 


NEW  IMPRESSION 
REISSUE 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  AND   30th   STREET,   NEW   YORK 
LONDON,   BOMBAY,  CALCUTTA,   AND   MADRAS 

1920 
All  rights  ruerotd 


5 

n 


College 
Library 


DA 
30 
T<oH 


CONTENTS 


List  of  Bibliogbaphies 

List  of  Maps  and  Plans 

List  of  Genealogical  Tables 

Table  of  Kings  and  Queens  . 

List  of  the  Chief  Ministbies  since  1689 

Index         ..... 


BOOK   I 

DATE 

Up  to  1066.      BRITAIN    BEFORE   THE  NORMAN 
CONQUEST  . 


FAGK 
XXXVI 

xxxvii 

xxxix 

xl 

764-765 
767 


1-81 


Up  to  55  B.C. 


Chapter  I. 
Britain 


Prehistoric  and  Celtic 


1  330  B.C. 


The  Palaeolithic  Age 

The  Neolithic  Age    . 

The  Iberians 

The  Celts      . 

The  Bronze  and  Iron  Ages 

The  Voyage  of  Pytheas 


55  B.C. -449  A.D.    Chapter  II.    Roman  Britain 

55-54  B.C.     Julius  Caesar's  Invasions  of  Britain 
43-85  A.D.     The  Roman  Conquest  of  Britain 
85-410.     Roman  Rule  in  Britain 
78-85.     Julius  Agricola 

The  Two  Roman  Walls 
Roman  divisions  of  Britain . 
The  garrison  and  the  roads 
Roman  Civilisation  . 
The  Romano-British  Church 
Decay  of  the  Roman  Power 
The  Barbarian  Invasions 
410.     End  of  the  Roman  Power  in  Britain 
410-449.     The  Picts,  Scots,  and  Saxons 

Permanent  results  of  Roman  Rule  in  Britain 


13271C2 


1-5 

1 

1 
2 

2-3 
3 

4-5 

6-15 

6.7 

7-9 
9-14 

9 
9-10 
10 
11 
11 
12 
12 
14 
14 
15 
15 


viii 


CONTENTS 


449-607.     Chapter  III.    The  English  Conquest  of 
Southern  Britain  . 

The  Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Angles 

The  beginnings  of  England 

The  Jutish  Settlements 

The  Saxon  Settlements 

The  Anglian  Settlements 

The  fate  of  the  Britons 

The  Welsh    . 

The  beginnings  of  Scotland 

Conversion  of  the  Picts  and  Scots 

Why  England  became  the  strongest 


597-821.  Chapter  IV.  The  Early  Overlordships 
and  the  Conversion  of  the  English  to 
Christianity  . 

The  first  steps  toward  English  Unity 
The  Heptarchy 
The  first  English  Overlords 
The  Celtic  Church    . 
Pope  Gregory  the  Great 
597.     The  Landing  of  Augustine  . 

The  Conversion  of  Kent  and  Essex 
627.     The  Conversion  of  Edwin    . 
627-685.     The  Northumbrian  Overlordship    . 

Aidan  and  the  Scottish  Mission 
626-655.    Penda  of  Mercia 

Conversion  of  the  rest  of  England  . 
Dispute  between    the    Roman    and    the  Celtic 
Churches  .... 
664.     Synod  of  Whitby     . 
668-690.    The  work  of  Theodore  of  Tarsus     . 
716-821.     The  Overlordship  of  Mercia 


802-899. 


802-839. 

839-858. 

858-899. 

878. 
886. 


Chapter  V.    The  West  Saxon  Overlord 
ship  and  the  Danish  Invasions  . 

The  rise  of  Wessex    . 

The  Reign  of  Egbert 

Beginnings  of  the  Danish  Invasions 

The  Reign  of  Ethelwulf 

The  Norse  Migrations 

The  Sons  of  Ethelwulf 

Settlements  in  England  and  the  continent 

Wessex  saved  by  Alfred 

Alfred  and  Guthrum's  Peace 

The  Dane  law  . 

West  Saxon  Supremacy  under  Alfred 

Alfred's  Reforms 


CONTENTS 


IX 


899-978.  Chapter  VI.  The  Successors  of  Alfred 
and  the  Beginnings  of  the  English 
Monarchy     ..... 

899-924.     Edward  the  Elder,  the  first  King  of  the  English 

The  sons  of  Edward  the  Elder 
924-940.     Athelstan       . 

937.     The  Battle  of  Brunanburh  . 
940-946.     Edmund  the  Magnificent     . 
946-955.     Reign  of  Edred 
955-975.     The  Reigns  of  Edwy  and  Edgar 

Archbishop  Dunstan 
975-978.     The  Reign  of  Edward  the  Martyr 


'50-56 


978-1042.    Chapter  VII.   The  Decline  of  the  English 
Kingdom  and  the  Danish  Conquest 

978-1016.     Reign  of  Ethelred,  the  Unready 
Renewal  of  Danish  Invasions 
1002.     The  Massacre  of  St.  Brice's  Day      . 
1013.     The  Invasion  of  Swegen 
1016.     The  Struggle  of  Cnut  and  Edmund  Ironside 
1017-1035.     Cnut,  King  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  England 

The  Great  Earldoms 
1035-1042.     Reigns  of  the  Sons  of  Cnut  . 


1042-1066.    Chapter  VIII.    The  Reigns  of  Edward 
the  Confessor  and  Harold 

1042.     Accession  of  Edward  the  Confessor 

Normandy  and  the  Normans 

The  House  of  Godwin 

Harold,  Earl  of  the  West  Saxons    . 
1066.     The  Death  of  Edward  the  Confessor 

Harold  made  King    . 

Harold  defeats  Harold  Hardrada     . 

Landing  of  William  of  Normandy  . 

Battle  of  Hastings    . 


^49-1066.    Chapter  IX.    English  Life  before  the 
Norman  Conquest  . 


Agriculture  and  land  tenure 

Thegns,  Ceorls,  and  Theows 

Towns 

Houses 

Food  and  Drink 

Architecture  . 

Laws  . 

The  Shires     . 


CONTENTS 


Hundreds  and  Townships    .            .           • 

77 

Law  Courts    ..... 

77 

The  King's  Officers   .... 
Frithborh  and  Tithing 

78 

79 

The  King       ..... 

79 

The  Witenagemot     .... 

79 

The  Church  ..... 

79 

Language  and  Literature     .            .            . 

80 

Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 

Period        ...... 

80-81 

BOOK   II 

1066-1215.     THE  NORMAN  AND  ANGEVIN  KINGS  82-158 

1066-1087.    Chapter  I.    William  I.  the  Conqueror 

82-93 

1066-1071.     The  Norman  Conquest 

83 

1071.     Hereward  subdued   . 

84 

The  Establishment  of  Feudalism   . 

85 

William  and  the  Norman  Barons  . 

86 

The  Palatine  Earldoms       .... 

87 

The  Forests  ..... 

87 

1075.     The  Baronial  Bevolt 

87 

1079.     Revolt  of  Robert  suppressed 

88 

William  and  the  English    . 

88-89 

1086.     The  Domesday  Book 

89 

1086.     The  Oath  at  Salisbury 

90 

The  Normans  and  the  Church 

90-92 

William  as  overlord  of  Britain 

91-92 

Foreign  Policy  of  William  .           ... 

93 

1087-1100.    Chapter  IL    William  II.  Rufus  . 

94-101 

The  Sons  of  William  the  Conqueror 

94-95 

1088.     Baronial  Revolt        .... 

95 

1095.     Revolt  of  Robert  Mowbray . 

95 

Ranulf  Flambard     .            . 

96 

1093.     Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury 

97 

William  11.  and  Anselm 

97-99 

William  11.,  Scotland  and  Wales    . 

99 

1092.     Conquest  of  Cumberland 

99 

William  n."  and  Normandy 

IOO-IOI 

1095.     The  First  Crusade    .... 

100 

1100.     Death  of  Rufus         .... 

IOI 

1100-1135.    Chapter  III.    Henry  I. 

102-110 

Early  Measures  of  Henry  1. 

102-103 

Henry  1.  and  the  Normans 

103-104 

1101.     Robert's  revolt 

103 

CONTENTS 


XI 


DATE 

1102. 

Fall  of  Robert  of  Belleme   .... 

FAGR 
I03 

1106. 

Battle  of  Tinchebray            .            .            .            . 

IO4 

1103-1107. 

Quarrel  of  Henry  and  Anselm         .            . 

IO4-IOS 

Henry  i.  Scotland  and  Wales 

IOC 

Henry  and  Louis  vi.            .            .            .            . 

107 

Roger  of  Salisbury  and  the  Administrative  System 

I07 

1120. 

The  Loss  of  the  White  Ship 

IO8 

Normandy  and  Anjou          .... 

IO8 

1135. 

Death  of  Henry  i.     .            .            .            . 

I09 

1135-1154.    Chapter  IV.    Stephen  of  Blois     . 

Ill-US 

1135. 

Accession  of  Stephen 

III 

1138. 

Battle  of  the  Standard         .... 

112 

Beginnings  of  Civil  War      .... 

II2-II3 

The  Rivalry  of  Stephen  and  Matilda 

"3 

Desolation  of  England         .... 

"3 

Geoffrey  of  Mandeville        .... 

114 

1141. 

The  Battle  of  Lincoln          .... 

114 

1153. 

The  Treaty  of  Wallingford  . 

"5 

1154. 

The  Death  of  Stephen          .... 

"5 

1154-1189.    Chapter  V.    Henry  II.  of  Anjou  . 

1 16-130 

Character  of  Henry  n. 

116 

The  Restoration  of  Order    .... 

116-117 

Thomas  Becket         ..... 

117-118 

1164. 

The  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  and  the  quarrel  of 

Henry  and  Becket            .... 

1 19-120 

1170. 

Murder  of  Becket     ..... 
Period  of  Amalgamation  between  Normans  and 

120-121 

English      ...... 

122 

1166. 

Henry's  Reforms.     The  Assize  of  Clarendon 

123 

1176. 

The  Assize  of  Northampton 

123 

The  Grand  Assize     ..... 

123 

1181. 

The  Assize  of  Arms  ..... 

124 

1184. 

The  Assize  of  Woodstock 

124 

Henry  n.,  Wales  and  Scotland 

124-125 

The  Norman  Conquest  of  Ireland  . 

"5 

The  Angevin  Empire            .            .          ~T~~ 

126 

Henry  n.  and  his  family     .... 

127 

1159. 

The  War  of  Toulouse            .... 

127 

The  Wars  of  1173  and  1174 

127-129 

Henry's  Foreign  Alliances 

129 

Rebellions  of  his  Sons          ./ 

129 

1189. 

Henry's  Death         ..... 

130 

1189-1199.    Chapter  VI.    Richard  I.  Cceur  de  Lion 

131-136 

Character  of  Richard  i.                    , 

131 

1189. 

Richard  and  the  Third  Crusade 

131-133 

Richard's  Captivity  in  Germany    . 

133 

Xll 


CONTENTS 


DATE 

1189-1194.     England  during  Richard's  Absence 
1194-1199.     England  from  1194-1199     . 
1199.     Richard's  last  Wars  and  Death 

1199-1216.    Chapter  VII.    John  Lackland      . 

Accession  and  Character  of  John    . 
Arthur  of  Brittany  .... 
The  Loss  of  Normandy  and  Anjou  . 

1214.  Battles  of  La  Roche  au  Moine  and  Bouvines 
1205.     The  Disputed  Election  at  Canterbury 

1207.  Appointment  of  Langton     . 
Quarrel  of  John  and  Innocent  ni.  . 

1208.  The  Interdict  .... 

1209.  The  Excommunication 
1213.    John  becomes  the  Pope's  Vassal     . 

1213-1215.     Quarrel  between  John  and  his  Barons 

1215.  The  Great  Charter    .... 
Renewal  of  the  War  of  King  and  Barons  . 

1216.  Death  of  John  .... 

1066-1216.    Chapter  VIII.    Feudal  Britain    . 

The  Importance  of  the  Norman  Conquest 
Britain  and  the  Continent  .  .  . 

The  King  and  the  Great  Council     . 
Local  Government    .... 
Earls,  Barons,  and  Knights 
The  Manorial  System  .  .  . 

Towns  and  Trade 
Fashions  of  Living 
Food  and  Dress 
Norman  Castles 
Norman  Churches 

The  Beginnings  of  Gothic  Architecture 
New  Monastic  Movements  . 
Twelfth-Century  Renaissance 
Latin  Literature 
English  and  French  Literature 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 
Period       .... 


PAGE 

134 

134-135 

135 

I37-H5 

137 

138 
139 

139-140 

140 

141 

141 

142 

142 

143 
143-144 

144 

145 

145 

146-156 

146 
147 
147 
148 
148 
149 
150 
151 
151 
152 
153 
153 
154 
155 
155 
156 

158 


BOOK   III 

1216-1399.     THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    ENG- 
LISH  NATION    ....     159-253 

1216-1272.    Chapter  I.    Henry  III.        .         .  .    I59.IT7 

1216.     Accession  of  Henry  in.         .  .  .  .  159 

1216-1217.     Conflict  between  William  Marshall  and  Louis  of 

France     ,  .  .  .  .     159-160 


CONTENTS 


Xlll 


DATE 

1217. 
1216-1219. 
1219-1232. 
1232-1234. 
1234-1258. 


1248-1252. 


1258. 

1259. 
1259-1263. 

1264. 

1264. 
1264-1265. 

1265. 

1265. 

1265. 
1265-1267. 

1267. 
1267-1272. 


The  Battle  of  Lincoln  and  the  Treaty  of  Lambeth 

The  Bule  of  William  Marshall 

The  Rule  of  Hubert  de  Burgh 

The  Rule  of  Peter  des  Roches 

The  Personal  Rule  of  Henry 

The  Alien  Invasion — Provencals,  Savoyards  and 

Romans  ..... 
Edmund  Rich  and  Robert  Grosseteste 
Henry's  Foreign  Failures     . 
The  Poitevins  in  England    . 
Rise  of  the  Principality  of  North  Wales    . 
Simon  of  Montfort  in  Gascony 
Edmund,  King  of  Sicily;  and  Richard,  King  of 

the  Romans       .... 
Political  Retrogression  and  National  Progress 
The  Mad  Parliament  , 

The  Provisions  of  Oxford     . 
The  Treaty  of  Paris  .  .  .  . 

The  Beginning  of  the  Barons'  War 
The  Mise  of  Amiens 
The  Battle  of  Lewes 
The  Rule  of  Earl  Simon 
The  Parliament  of  1265 
The  Revolt  of  the  Marchers 
The  Battle  of  Evesham 
The  Royalist  Restoration     . 
The  Treaty  of  Shrewsbury   . 
The  End  of  the  Reign 


1272-1307.    Chapter  II.    Edward  I. 


1272-1274. 

1277. 
1282-1283. 

1284. 
1274-1290. 
1289-1290. 

1286-1290. 
1290-1292. 

1292. 
1259-1293. 
1293-1295. 

1295. 

1296. 

1297. 
1297. 
1297. 
1298. 


Character  and  Policy  of  Edward  I. . 
The  Government  during  Edward's  Absence 
The  First  Welsh  War 
The  Conquest  of  the  Principality    . 
Settlement  of  the  Principality 
Edward's  Legislation 

Trials  of  the  Judges  and  Expulsion  of  the  Jews 
Scotland  under  Alexander  hi. 
The  Maid  of  Norway 
The  Scottish  Claimants 
Accession  of  John  Balliol     . 
England  and  France 
The  French  and  Scottish  Wars 
The  Model  Parliament         .  ««. 

The  Conquest  of  Scotland    . 
Clerical  Opposition  under  Winchelsea 
Baronial  Opposition  under  Norfolk  and  Hereford 
Confirmatio  Cartarum         .  .  . 

Scottish  Rising  under  Wallace 
Battle  of  Falkirk      .... 
Edward's  Reconciliation  with    France   and  the 
Church   ...... 


PAOR 

160 
160 
160-161 
161 
162 

162-164 
164 
165 
165 
166 
166 

167 
167 
168 
168 
169 
169 
171 
172 
172 
173 
174 
175 

176 
176-177 

•178-197 

178 
179 
179 
181 
182 

182-185 
185 

185-186 
187 
188 
188 

1 89-19 1 

190-191 
191 
192 
192 
193 
193 

193-194 
194 

194 


XIV 


CONTENTS 


Reconciliation  with  the  Barons 
1303-1305.     The  Second  Conquest  of  Scotland 

1306.  Rising  of  Robert  Bruce 

1307.  Death  of  Edward  i.  . 


PAGE 

196 

196 

196-197 


1307-1327.    Chapter  III.    Edward  II.  of  Carnarvon  .    198-204 


1307-1309.     Edward  n.  and  Gaveston     . 

1310-1311.    The  Ordinances  and  the  Lords  Ordainers  . 

1312.     The  Murder  of  Gaveston 
1307-1314.     Robert  Bruce  conquers  Scotland    . 
1314.     The  Battle  of  Bannockburn 

Thomas  of  Lancaster 
1322.     The  Battle  of  Boroughbridge  and  the  Parliament 

of  York 

1322-1326.     The  Rule  of  the  Despensers 

Isabella  and  Mortimer 
1326-1327.     The  Fall  of  Edward  n. 


198-199 

199 

199 

200 

200-201 

201-202 

202 
202 
203 
203 


1327-1377.    Chapter  IV.    Edward  III.  . 


1327-1330. 
1328. 
1328. 


1333. 


1339-1340. 
1340. 

1346. 

1346. 

1346-1347. 

1348-1349. 
1355-1356. 

2330. 

1367. 

1369. 
1369-1377. 

1351. 
1351-1353. 


The  Rule  of  Isabella  and  Mortimer 

Treaty  of  Northampton 

Accession  of  Philip  vi.  in  France    . 

Character  and  Policy  of  Edward  in. 

David  Bruce  and  Edward  Balliol   . 

Battle  of  Halidon  Hill 

David  finally  established  in  Scotland 

Causes  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War 

Chief  Features  of  the  Struggle 

The  Netherlandish  Campaigns 

The  Battle  of  Sluys  .        '     . 

War  of  the  Breton  Succession 

The  Invasion  of  Normandy 

The  Battle  of  Crecy  . 

Calais,  Auberoche,  Neville's  Cross,  and  La  Roche 

Derien 
The  Black  Death      . 
The  Black  Prince  in  Aquitaine 
The  Battle  of  Poitiers 
The  Treaties  of  Bretigni  and  Calais 
The  Civil  War  in  Castile     . 
The  Battle  of  Najera 
The  Revolt  of  Aquitaine 
Fall  of  the  English  Power  in  France 
The  Statute  of  Labourers     . 
Anti-Papal  Legislation 
Edward  in.  and  his  Parliaments    . 
Edward's  Family  Settlement 
The  Court  and  Constitutional  Parties 


205-227 

205-208 
205 
206 
208 

208-209 
209 
209 

210-211 
212 
212 
212 
213 
214 

214-215 

216 
216 
217 
217-218 
218-219 
219 
221 
221 
222 
223 
223 
224 
225 
226 


CONTENTS 


XV 


»ATE 

1376.  The  Good  Parliament 
1376-1377.  John  of  Gaunt  and  John  Wycliffe  . 

1377.  Death  of  Edward  in. 


PAOB 
226 
227 
227 


1377-1399.    Chapter  V.    Richard  II.  of  Bordeaux    .    228-237 


1377-1381. 
1378. 


1381. 


1386-1388. 
1388. 
1396. 
1397. 
1398. 
1399. 


The  Rule  of  John  of  Gaunt 

The  Papal  Schism    .... 

The  Teaching  of  Wycliffe     . 

Causes  of  the  Peasants'  Revolt 

The  Peasants'  Revolt  and  its  Suppression 

The    Baronial     Opposition     and      Thomas     of, 

Gloucester  .... 

The  Attack  on  and  Defeat  of  the  Courtiers 
The  Merciless  Parliament  and  the  Lords  Appellant 
The  Great  Truce  and  the  French  Marriage 
The  Royalist  Reaction 
The  Banishment  of  Norfolk  and  Hereford 
The  Lancastrian  Revolution 
The  Deposition  of  Richard  n. 


228 
229 
229 
229  230 
231 

232 
233 
234 
235 
235 
236 
236-237 
237 


1216-1399.    Chapter  VI.    Britain  in  the  Thirteenth 

and  Fourteenth  Centuries .       .         .    238-253 


Mediaeval  Civilization 

The  King       .... 

The  Parliament  of  the  Three  Estates 

Convocation  .... 

The  House  of  Lords 

The  House  of  Commons 

The  King's  Council  and  the  Law  Courts 

The  Church  and  the  Papacy 

St.  Francis  and  the  Mendicant  Friars 

The  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  in  England 

The  Universities 

Gothic  Architecture 

The  Concentric  Castle 

Arms  and  Armour    . 

Chivalry  and  the  Orders  of  Knighthood 

Cosmopolitan  and  National  Ideas  . 

Latin  Literature.     Matthew  Paris 

French  Literature.     John  Froissart 

English  Literature.     Geoffrey  Chaucer 

William  Langland   . 

John  Wycliffe   and  the  Beginning    of    Modern 

English  Prose 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 

Period   .     .     .     . 


238 
238 
239 
239 
239 
240 
241 
242 
242-243 

244 
244-245 

245-247 
247 
248 

249 
249 
250 

251 

251-252 
252 

252-253 
253 


XVI 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  IV 

DATE 

1399-1485.     LANCASTER  AND  YORK 
1399-1413.    Chapter!     Henry  IV. 

1399.     The  Constitutional  Revolution 

The  Ecclesiastical  Reaction 

Henry  iv.'s  Character  and  Difficulties        ; 

Richard  n.'s  Death  .... 

Owen  Glendower      .... 
1403.     Revolt  of  the  Percies 

Gradual  Collapse  of  the  Risings      . 

Henry  XV.  and  France 

The  Beauforts  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 

1413-1422.    Chapter  II.    Henry  V. 

Early  Measures  of  Henry  V. 

1414.  Oldcastle  and  the  Lollard  Rising   . 
Renewal  of  the  Claim  to  the  French  Throne 

1415.  First  Expedition — Harfleur,  Agincourt 
1415.     The  Council  of  Constance    . 

1417-1419.  The  Conquest  of  Normandy 

1420.  The  Treaty  of  Troyes 

1421.  Battle  of  Beauge       .... 

1422.  Third  Expedition.     Death  of  Henry 

1422-1461.    Chapter  III.    Henry  VI.     . 

1422. 
1422-1428. 
1422-1429. 

1428. 

1429. 
1431. 

1435. 

1444-1445. 

1447. 
1449-1451. 

1453. 

1450. 
1450. 

1450-1455. 


Regency  of  Bedford  Established 

Bedford's  Work  in  France  . 

Gloucester  as  Protector  of  England 

The  Siege  of  Orleans 

The  Mission  of  Joan  of  Arc 

Battle  of  Patay.     Coronation  of  Charles  VI. 

Martyrdom  of  Joan  of  Arc  . 

Coronation  of  Henry  vi.  at  Paris    . 

Congress  of  Arras  and  Death  of  Bedford    . 

The  Peace  and  War  Parties  in  England     . 

The  Truce  of  Tours  and  the  French  Marriage 

Deaths  of  Gloucester  and  Beaufort 

The  Loss  of  Normandy  and  Gascony 

The  Battle   of   Castillon   and  the   End  of    the 

Hundred  Years'  War 
Murder  of  Suffolk     .... 
Revolt  of  Jack  Cade  . 

The  Position  of  Richard  Duke  of  York 
Beginning  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 
Characteristics  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses   . 
The  House  of  Neville 


PAoa 
255-307 

255-260 

255 
256 
257 
257 
257 
258 
259 

259 
260 


262-268 

262 
262-263 
263 
264-266 
266 
267 
267 
268 
268 


270-283 

270 
270-271 
272 
272-273 
273 
273 
275 
275 
276 
276 
277 
277 
278 

278 
278 
279 
279 
280 
28l 
281 


CONTENTS 


XVll 


1455-1459.    Reconciliation  and  the  Renewal  of  the  Strife       .  282 

1460.  York  claims  the  Throne       ....  282 

1460-1461.     The  Fall  of  Henry  vi 283 

1460-1461.     Battles  of  Wakefield,   Second    St.  Albans,  and 

Mortimer's  Cross  .....  283 

1461.  Edward  of  York  chosen  King         .  .  .  283 


1461-1483.    Chapter  IV.    Edward  IV.  . 

Edward  iv.  and  the  Yorkist  Party 
1461.     The  Battle  of  Towton 
Triumph  of  Edward  iv. 
The  Nevilles  and  the  Woodville  Marriage 
1469.     Robert  Welles  and  Robin  of  Redesdale 
Alliance  of  Warwick  and  Margaret 
1470-1471.     The  Restoration  of  Henry  vi. 
1471.     The  Battle  of  Tewkesbury   . 

Edward  iv.,  Burgundy,  and  France 
Home  Policy  of  Edward  rv. 
1478  and  1483.     Death  of  Clarence  and  Edward  iv. 


285-293 

285 
285 
288 
288 
288 
289 
289 
291 
292 
292 
293 


1483-1485.    Chapter  V.  Edward  V.  and  Richard  III.    295-299 


1483.     Accession  of  Edward  v. 

The  Deposition  of  Edward  v. 
Richard  111.  and  Buckingham 
1483-1485.     Richard  ra.'s  Policy 

The  Beauforts  and  the  Tudors 
1485.     The   Battle    of    Bosworth    and 
Richard  111. 


the    Death    of 


295 
296 
297 
297 
298 

298-299 


1399-1485.    Chapter  VI. 
Century 


Britain  in  the  Fifteenth 


The  Constitution  in  the  Fifteenth  Century 
The  Church.     The  Universities  and  Learning 
Prosperity  of  the  Fifteenth  Century 
The  Towns  and  Trade 
Late  Perpendicular  Architecture    . 
Armours  and  Weapons* 
Literature — Poetry — Prose 
The  Invention  of  Printing.     William  Caxton 
Scotland  in  the  Fifteenth  Century 
The  End  of  the  Middle  Ages 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 
Period        .... 


300-307 

300 
300-301 

301 

302 
302-303 

303 
303-305 

305 

306 

307 
307 


xvin 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  V 

DAT* 

1485-1603.    THE  TUDORS 
1485-1509.    Chapter  I.    Henry  VII.      . 

Character  of  Henry  vn. 

Continuance  of  the  old  Party  Struggles     . 

1486.  Lord  Lovel's  Rising 

1487.  Lambert  Simnel's  Imposture 
1492.    The  ,  Breton    Succession,    and    the    Treaty    of 

Etaples  ..... 
1492.    Perkin  Warbeck's  Imposture 
1497-1499.     The     Cornish     Rising,    and    the    Execution    of 

Warbeck  and  Warwick 
1496  and  1506.     The    Magnus    Intercursus,    and   the   Malus 
Intercursus 
The  European  Political  System 
1501.     The  Spanish  Alliance  .  . 

1503.     The  Scottish  Marriage 

Henry's  Domestic  Policy.     His  Ministers 
Reduction  of  the  Power  of  the  Nobles 
Welsh  and  Irish  Policy 
1494.     Poynings'  Law         .... 


1509-1529.    Chapter  II.    Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey 


1510. 


1512-1513. 
1513. 
1514. 


1520. 
1521-1525. 

1521. 


1517-1529. 


Character  of  Henry  vm. 

Execution  of  Empson  and  Dudley 

The  King's  Ministers.     Rise  of  Wolsey     . 

Foreign  Politics        .... 

Henry  joins  the  Holy  League 

War  all  over  Europe 

Battles  of  the  Spurs  and  Flodden  . 

Peace  with  France  and  Scotland     . 

The  Young  Princes  .... 

Rivalry  of  Charles  v.  and  Francis  i. 

Wolsey's  Foreign  Policy.     The  Balance  of  Power 

The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold 

War  with  France      .... 

The  Triumph  of  Charles,  and  the  French  Alliance 

The  Fall  of  Buckingham 

The  King  and  the  Commons 

The  Renascence        .  . 

State  of  the  Church  .    *        . 

The  Oxford  Reformers 

Erasmus  and  More  .... 

Wolsey  and  the  Church        . 

The  Beginnings  of  the  Reformation 

Luther,  Zwingle,  and  Calvin 

Catherine  of  Aragon  and  Anne  Boleyn       . 


PAGE 

308-419 

308-316 

308 
309 
309 
309 

310 
3U-312 

312 

312 
313 
313 
314 
314 
315 
315 
316 


317-336 

317 
3i8 

318-319 

319-320 
320 
320 

321-322 
323 

323-325 
325 
326 
326 
3^7 
327 
328 
328 
329 
329 
33o 
330 
33i 
332 

'332-333 
335 


CONTENTS 


XIX 


The  Origin  of  the  Divorce  Question 
The  Decretal  Commission  . 
The  Fall  of  Wolsey  . 


P.&0* 

335 
335 
336 


1529-1547.    Chapter  III.    Henry  VIII.  and  the  Be- 
ginning of  the  Reformation      .         .   337-351 

Progress  of  the  Divorce  Question  .            .           .  337 

Henry  vm.  and  his  Subjects           .            .            .  338 

1529-1536.    The  Reformation  Parliament  338 

Henry  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church         .            .  338 

1532-1534.     The  Separation  from  Rome             ...  339 

Cranmer  and  the  Divorce    ....  339 

Henry  vm.  and  Protestantism       .            .            .  34° 

The  Resistance  to  the  Supremacy  .             .            .  340 

The  Charterhouse  Monks  and  Reginald  Pole        .  34 l 

1535.  More  and  Fisher  Executed ....  341 
Cromwell  Vicar-General  ....  341 
State  of  the  Monasteries      ....     342-343 

1536.  The  Suppression  of  the  Smaller  Monasteries         .  343 
1536.     The  Pilgrimage  of  Grace      ....  343 

1536-1539.     The  Suppression  of  the  Greater  Monasteries         .  344 
The  English  Bible  and  the  Growth  of  Reforming 

Opinions             .....  345 

The  King  and  his  Wives                                         •.  345 

1538-1547.     Conspiracies              .....  346 

1539.  The  Six  Articles        .....  346 

1540.  Anne  of  Cleves  and  the  Fall  of  Cromwell  .  .  347 
1540-1547.  The  Reactionary  Period  ....  348 
1542-1545.     War  with  Scotland  .....  348 

1544.     War  with  France      .            .            .   »                    .  349 

1545-1547.     The  New  Wave  of  Reformation                   .            .  349 

Catharine  Howard  and  Catharine  Parr      .            .  349 

The  Fall  of  the  Howards    ....  349 

Henry  vm.  and  Ireland      ....  350 

1536.    Union  of  England  and  Wales          .           .            .  350 


1547-1553.    Chapter  IV.    Edward  VI.  . 

1547.    Somerset  becomes  Protector 

1547.  Invasion  of  Scotland.     Battle  of  Pinkie    . 
Postponement  of  the  Scottish  Reformation 

1548.  Loss  of  Boulogne      .... 

1549.  Progress  of  the  Reformation.     First  Prayer-Book 
1549.  The  Devonshire  Rebellion  . 
1549.  Ket's  Rebellion         .... 
1549.  Fall  of  Somerset       .... 

1549-1553.     The  Ascendancy  of  Warwick 

Influence  of  the  Foreigner  Reformers 

1552.  The  Second  Prayer-Book  of  Edward  vi.     . 

1553.  The,  Forty-two  Articles 


352-360 

352 
353 
354 
354 
355 
356 
356 
357 
357 
357 
358 
358 


XX 


CONTENTS 


1553. 


Failure  of  the  King's  Health 
Edward's  Device  for  the  Succession 
Que^n  Jane  and  Queen  Mary 


358 
360 
360 


1553-1558.    Chapter  V.    Mary 


1553. 

1554. 

1554. 

1555-1558. 


1552-1559. 

1557-1559. 

1558. 


Accession  of  Mary     . 

The  Work  of  Edward's  Reign  Undone 

The  Spanish  Marriage 

Restoration  of  the  Papal  Supremacy 

The  Marian  Persecution 

Martyrdom  of  Ridley,  Latimer  and  Cranmer 

Want  of  Toleration  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 

Isolation  of  Mary      . 

War  between  Prance  and  the  Empire 

England  at  War  with  Prance 

Death  of  Mary 


361-367 

361 

361 
362 

363 
363 
364-365 
365 
366 
366 
367 
367 


1558-1587.    Chapter  VI.  Elizabeth  and  Mary  Queen 

of  Scots 368-389 


1559. 

1563. 

1559-1575. 


1565. 


Character  and  Policy  of  Elizabeth 
The  Queen's  Ministers 
Leicester  and  the  Courtiers 
The  Elizabethan  Settlement  of  the  Church 
The  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity 
The  Thirty-nine  Articles 
Archbishop  Parker   . 
Elizabeth  and  the  Roman  Catholics 
Geneva  and  the  Calvinists  . 
The  Puritans  and  the  Elizabethan  Settlement 
Parker's  Advertisements 
The  Separatists 
1676  and  1583.     Archbishops  Grindal  and  Whitgift 
1593.     Hooker's  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity  "  . 

John  Knox  on  the  Scottish  Reformation 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots  .  .    . 

The  Counter  Reformation    . 

The  Treaty  of  Le  Cateau-Cambresis 

Philip  11.  and  the  Counter  Reformation 

Francis  11.  and  his  Queen    . 

Rivalry  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth 

The  Loss  of  Le  Havre 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots  in  Scotland   . 

The  Darnley  Marriage 

Murder  of  Riccio 

Murder  of  Darnley  . 

Deposition  of  the  Queen  of  Scots    . 

Mary's  Flight  to  England   . 

Mary's  Imprisonment 

1569.  The  Revolt  of  the  Northern  Earls  . 

1570.  The  Bull  of  Excommunication       . 


1559. 


1563. 
1561. 
1565. 
1566. 
1567. 
1567. 
1568. 


368 

369-370 
370 
370 
371 
37i 
371 
372 
372 
373 
373 
374 
374 
374 
375-376 
376-377 
377 
378 
378 
379 
379 
379 
380 
380 
38i 
38i 

3!3 
383 
384 
384 
385 


CONTENTS 


xxi 


DATE 

1571. 


1580. 

1586. 
1587. 


The  Ridolfi  Plot       .... 

Philip  ii.  and  the  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands 

The  Seminary  Priests 

The  Jesuit  Invasion 

The  Bond  of  Association 

The  Babington  Conspiracy  . 

Execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 


386 
386 
386 
388 
388 
388-389 
389 


1587-1603.    Chapter  VII.    The  Latter  Years  of  the 
Reign  of  Elizabeth 

The  Relations  between  England  and  Spain 

Anglo-French  Interference  in  the  Netherlands 

The  Anjou  Marriage  Scheme 

Leicester  in  the  Netherlands 

Spain  and  the  Indies 

The  Beginnings  of  English  Maritime  Enterprise 

Chancellor's  Voyage 

Protestantism  and  Maritime  Adventure     . 

Hawkins  and  the  Slave  Trade 

Drake's  Voyage  round  the  World    . 

The  Breach  between  England  and  Spain  . 

Philip's  Plans  for  Invading  England 

The  Spanish  Armada 

The  Battle  off  Gravelines    . 

Results  of  the  Protestant  Victory  . 

Henry  iv.,  king  of  Prance  .  .        •   . 

The  War  with  Spain  .  .  . 

The  Capture  of  Cadiz 

The  First  Attempts  at  English  Colonies    . 

Ireland  under  Mary  Tudor 

Shane  O'Neill  and  Elizabeth 

Ireland  and  the  Counter-Reformation 

The  Desmond  Rebellion  and  the  Plantation  of 

Munster     ..... 
The  Irish  Revolt  under  Hugh  O'Neill 
Essex  in  Ireland       .... 
Mountjoy  suppresses  the  Rebellion 
Steps  towards  British  Unity 
The  Cecils,  Essex,  and  Raleigh 
Continued  Persecution  of  Puritans  and  Catholics 
Elizabeth  and  her  Parliaments 
1597  and  1601.     The  Monopolies  Contest 
1603.     Death  of  Elizabeth 


1581. 
1586. 


1553. 

1562-1567. 

1577-1580. 

1584. 

1588. 


1589. 

1589-1603. 

1596. 


1579. 

1598. 

1599. 

1600-1603. 


390-407 

39° 
391 
39 * 
392 
392 
393 
393 
394 
394 
396 
396 
397 
397-399 
399 
399 
399 
400 
400 
401 
401 
402 
402 

402 
404 
404 
404 
404 

405 
406 
406 
406-407 
407 


1485-1603.    Chapter  VIII.  England  under  the  Tudors   408-418 


The  Beginnings  of  Modern  Times  . 
The  Tudor  Monarchy 
Parliament  under  the  Tudors 
Harmony  between  Grown  and  Parliament 
The  King  and  his  Ministers 


408 
408 
408-409 
409 
409 


XX11 


CONTENTS 


The  Council  .  .  . 

The  Star  Chamber  and  its  Victims 
Local  Government  . 
Military  Weakness  of  the  Crown    . 
Social  and  Economic  Changes 
The  Poor  Laws 

Increase  of  Refinement  and  Luxury 
Education  and  Travel 
Renascence  Architecture     . 
Other  Arts    .... 
Early  Tudor  Literature 
The  Beginnings  of  Elizabethan  Literature 
Spenser  and  the  Poets 
The  First  Public  Theatres  . 
Marlowe  and  the  Early  Dramatists 
Shakespeare  and  his  School 
Elizabethan  Prose   .  ... 

Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 
Period       ...... 


pa  on 
4IO 
4IO 

411 
411 
411 

412 
413 
413 
414 
414 
415 
4i5 
416 
416-417 
417 
4i7 
418 

418 


BOOK  VI 
1603-1714.     THE  STEWARTS  . 
1603-1625.    Chapter  I.    James  I. 

The  Union  of  the  English  and  Scottish  Crowns 
Failure  of  James'   Projects   for  more  complete 

Union     ..... 
Completion  of  the  Conquest  of  Ireland 
The  Plantation  of  Ulster 


1610. 


-Virginia  and 


1620-1629 
1600 
1623 


1604. 


1607  and  1632.   Beginnings  of  English  Colonies- 
Maryland  .... 
The  Plantation  of  New  England     . 
The  Beginnings  of  the  East  India  Company 
The  Amboyna  Massacre 
The  Stewarts  and  Parliament 
Character  of  James  1. 
Robert  Cecil  and  his  Enemies 
The  Hampton  Court  Conference 
Archbishops  Bancroft  and  Abbot    . 
The  Gunpowder  Plot 
James  and  his  Parliaments  . 
The  New  Impositions  and  the  Great  Contract 
The  Addled  Parliament 
James's  Family  and  Favourites 
Robert  Ker.     George  Villiers 
James's  Foreign  Policy 
Raleigh's  Last  Voyage  and  Execution 
The  Beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  . 
James's  efforts  to  restore  the  Elector  Palatine 


1605. 

1610. 
1614. 


1617-1618. 

1618. 

1622-1623. 


420-533 

420-434 

420 

421 
422 
422 

423 
423 
424 
424 
425 
425 
426 
426 

427 
427 
428 
428 
429 
429 
429-430 
430 
431 
431 
432 


CONTENTS 


XX111 


SATE 

1623.  Failure  of  the  Spanish  Marriage     . 

1621.  James's  Third  Parliament  . 

1621.  The  Fall  of  Bacon    . 

1624-1625.  James's  Fourth  Parliament  and  Death 

1625-1649.    Chapter  II.    Charles  I. 

Character  of  Charles  i. 

1625.    The    War    with    Spain    and     Charles's     First 

Parliament 

Home  and  Foreign  Policy 

The  French  War  and  Charles's  Second  Parliament 

1626-1627.     The  Forced  Loan  and  Darnell's  Case 

1628.     Charles's  Third  Parliament  and  the  Petition  of 
Right  ..... 

1628.  Murder  of  Buckingham 

1629.  Dissolution  of  Charles's  Third  Parliament 
1629-1640.     Charles's  Arbitrary  Rule     . 

Charles's  Expedients  for  raising  Money     . 
1637.     Ship  Money.    Hampden's  Case 
Charles's  Ecclesiastical  Policy 
Archbishop  Laud  and  the  Puritans 
The  Victims  of  Charles's  Policy 
Thomas  Wentworth 

1637.  The  Scottish  Prayer-book 

1638.  The  National  Covenant 

1639.  The  First  Bishops'  War 

1640.  The  Short  Parliament 
1640.     The  Second  Bishops'  War 

The  Great  Council  at  York 

1640.  Meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament    . 

1641.  Attainder  of  Strafford 
1640-1641.     Remedial  Measures  of  the  Long  Parliament 

1641.     The  Root  and  Branch  Bill  . 

1641.     The  Incident  .... 

1641.     The  Irish  Rebellion . 

1641.  The  Grand  Remonstrance   . 
The  Division  of  Parliament  into  Two  Parties 

1642.  The  Attack  on  the  Five  Members  . 
The  Rupture  between  Bong  and  Parliament 
The  Royalist  and  Parliamentarian  Parties 

1642.  The  Campaign  of  Edgehill  and  Brentford  . 

1643.  Royalist  Successes    .... 
First  Battle  of  Newbury      .  .  . 
Cromwell  and  the  Eastern  Association 
The    Cessation,   and    the    Solemn    League    and 

Covenant   ..... 

1644.  Renewed  Fighting.    Battle  of  Marston  Moor 
The  Destruction  of  Essex's  Army  and  the  Rising 

of  Montrose 

1645.  The  New  Model  and  the  Self-Denying  Ordinance 
1645.    The  Battle  of  Naseby 
1645.    The  Battle  of  Philiphaugh 


rAGK 
432 
433 
433 
434 

435-461 
435 

436 
436 
436 
437 

438 
438 
439 
439 
440 

440-441 
441 
441 
442 

442-443 
443 
444 
444 
445 
445 
445 
446 
446 
446 
447 
447 
447 
448 
448 

448-449 
449 
449 

450-451 

45o 

451-452 

452 

452 
453-456 

457 
457 
458 
459 


h  2 


XXIV 


CONTENTS 


DATE 

1646. 


1648. 
1648-1649. 


Charles  surrenders  to  the  Scots 
Presbyterians  and  Independents     . 
Parliament  and  the  Army   . 
Charles  intrigues  with  the  Army  and  the  Presby 

terians        ..... 
The  Second  Civil  War 
The  Triumph  of  the  Independents  and  the  Execu 

tion  of  Charles  I.   . 


PAG1I 

459 
459 
460 

460-461 
461 

461 


1649-1660.    Chapter  III.    The  Commonwealth  and 

the  Protectorate    ....   462-472 

1649.     Establishment  of  the  Commonwealth        .            .  462 

Difficulties  of  the  New  Government           .            .  463 

1649-1650.     Cromwell's  Conquest  of  Ireland      .            .            .  463 

1649-1651.     Charles  11.,  King  of  Scots     .                         .            .  464 

1650-1651.     Battles  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester   .            .            .  464 

1652-1653.     The  Dutch  War         .....  465 

1653.     The  Expulsion  of  the  Rump            .            .            .  465 

The  Little  Parliament         ....  466 

The  Instrument  of  Government      .             .            .  466 

1653-1658.     Cromwell  as  Protector         ....  467 

1655.     The  Major-Generals             ....  467 

Cromwell's  Puritan  State  Church  .            .            .  468 

Cromwell's  Foreign  Policy  ....  469 

1655.     The  French  Alliance            .            .            .            .  469 

1655, 1658.     Jamaica,  and  the  Battle  of  the  Dunes        .            .  469 

1657.     The  Humble  Petition  and  Advice   .                         .  470 

1658-1659.     The  Protectorate  of  Richard  Cromwell      .            .  470 

The  Rump  Restored             .            .            .            .  471 

1659.  A  Presbyterian  Revolt  Suppressed  .            .            .  471 

1660.  Monk  declares  for  a  Free  Parliament         .            .  471 
1660.     The  Declaration  of  Breda  and  the  Restoration  of 

Charles  11.              .            .            .            .            .  422 


1660-1685.    Chapter  IV.    Charles  II. 


1660-1661. 

1661. 

1661-1665. 


1665-1667. 

1663. 
1667. 
1681. 
1667. 
1667-1673. 


Work  of  the  Convention 

The  Restoration  Settlement  of  the  Church 

The  Clarendon  Code 

The  Reaction  against  Puritanism  . 

The  Restoration  in  Scotland 

The  Restoration  in  Ireland . 

The  Restoration  and  Foreign  Policy 

The  Rivalry  of  England  and  Holland 

The  Dutch  War 

Growth  of  the  American  Colonies 

Carolina 

New  York  and  New  Jersey . 

Pennsylvania 

The  Fall  of  Clarendon 

The  Cabal     . 


473-488 

473 
474 
475 
476 
476 
477 
477 
478 
478 
479 
479 
479 
479 
481 
481-482 


CONTENTS 


XXV 


DATE 

1668.  The  Triple  Alliance  .... 

1670.  The  Treaty  of  Dover 

1672-1673.  The  Dutch  War        .... 

1673.  The  Declaration  of  Indulgence,  the  Test  Act,  and 
the  Fall  of  the  Cabal 

1673-1678.  The  Ministry  of  Danby 

1678.  The  Treaty  of  Nijmegen 

1678-1679.  The  Popish  Plot       .... 

1679.  The  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  and  the  Exclusion  Bill 
1679.  Whigs  and  Tories.   High  Church  and  Low  Church 

1679.  Battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge   . 

1680.  The  Lords  reject  the  Exclusion  Bill 

1681.  The  Oxford  Parliament 
1688.  The  Rye  House  Plot 

1682-1685.  The  Tory  Reaction,  and  the  Death  of  Charles  n. 


482 
482 
483 

484 
484 
485 
485 
486 
486-487 
487 
487 

487 
488 
488 


1685-1688.    Chapter  V.    James  II. 


1685. 
16S5. 
1685. 


1685. 


1688. 


1688-1689. 
1688. 


Character  of  James  11. 

The  First  Parliament  of  James  11. 

Argyll's  Rebellion     .... 

Monmouth's  Rebellion 

Breach  between  James  and  the  Tories 

The  Dispensing  and  the  Suspending  Powers 

The  Court  of  High  Commission      .  .    , 

The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 

Tyrconnell  in  Ireland 

The  Declaration  of  Indulgence 

The  Invitation  to  William  of  Orange 

The  Fall  of  James  11. 

The  Convention  and  the  Declaration  of  Right 


489-495 

489 

489 
490 
490 
492 
492 
493 
493 
493 
494 
494 
495 
495 


1689-1702.    Chapter  VI.    William  III.  and  Mary    .   496-510 


1689. 

1689. 
1689. 


1689. 
1690. 
1691. 

1689. 

1692. 
1689-1697. 
1690-1692. 

1697. 

1694. 


The  Accession  of  William  and  Mary  and  the  Bill 
of  Rights  ..... 

The  Mutiny  Act  and  the  Revenue  . 

The  Toleration  Act  .... 

The  Low  Church  Triumph  and  the  Schism  of 
the  Non-Jurors     .... 

James's  Power  upheld  in  Ireland  . 

Siege  of  Derry  and  the  Battle  of  Newtown  Butler 

Battle  of  the  Boyne  .  .  . 

The  Protestant  Conquest  of  Ireland 

The  Revolution  in  Scotland 

Battle  of  Killiecrankie 

The  Massacre  of  Glencoe 

The  War  against  France 

Battles  of  Beachy  Head  and  La  Hougue    . 

Peace  of  Ryswick      .... 

Financial  Policy       .... 

Death  of  Queen  Mary  .  .  , 


496 
497 
497 

498 
498 
499 
499 
500 
500 

5oi 
5oi 
502 

503 

5o3 
503 
504 


xxvi 


CONTENTS 


DATS 

1696. 
1696. 

1695-1699. 
1698-1699. 

1700. 
1698-1700. 

1701. 


1702. 


The  Bond  of  Association     . 

The  First  United  Whig  Ministry    . 

Beginnings  of  Cabinet  Government 

The  Darien  Scheme 

The  Spanish  Partition  Treaties 

The  Failure  of  the  Partition  Treaties 

The  Tory  Reaction  . 

The  Act  of  Settlement 

The  Constitutional  Limitations   in  the  Act  of 

Settlement 
The  Grand  Alliance  and  the  Death  of  William  in, 


5o5 
5oS 
505 
506 

5o7 
508 

509 
509 

509 
5io 


1702-1714.    Chapter  VII.    Queen  Anne  . 


1702-1708. 
1702-1713. 
1702-1703. 

1703. 

1704. 
1704-1706. 

1707. 
1708-1709. 

1710. 
1702-1708. 
1708-1710. 

1709. 
1710-1713. 

1713. 


1714. 
1699-1702. 
1703-1704. 
1704-1707. 


1707. 


Character  of  Queen  Anne    . 

The  Rule  of  Marlborough  and  Godolphin 

The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession 

The  Early  Campaigns  of  the  War  . 

The  Methuen  Treaty 

The  Battle  of  Blenheim 

Victories  of  the  Allies 

The  Battle  of  Almanza 

Battles  of  Oudenarde  and  Malplaquet 

Battle  of  Brihuega  . 

Party  Contests 

Marlborough's  Whig  Ministry 

The  Impeachment  of  Dr.  Sacheverell 

The  Tory  Ministry   . 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht 

End  of  the  Age  of  Louis  xiv. 

The  Tory  Ministry  and  the  Protestant  Succession 

The  Fall  of  Oxford  and  the  Death  of  Queen  Anne 

Strained  Relation  between  England  and  Scotland 

The  Act  of  Security  ..... 

The  Flying  Squadron  and  the  Negotiations  for 

the  Union  ...... 

The     Parliamentary     Union    of    England    and 

Scotland  ...... 


5" 
5" 
5" 
512 
513 
513 
515 
515 
515 
5i6 
5i6 
517 

51l 

5i8 
5i8 
520 
520 
521 

521 
522 

522 
523 


1603-1714.    Chapter  VIII.    Great  Britain  under  the 

Stewarts      .....    524-533 


Colonial  and  Commercial  Development 

Results  of  the  Growth  of  Trade  on  England 

Manufactures 

The  Poor  and  the  Poor  Law 

London  and  the  Towns 

Amusements 

Communications 

Dress 

Education 

Natural  Science 


524 
524 
'525 
525 
526 
526 

527 
527 
528 
528 


CONTENTS 


XXV11 


Architecture.  .... 

Painting,  Sculpture,  and  Music 
The  Drama   ..... 
Milton  and  the  Poets 
Dryden  and  the  Poetry  of  the  Eestoration 
Establishment  of  Modern  Prose  Style 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 
Period        ...... 


!W.   - 

529 
529 

530 
53i 
532 
533 

533 


BOOK  VII 


1714-1820. 


THE  HOUSE 
THE  RULE 
RACY 


OF 
OF 


HANOVER    AND 
THE     ARISTOC 


1714-1727.    Chapter  I.    George  I. 


1714. 
1714-1761. 


1715. 
1715. 

1715. 

1715. 

1716. 
1714-1717. 

1717. 

1719. 
1717-1720. 

1718. 

1720. 

1721. 
1727. 


The  Accession  of  George  1.  . 

The  Long  Whig  Rule 

The  Law  and  Custom  of  the  Constitution 

The  Cabinet  System 

The  Supremacy  of  the  Commons    . 

The  Whig  Aristocracy 

The  Jacobites 

The  Riot  Act 

The  Highlands  of  Scotland . 

The  Jacobite  Rising  . 

Battle  of  Sheriffmuir  and  Collapse  of  the  Rebellion 

The  Septennial  Act  . 

The  Whig  Ministry  . 

The  Whig  Schism     . 

The  Peerage  Bill 

Foreign  Policy  and  Alberoni 

Battle  of  Cape  Passaro 

The  South  Sea  Bubble 

The  Bursting  of  the  Bubble 

Walpole  Prime  Minister 

Death  of  George  1.     . 


1727-1760.    Chapter  II.    George  II. 


1721-1742. 


1733. 
1737. 


George  11.  and  Caroline  of  Anspach 

Character  and  Policy  of  Walpole 

Parliamentary  Management 

Walpole  the  First  Prime  Minister 

The  Opposition  to  Walpole  . 

The  "  Patriot  Whigs  " 

The  "  Boys  "  and  William  Pitt 

Bolingbroke  and  the  New  Tories 

The  Failure  of  Walpole's  Excise  Scheme 

The  Porteous  Riots  in  Edinburgh  . 


536-641 

536-545 

536 

537 
537 
537 
537 
538 
539 
539 
539 
540 

54i 
54i 
542 
542 
542 
543 
543 
544 
545 
545 


546-569 

546 
547 
547 
548 
548 
549 
549 
549 
55o 
551 


XXV111 


CONTENTS 


DATE 

1725  and  1731.    The  Two  Treaties  of  Vienna     . 
1738.     The  Third  Treaty  of  Vienna 

Outbreak  of  War  with  Spain 

The  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession 

The  Fall  of  Walpole 

The  Carteret  Ministry 

The  Pelham  Ministry 

Battle  of  Dettingen  . 

Battle  of  Fontenoy  . 

Jacobite  Revolt  and  the  Young  Pretender 

The  March  to  Derby 

Battles  of  Falkirk  and  Culloden 

The  Subjugation  of  the  Highlands 

The  Treaty  of  Aachen 

Pelham's  Domestic  Reforms 

The  Newcastle  Ministry  and  the  Whig  Schism 

William  Pitt  and  the  Whig  Opposition 

The  Duke  of  Devonshire's  Ministry 

The  Pitt-Newcastle  Ministry 

Origin  of  the  Seven  Years'  War 

Commercial  and  Colonial  Rivalry  of  France  and 
England     . 

European  Traders  in    India  under    the  Mogul 
Empire       ..... 

Dupleix's  Plans        .... 

England  and  France  in  India 

Clive  and  the  Siege  of  Arcot 
1757  and  1760.     The  Battles  of  Plassey  and  Wandewash 

France  and  England  in  North  America    . 

Fort  Duquesne 

The    European    Coalition    against    Prussia  and 
England    . 

British  Disasters 

Pitt  as  the  Inspirer  of  Victory 

The  Conquest  of  Canada 

Death  of  George  n. 


1739. 
1740-1748. 

1742. 
1742-1744. 
1744-1754. 

1743. 

1745. 

1745. 

1745. 

1746. 

1748. 
1748-1754. 
1754-1756. 

1756-1757. 
1757-1761. 


1740-1755. 
1751. 


1756. 

1756-1757. 

1757-1760. 

1758-1760. 

1760. 


PA<ik 

552 
552 
553-554 
553 
553 
553 
554 
555 
555 

55S 

55l 
558 

559 
559 
560 
560 
56i 
56i 
56i 

562 

562 
563 
563 
563 
564 
564 
565 

565 
566 
566 
568 
569 


1760-1789.    Chapter  III.    George  III.  and  the  War 
of  American  Independence 

Character  and  Policy  of  George  in. 
George  in.  and  Pitt 
1761.     Pitt  driven  from  Office 
1761-1763.     The  Bute  Ministry  and  the  Peace  of  Paris 
1763-1770.     George  in.  and  Foreign  Politics 

1763.     The  Resignation  of  Bute      . 
1763-1765.     The  Grenville  Ministry 

Wilkes  and  the  "  North  Briton  "    . 
1765.     The  Stamp  Act  and  the  Fall  of  Grenville 
1765-1766.     The  Rockingham  Ministry  . 
1766-1768.     The  Chatham  Ministry 

The  Renewal  of  the  Wilkes  Troubles 


570-592 

57o 

57i 
572 
572 
573 
573 
574 
574 
575 
575 
576 
576 


CONTENTS 


XXIX 


Burke  and  Junius    .  .  . 

1768-1770.     The  Grafton  Ministry 
1770-1782.     The  North  Ministry 

Origin  of  the  American  Revolution  . 
1768-1770.    Townshend's  Customs  Duties  and  the  American 
Resistance 
1773.    Lord  North  and  the  Tea  Duty 
Failure  of  Conciliation 

1775.  Beginning  of  the  War.     Lexington  and  Bunker's 

Hill  . 

1776.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  . 
Characteristics  of  the  American  War 

1777.  The  Capitulation  of  Saratoga 
1778-1780.     The  European  Attack  on  Britain    . 

Chatham  and  American  Independence 

1778.  Death  of  Chatham    .... 

1781.  Yorktown  and  the  End  of  the  American  War 

1782.  Rodney  restores  British  Naval  Supremacy 
Warren  Hastings  restores  British  Supremacy  in 

India  .... 

1780.     The  Gordon  Riots     . 

Ireland  imitates  America     . 
1782.     The  Legislative  Independence  of  Ireland 

1782.  The  Second  Rockingham  Ministry  . 
Burke  and  Economical  Reform 

1782-1783.     The  Shelburne  Ministry       . 

1783.  The  Treaty  of  Versailles 
1783.     The  Coalition  of  Fox  and  North 

1783.  The  Coalition  Ministry 
Fox's  India  Bill 

1783-1801.     William  Pitt's  Ministry 

Character  and  Policy  of  the  Younger  Pitt 

1784.  Pitt's  India  Bill  and  Warren  Hastings 
Pitt's  Foreign  Policy 

1788.     The  Regency  Question 


1789-1802. 


1789. 
1789-1792. 
1793-1795. 

1792. 


1793-1797. 


1798. 
1798. 


Chapter  IV.    George  III.    The  French 
Revolution  and  the  Irish  Union 

France  before  the  Revolution 

Voltaire  and  Rousseau 

The  Meeting  of  the  States  General 

The  New  Constitution  and  its  Failure 

The  Reign  of  Terror 

Europe  at  War  with  the  Revolution 

England  and  the  French  Revolution 

The  Reaction  and  Pitt 

England  joins  the  War  against  the  Revolution 

The  Suspension  of  Cash  Payments . 

The  Revolutionary  War  at  Sea 

Buonaparte  in  Egypt 

The  Battle  of  the  Nile 


593-6o6 

593 
594 
594 
595 
595 
595 
596 
597 
597-598 
598 
599 
599 
600 


XXX 


CONTENTS 


DATS  PAGE 

1799.  The  Mysore  War  .....  600 
1799-1801.  The  War  of  the  Second  Coalition  ...  600 
1800-1801.     The    Battle    of    Marengo,    and    the    Treaty    of 

Luneville  ......  601 

The    Armed     Neutrality    and    the    Battle     of 

Copenhagen           .             .             .             .             .  601 

1801-1802.     The  Addington  Ministry  and  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  601 

The  Pilot  that  weathered  the  Storm          .            .  602 

1782-1800.     Ireland  under  Grattan's  Parliament          .            .  602 

The  United  Irishmen  and  the  French  Revolution  603 

1793-1794.     The  Belief  Act,  and   the   Government  of   Lord 

Fitzwilliam           .....  603 

1798.     Irish  Rebellion         .....  604 

Pitt's  Irish  Policy    .....  604-605 

1800.  The  Union    ...  605 

1801.  Failure    of    Catholic     Emancipation    and    the 

Resignation  of  Pitt          ....  605-606 


1802-1820.    Chapter  V.    George  III.  and  Napoleon  .   607-625 


1803. 
1803-1814. 

1803. 
1798-1805. 
1804-1806. 

1804-1805. 

1805. 
1805-1806. 

1806. 
1806-1807. 

1806. 

1807. 
1807-1830. 

1807. 

1808. 

1808. 
1808-1809. 

1809. 

1809. 

1809. 

1810. 

1811. 
1812-1813. 

1814. 

1812-1814. 

1815. 

1815. 


The  Rupture  of  the  Treaty  of  Amiens 

The  Napoleonic  War 

Emmet's  Rebellion 

Wellesley  establishes  British  Supremacy  in  India 

Pitt's  Second  Ministry 

The  Volunteer  Movement   . 

The  Army  of  England,  and  the  Supremacy  of  the 

Seas  .... 

Battle  of  Trafalgar  . 
The  Third  Coalition  and  its  Failure 
Death  of  Pitt 

Ministry  of  All  the  Talents 
Death  of  Fox 

The  Resignation  of  Grenville 
The  Long  Tory  Rule 
The  Conduct  of  the  War      . 
The  Treaty  of  Tilsit     ... 
The  Continental  System 
The  Spanish  Rising  against  Napoleon 
Arthur  Wellesley's  Conquest  of  Portugal 
The  Failure  of  Sir  John  Moore 
The  War  between  France  and  Austria 
Walcheren  and  Wagram 
The  Battle  of  Talavera 
Torres  Vedras  and  Busaco  . 
Fuentes  de  Onoro  and  Albuera 
The    Russian,   German,   and    Spanish    National 

Revolts      .  .  .     ■         . 

The  Fall  of  Napoleon 
The  War  with  the  United  States    . 
The  Hundred  Days  . 
Battle  of  Waterloo  .  .  , 


607 
608 
609 
609 
610 
610 

610 
611 
612 
612 
612 
613 
613 
613 
614 
614 
614-615 
615 
616 
617 
617 
618 
618 
620 
620 

620 
621 
621 
622 
622-623 


CONTENTS 


XXXI 


DATE 

1815.  The  Congress  of  Vienna 

1315-1820.  England  after  the  Peace 

1820.  Death  of  George  in. 


623 
625 
625 


1714-1820.  Chapter  VI.  Great  Britain  during  the 
Eighteenth  Century:  The  Industrial 
Revolution   .... 

Commercial  Ascendency  of  Great  Britain  . 

The  Age  of  Inventions 

Roads,  Turnpikes,  and  Tramways  . 

Navigable  Rivers  and  Canals 

The  Factory  System  and  the  Industrial  Revolution 

The  Agrarian  Revolution     . 

Pauperism  and  the  Corn  Laws 

The  "  Age  of  Reason  "  . 

The  Methodist  Movement  . 

The  Evangelical  Movement 

Religion  in  Scotland 

Humanitarianism  and  Philanthropy 

Social  Life    ..... 

Art 

Poetry  and  the  Drama 
Prose  ..... 

The  Romantic  Revival 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 
Period       ...... 


626-639 

626 
626-627 
627-628 

628 
628-630 
630-631 

631 
632 

632-633 

633-634 

634 

634-635 

635 

636 

637 
637-638 
638-639 

639 


BOOK  VIII 
1820-1901.     NATIONALITY  AND   DEMOCRACY 

1820-1830.    Chapter  I.    George  IV. 

Accession  of  George  iv. 

The  Trial  of  Queen  Caroline 

The  Cato  Street  Conspiracy 

The  Old  and  the  New  Tories 

The  Canningites  admitted  to  Office 

Canning's  Foreign  Policy    . 

The  Holy  Alliance    . 

The   Revolt  of  the  .Spanish   Colonies    and   the 

Monroe  Doctrine .  .  .  . 

Canning  and  the  Greek  Insurrection 
Battle  of  Navarino   .... 
Peel's  Reforms  as  Home  Secretary 
Huskisson's  Commercial  and  Financial  Reforms 
Canning's  Ministry  and  Death 
The  Goderich  Ministry 
The  Wellington  Ministry     . 
The  Catholic  Association  and  the  Clare  Election 


1820. 
1820. 
1820. 

1822. 


1827. 


1827. 
1827-1828. 
1828-1830. 


642-727 

642-649 

642 
643 
643 
643 
644 

644 
644 

645 
645 
646 
646 
647 
647 
647 

647 
648 


XXX11 


CONTENTS 


DAT*      , 

1829.  Catholic  Emancipation 
Wellington's  Foreign  Policy 

1830.  Death  of  George  iv. . 

1830-1837.    Chapter  II.    William  IV.  . 


1830. 
1830. 


1831-1832. 
1832. 

1832-1835. 


1834. 
1837. 


Democracy  and  Nationality 

Revolutions  on  the  Continent 

The  Agitation  for  Parliamentary  Reform 

William  iv.  and  the  Grey  Ministry 

The  Need  for  Parliamentary  Reform 

The  Reform  Movement  under  George  iv. 

The  Struggle  for  Reform 

The  First  Reform  Act  passed 

Irish  Repeal  and  the  Tithe  War 

Other  Reforms 

Palmerston's  Foreign  Policy 

The  Melbourne  Ministry 

Peel  and  the  Conservative  Party 

Death  of  William  iv. 


648-649 
649 
649 

650-656 

650 
650 
651 

651 

652 
652 
653 
653 
654 
654 
655 
655 
655 
656 


1837-1865. 


Chapter  III. 
ston    . 


Victoria — Peel  and  Palmer- 


Separation  of  England  and  Hanover 

Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  . 

The  Changed   Conception   of   the  Work   of   the 

Monarchy  and  House  of  Lords    . 
Socialism  and  Chartism 
Melbourne's  Ministry 
Conservative  Reaction 
Foreign  Policy  of  the  Peel  Ministry 
Young  Ireland.     Peel's  Irish  Policy 
The  Corn  Laws  and  Popular  Unrest 
The  Anti-Corn  Law  League 
Peel  and  Free  Trade 
The  Failure  of  the  Irish  Potato  Crop 
The  Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws 
Fall  of  Peel   .... 
Peelites,  Protectionists,  Liberals,  and  Radicals 
The  Russell  Ministry 
The  Irish  Famine  and  its  Consequences 
The  Year  of  Revolutions 
Chartism  and  Young  Ireland 
Palmerston's  Foreign  Policy 
1851  and  1852.     Dismissal  of  Palmerston  and  Russell 
1852.     The  First  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry . 
The  Aberdeen  Coalition  Ministry    . 
Nicholas  1.  and  the  Eastern  Question 
Origin  of  the  Crimean  War 
The  Crimean  War     . 
Palmerston's  First  Ministry 


1835-1841 

1841 

1841-1846 


1839. 

1845. 
1846. 
1846. 

1846-1852. 
1846-1847. 

1848. 

1848. 


1852-1855. 


1854-1856 
2855-1858 


657-673 

657 
657 

658 
659 
659 
660 
660 
661 
662 
662 
663 
663 
663 
664 
664 
665 
665 
666 
666 
666 
667 
667 
668 
668 
669 
669 
671 


CONTENTS 


XXXJ11 


DATE 

1858-1859. 
1859-1865. 

1861-1865. 

1865. 


The  Second  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry         , 
The  Second  Palmerston  Ministry   .  , 

Italian  and  German  Unity  .  , 

The  American  Civil  War 
Palmerston' s  Foreign  Policy  .  . 

The  Death  of  Palmerston  and  its  Results 


I  A<,E 
671 
672 
672 
672 
673 
673 


1865-1886. 


Chapter  IV. 
Disraeli 


Victoria — Gladstone  and 


1865. 
1865-1866. 
1866-1868. 

1867. 

1868-1874. 
1869. 

1870. 

1870. 

1870-1871. 

1874. 
1874-1880. 

1877-1878. 
1878. 
1879. 
1880. 

1880-1885. 


1885. 
1884-1885. 
1885-1886. 

1886. 

1886. 


Beginning  of  the  Transition  to  Democracy 

The  Russell  Ministry  and  the  Reform  Bill 

The  Third  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry 

The  Second  Reform  Act 

The  Fenians 

The  First  Gladstone  Ministry 

Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church 

Irish  Land  System  . 

The  First  Irish  Land  Act    . 

The  Education  Act  and  Other  Reforms 

The  Franco-German  War  and  its  Results 

Gladstone's  Foreign  Policy 

Fall  of  Gladstone     . 

The  Disraeli  Ministry 

The  Home  Rule  Movement 

The  Russo-Turkish  War 

The  Treaties  of  San  Stefano  and  Berlin 

The  Dual  Contest  in  Egypt 

Fall  of  Beaconsfield 

The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry 

Its  Irish  Policy         . 

Egypt  and  the  Sudan 

The  Death  of  Gordon 

The  Third  Reform  Act 

The  First  Salisbury  Ministry 

The  Third  Gladstone  Ministry 

Home  Rule  and  the  Break-up  of  the  Old  Parties 


674-685 

674 
674 
675 

675 
676 
676 
676 
676-677 
677 
677 
678 
678 
679 
679 
679 
680 
681 
681 
682 
682 
682 
683 
683 
684 
684 
684 
685 


1886-1901.    Chapter  V.    Victoria— Home  Rule  and 

the  Empire  .....    686-694 

1886-1892.     The  Salisbury  Unionist  Ministry   ...  686 

The  Plan  of  Campaign         ....  686 

1888-1889.     The  Parnell  Commission     .            .            .            .  687 

1890-1891.     Parnellites  and  Anti-ParneUites      ...  687 
1886-1892.     Foreign    Policy.       The    Triple    and    the    Dual 

Alliances    ......  688 

1887.    The  Queen's  Jubilee             ....  688 

1892-1894.     The  Fourth  Gladstone  Ministry      ...  689 

1893.     The  Lords  Reject  the  Home  Rule  Bill       .            .  689 

Filling  up  the  Cup  •            .           .           .           .  689 


XXXIV 


CONTENTS 


BATE 

1894-1895.     The  Rosebery  Ministry 
1895-1901.     The  Third  Salisbury  Ministry 

Armenia  and  Crete.     Other  Foreign  Troubles 
1896-1899.     The  Conquest  of  the  Sudan 

1898.     Fashoda         ..... 

Troubles  in  the  Far  East     . 

1897  and  1901.     The  Diamond  Jubilee  and  the  Death  of  Queen 

Victoria      ...... 


690 

690 
691 
692 
693 
693 

694 


1820-1901.    Chapter  VI.    The  United  Kingdom  in 

the  Nineteenth  Century  .         .         .   695-708 


Increase  of  the  Functions  of  the  State 

Central  Government 

Local  Government  .  .  .  . 

The  Army  and  the  Navy     . 

The  Church  ..... 

The  Tractarian  Movement  and  its  Results 

The  Protestant  Nonconformists 

The  Roman  Catholics 

The  Established  Church  and  the  Free  Church  in 

Scotland    .  . 

Material  Wealth       .... 
Steamboats   ..... 
Steam  Railways  and  other  Inventions 
Social  and  Industrial  Progress 
Architecture  ..... 
Painting,  Music,  and  Sculpture 
Natural  Science        .... 
Poetry  and  Prose      .... 
Education     ..... 


695 

695 
696 

697-698 
698 

698-699 
699 
700 

700 

701 

701 

702-703 

703 

704 

705 

705 
706-707 
707-708 


1820-1901.    Chapter  VII.   British  India  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century      ....    709-718 


1820. 

1820. 
1828-1835. 
1839-1842. 
1843  and  1845 
1849  and  1852 


1857. 

1858. 

1378-1880. 


The  Indian  and  Colonial  Empires  . 

The  Condition  of  British  India 

The  Condition  of  the  Indian  Vassal  States 

The  Governorship  of  Lord  William  Bentinck 

The  Afghan  War       .... 

The  Conquest  of  Sind  and  the  First  Sikh  War 
Annexations  of  the  Punjab  and  of  Lower 
Burma 
Dalhousie's  Doctrine  of  Lapse 
Lord  Canning  and  the  Indian  Mutiny 
End  of  the  East  India  Company  . 
Second  Afghan  War . 
India  at  the  End  of  Victoria's  Reign 


709 
710 
710 
711 
712 
712 

713 
7^3 
7H 
715 
716 
716 


CONTENTS 


XXXV 


DATE 

1783-1901. 


Chapter  VIII.    The  British  Colonies  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century  .  .    719-727 


British    Colonies    in    the    Latter    Part    of    the 

Eighteenth  Century 
Colonial  Expansion    during    the    Revolutionary 

and  Napoleonic  Wars 
Decay  of  the  West  Indies    . 
The  Emigration  Movement 
Phases  of  Colonial  Policy   . 
1840-1856.     Growth  of  Colonial  Independence 
Colonial  Federation 
The  North  American  Colonies 
The  Dominion  of  Canada    . 
The  Commonwealth  of  Australia 
South  Africa  . 

The  Boer  Republics 
The  Rand  Mines  and  the  Struggle  Ct  Boer  and 

Outlander 
The  Boer  War 

The  Establishment  of  British  Supremacy 
Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the 

Period 


1867. 
1901. 


1889. 


BOOK   IX 
1901-1918.     THE   HOUSE  OF  WINDSOR    . 
1901-1910.     Chapter  I.    The  Reign  of  Edward  VII 

The  Coburg-Gotha  succession  . 

Character  of  Edward  vn. 
1901-1902.     End  of  the  Boer  War 
1902-1910.     South  African  Settlement     . 

1910.     The  Federation  of  South  Africa 
1902-1905.     The  Balfour  Ministry 

1902.  Balfour's  Education  Act 

1903.  Irish  Land  Act 

1904.  Licensing  Act 
The  Isolation  of  England 

1903.     The  Convention  with  France 
1904-1905.     Russo-Japanese  War 

1905.  The  North  Sea  incident 
Edward  the  Peace  Maker 
Tariff  Reform 

1903.     Resignation  of  Chamberlain 

1905.  Resignation  of  Balfour 

1906.  Liberal  victory  at  Elections  and  Campbell- Banner 

man  Ministry 

1908.  The  Asquith  Ministry 
1906-1907.     Liberal  Education  bills— TheLiberalsandtheLords 

1909.  House  of  Lords  throws  out  the  Budget 

1910.  General  Election 
Death  of  Edward  vu. 


719 

720 

720-721 

721 

721 

722 
722 
723 
723 
723-724 
724 
724 

72$ 

726-727 

727 

727-728 


728-765 

728-739 

728 
729 
729 
73o 
730 
730 
73o 
731 
731 
732 
732 
732 
733 
733 
734 
734 
735 

735 
736 
736-738 
73s 
738 
739 


XXXVI 


CONTENTS. 


1910-1918.    Chapter  II.  George  V.  and  the  Great  War 


1910. 
1911. 
1911. 
1912. 

1912. 

1913-1914. 

1914. 

1909-1912. 

1912-1913. 

1914. 

1914. 

1914. 

1914. 

1914. 
1914-1917. 
1914-1917. 

1915. 
1915-1916. 

1916-1917. 
1916. 


1915-1916. 
1916. 

1916-1918. 

1917. 
1917. 
1917. 
1918. 
1918. 
1918. 
1918. 
1918. 
1918. 
1918. 
1916-1918. 


George  V.  and  the  House  of  Windsor 

The  Grown,  the  Dominions  and  India 

The  Second  Election  of  1910 

The  Parliament  Act  and  the  Lords'  Veto 

National  Insurance  Act 

Home  Rule,  Welsh  Disestablishment  and  Reform 

Bills 

The  Session  of  1912   .... 

Ulster  and  Home  Rule 

The  Ulster  Covenant  and  the  Amending  Bill 

Origin  of  the  Great  War 

Continental    Troubles.      Morocco,    the    Turkish 

Revolution,  and  the  Turko-Italian  War 
The  Balkan  League  and  its  Dissolution    . 
The  Crime  of  Serajevo  and  its  Consequences 
Britain  joins  the  war 
The  Invasion  of  France 
The  Battles  of  the  Marne  and  Aisne 
The  First  Battle  of  Ypres  . 
The  Western  Campaigns     . 
The  Campaigns  against  Russia 
The  Dardanelles  Expedition 
The  War  in  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  and  Mace 

donia         .... 
The  War  between  Italy  and  Austria 
The  battle  off  Jutland  and  the  Supremacy  of  the 

Seas  .... 

The  War  in  the  Dominions 
The  Submarine  Peril 
The  German  Policy  of  Ruthlessness 
The  Asquith  National  Ministry 
The  Dublin  Easter  Rebellion 
Lloyd  George  as  the  National  Leader 
The  Lloyd  George  Coalition  Ministry 
The  Organization  of  the  Nation  for  War 
Successes  and  Failures  in  the  West 
The  Eastern  Victories 
America  joins  the  War 
The  German  Spring  Offensive 
The  Unity  of  Command 
Foch  turns  the  Western  tide 
The  Submission  of  Turkey  and  Bulgaria 
The  Submission  of  Austria 
The  Reconquest  of  Northern  France  and  Flanders 
The  Armistice 
Home  Problems 
Ireland  and  Sinn  Fein 
The  Reform  Act  of  1918      . 
Education  and  National  Reconstruction 


PAGE 

740-765 

740 

740-741 

74i 

741-742 
742 

742-743 
743 

743-744 
744 

744-745 

745-746 
746-747 

747 
747-748 

748 
748-750 

750 
750-752 

752-753 
753-754 

754 

754 

755 
755 

755-756 
756 

756-757 
757 
757 

757-758 

o758 
758*759 

759 
759-76o 

760 
760-761 

761 

761 

762' 
762-763 

763 
763-765 
763-764 

764 
764-765 


LIST   OF    BIBLIOGRAPHIES 


Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the  Period,  up 

to  1066 

Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the  Period, 

1066-1215  ...... 

Books   recommended   for  the  further  study  of   the  Period 

1215-1399 

Books  recommended   for  the  further  study  of  the   Period 

1399-1485 

Books  recommended  for  the   further  study  of  the  Period 

1485-1603 

Books   recommended   for   the   further  study  of  the  Period 

1603-1714 

Books    recommended   for   the   further  study  of  the  Period 

1714-1820  ....'. 

Books  recommended  for  the  further  study  of  the  Period 

1820-1901 


PAOB 
80-8l 

158 
253 
307. 
418 

533 

639 

727-728 


LIST  OF   MAPS    AND    PLANS 


Roman  Britain  ..... 

South  Britain  after  the  English  Conquest  (about  607) 
Map  showing  position  of  Nectansmere 
The  Welsh  and  English  Lands  in  Offa's  Time 


The  Voyages  and  States  of  the  Norsemen  up  to  the  Tenth  Century      42 


England  after  Alfred  arid  Guthrum's  Peace,  886 

England  at  the  Death  of  Edward  the  Confessor 

The  Battle  of  Hastings  ..... 

The  New  Forest  .  .  .  .      '      . 

England  and  Wales  during  the  Norman  Period 

Plan  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury   .... 

France  in  the   Eleventh   and  Twelfth   Centuries,   showing  the 

Continental  Dominions  of  the  Norman  and  Angevin  Kings 
The  Crusade  of  Richard  1.       .  .  . 

Plan  of  Chateau  Gaillard        ..... 

The  Battle  of  Lewes    ...... 

The  Battle  of  Evesham  ..... 

Wales   and.  the   March,  showing   the   growth   of  the   power   of 

Llewelyn  (1246-1267) 

Wales  and  the  March  between  the  Conquest  under  Edward  1.  and 

the  Union  under  Henry  vin.  .... 

English  King's  Dominion  in  France  in  the  Thirteenth  Century 
The  Battle  of  Bannockburn    ..... 
Northern  England  and  Southern  Scotland  in  the   Fourteenth 

Century  ....... 

The  Crecy  Campaign,  1346      ..... 

The  Battle  of  Cre'cy     ...... 

The  Battle  of  Poitiers  . 

The  English  Dominions  in  France  after  the  Treaties  of  Bretigni 

and  Calais  (1360)       ...... 

Some  forms  of  Mediaeval  Architecture 

The  Agincourt  Campaign         .  .  .  .  .    ~ 

The  Battle  of  Agincourt  ..... 

France  in  1429 .  .  ,  , 


PAOB 

13 
23 

36 

37 


46 
67 

7i 
101 
109 
121 

128 
132 

i3S 
172 

*75 
176 

181 
190 


210 
213 
214 
218 

220 
246 
264 
266 
274 


xl 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  PLANS 


The  Battle  of  Towton  ..... 

England,  1377-1509,  illustrating  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 

The  French  and  Netherlandish  Borders  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 

The  Battle  of  Plodden 

Europe  at  the  Time  of  Charles  v. 

English  Bishoprics  under  Henry  vin. 

The  Battle  of  Pinkie   .... 

Scotland  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries 

The  Netherlands  in  the  Beginning  of  the  Seventeenth  Century 

Voyages  and  Settlements  of  the  Sixteenth  Century 

The  Course  of  the  Spanish  Armada   . 

Ireland  under  the  Tudors       .... 

Ireland  in  the  Seventeenth  Century 

England  and  Wales  during  the  Great  Civil  War — 

1.  May,  1643  .... 

2.  November,  1644  .... 
The  Battle  of  Marston  Moor  .... 
The  Battle  of  Naseby  ..... 
The  English  Colonies  in  North  America  under  Charles  ii. 
The  South  of  England,  1685-1689  . 
The  Battle  of  Blenheim  .... 
Europe  in  1713  ..... 
Scotland  and  the  North  of  England,  illustrating  the  Jacobite 

Risings  of  1689,  1715,  and  1745-1746 
New  England  and  New  France,  1755-1783    . 
The  Thirteen  Colonies  in  1765 
The  Battle  of  Trafalgar 
Europe  in  1810  .... 

The  Battle  of  Waterloo 
Europe  after  the  Congress  of  Vienna  (1815)  . 
Map  to  illustrate  the  Industrial  Revolution  . 
The  Neighbourhood  of  Sebastopol 
Egypt  and  the  Sudan  .... 
India  in  j.906   ..... 
South  Africa  in  1899   .... 
Map  of  the  European  Countries  engaged  in  the  Great  Wat 
Map  of  the  Operations  on  the  Western  Front 
The  British  Empire  in  1920  ..... 


LIST  OF   GENEALOGICAL  TABLES 


The  Chief  Northumbrian  Kings         .  ; 

The  Danish  Kings        .... 

The  House  of  Godwin  .... 

The  House  of  Leofric  .... 

The  Old  English  Kings  of  the  House  of  Cerdic 

The  Norman  and  Early  Angevin  Kings 

The  Provencals  and  Savoyards 

The  House  of  Lusignan 

The  Earls  of  Gloucester 

The  Last  Welsh  Princes 

The  Scottish  Kings,  showing  the  Chief  Claimants  in  1290 

The  French  Kings  of  the  Direct  Capetian  Line,  showing  Edward 

iii.'s  claim  .... 

The  English  Kings  from  John  to  Bichard  n. 
The  House  of  Lancaster,  including  the  Beauforts 
The  Valois  Kings  of  France,  and  the  Valois  Dukes  of  Burgundy 
The  House  of  York,  including  the  Mortimers  and  Staffords 
The  Nevilles     .... 
The  Greys  and  Woodvilles 
Charles  v.  and  the  Hapsburg  Kings  of  Spain 
The  Howards  and  Boleyns 
The  Dudleys    .... 
The  House  of  Tudor     . 
The  Cromwell  Family 
The  Spanish  Succession,  1700 
The  Stewart  Kings  in  Scotland  and  England 
The  Bourbon  Kings  of  France 
The  Buonaparte  Family 
The  Pitts  and  Grenvilles 
The  House  of  Brunswick-Hanover    . 


PAGE 

35 
6i 

65 
65 

72 

157 
163 
170 
171 
180 
187 

207 

254 
261 
269 
284 
294 
299 
325 
334 
358 
419 
472 
507 
534 
535 
616 

639 
640 


xli 


TABLE   OF   KINGS   AND   QUEENS 


CHIEF   KINGS   OF   NORTHTJMBRIA 


.Ethelfrith,  593-617 
Edwin,  627-6S3      . 
Oswald,  635-642     . 
Oswiu,  655-671       . 
Ecgfrith,  671-685  . 


FAGK 

27 

31-32 
32-33 

35 


CHIEF  KINGS  OF  MEBCIA 


Penda,  626-655      . 
Ethelbald,  716-757 
Offa,  757-796 
Cenulf,  796-821      . 


31-34 

36 

36-37 

38 


CHIEF   KINGS   OF  WESSEX 

Egbert,  802-839                              : 
Ethelwulf,  839-858            .... 
Ethelbald,  Eth'elbert,  and  Ethelred,  858-871      . 
Alfred,  871-899 


39-40 
41 
43 

44-49 


THE   OLD   ENGLISH  KINGS 


Edward  the  Elder,  899-924 
Athelstan,  924-940 
Edmund,  940-946 . 
Edred,  946-955       . 
Edwy,  955-959 
Edgar  the  Peaceful,  959-975 
Edward  the  Martyr,  975-978 
Ethelred  the  Unready,  978-1016 
Edmund  Ironside,  1016    . 
Cnut,  1017-1035    . 
Harold  Harefoot,  1035-1040 
Harthacnut,  1040-1042     . 
Edward  the  Confessor,  1042-1066 
Harold,  son  of  Godwin.  1066 


So-51 
51-52 

52 
52-53 

53 
54-55 
55-56 
57-59 

59 
59-6i 

61 

61 
62-66 
66-69 


xliii 


xliv 


TABLE   OF  KINGS  AND   QUEENS 


THE    NORMAN   KINGS 


William  I.,  the  Conqueror,  1066-1087 
William  n.,  Rums,  1087-1100      . 
Henry  i.,  1100-1135 
Stephen,  1135-1154 


PAGE 

82-93 
94-101 

I02-IIO 

111-115 


THE   HOUSE   OF   ANJ0U 


Henry  11.,  of  Anjou,  1154-1189 
Richard  1.,  1189-1199 
John,  1199-1216    . 
Henry  in.,  1216-1272 
Edward  1.,  1272-1307 
Edward  n.,  1307-1327 
Edward  111.,  1327-1377 
Richard  n.,  1377-1399 


1 16-130 
131-136 
137-135 
159-177 
178-197 
198-204 
205-227 
228-237 


THE  HOUSE  OF   LANCASTER 


Henry  iv.,  1399-1413 
Henry  v.,  1413-1422 
Henry  vi.,  1422-1461 

and  1470-1471 


255-260 
262-268 
270-283 
289-291 


THE  HOUSE   OF   YORK 


Edward  iv.,  1461-1470      . 
and  1471-1483 
Edward  v.,  1483    . 
Richard  in.,  1483-1485     . 


285-289     % 
291-293 
295-296 
296-299 


THE  HOUSE  OF   TUDOR 


Henry  vn.,  1485-1509 
Henry  vin.,  1509-1547 
Edward  vi.,  1547-1553 
Mary,  1553-1558    . 
Elizabeth,  1558-1603 


308-316 

3 1 7-35  * 
352-360 
361-367 
368-407 


THE   HOUSE   OF   STEWART 


James  1.,  1603-1625 
Charles  1.,  1625-1649 
The  Commonwealth,  1649-1653    . 
and  1659-1660    . 
Oliver  Cromwell,  Protector,  1653-1658 
Richard  Cromwell,  Protector,  1658-1659 
Charles  11.,  1660-1685 
James  11.,  1685-1688 
William  in.,  and  Mary  n.,  1689-1694  \ 
William  in.,  1689-1702      .  .       J 

Anne,  1702-1714     . 


420-434 
435-461 
462-467 
470-472 
467-470 
470 
473-488 
489-495 
496-504 
504-510 
5"-523 


TABLE   OF  KINGS  AND   QUEENS 
THE    HOUSE   OF   HANOVER 


George  i.,  1714-1727 
George  n.,  1727-1760 
George  in.,  1760-1820 
George  iv.,  1820-1830 
William  iv.,  1830-1837 
Victoria,  1837-1901 


THE  HOUSE  OF  WINDSOR 


Edward  vn.,  1901-1910 
George  v.,  1910- 


xlv 


536-545 
546-569 
570-625 
642-649 
650-656 
657-694 


728-739 
740-765 


BOOK  I 

BRITAIN  BEFORE    THE    NORMAN  CONQUEST 
(UP  TO   1066) 

CHAPTER   I 
PREHISTORIC  AND  CELTIC   BRITAIN 

Chief  Dates: 

?  330  B.C.    The  voyage  of  Pytheas. 

1.  There  are  few  surviving  written  records  of  the  doings  of  man  in 
the  British  Islands  which  are  much  earlier  than  the  Christian  era. 
Yet  the  modern  sciences  of  geology,  archaeology,  and  philology  prove 
that  these  islands  had  been  the  dwelling-place  of  human  beings  for 
many  centuries  previous  to  that  period.  The  earliest  certain  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  man  in  Britain  is  derived  from 
the  discovery  of  large  numbers  of  rudely  shaped  flint  ijthic  Aee°" 
implements.  Some  of  these  have  been  found  in  the 
gravels  of  river  drifts,  and  others  in  the  caves  where  early  man 
made  his  dwelling.  A  few  skulls,  discovered  along  with  such  primi- 
tive tools,  show  that  the  dwellers  in  this  remote  age  were  of  a  low 
intellectual  type.  Yet  the  survival  of  a  rude  but  spirited  drawing 
of  a  hor,se  on  a  flat  piece  ,of  bone  indicates  that  these  savages  had 
the  rudiments  of  an  artistic  sense.  The  age  in  which  they  lived  is 
called  the  palaeolithic,  or  old  stone  age.  There  is  little  proof  that 
the  men  of  this  age  had  any  connection  with  the  later  races  which, 
successively  inhabited  Britain. 

2.  Many  ages  passed  away,  and  more  abundant  evidence  is  found 
of  the  existence  of  man  in  Britain.      We  pass  from  the  palaeolithic 
to  the  neolithic,  or  new  stone  age,  where  the  roughly 
fashioned  tools  of  the  primitive  race  were  replaced  by   j^e  Age 
more  carefully   constructed    implements    of    smooth 
polished  store.      Such  neolithic  tools  include  arrow-heads,  sharp 
enough  to  transfix  an  enemy,  axe-heads  called  celts,  scrapers,  knives, 

B 


2  PREHISTORIC  AND   CELTIC  BRITAIN 

dress-fasteners,  and  saws.  The  care  of  the  men  of  this  period  for 
their  dead  is  indicated  by  the  solidly  built  barrows  of  long-  oval 
shape,  wherein  huge  stones,  piled  up  to  form  a  sepulchral  chamber 
for  a  whole  clan,  were  then  covered  in  with  great  mounds  of 
earth.  Numerous  remains  of  the  dead  found  in  these  resting- 
places  suggest  that  the  men  of  the  new  stone  age  were  short  in 
stature,  swarthy  in  complexion,  and  had  long  narrow  skulls  of  the 
type  called  dolichocephalic.  To  these  people  has  been 
Iberians  sometimes  given  the  name  of  Iberians,  because  they  have 

been  thought  akin  to  the  Basques,  the  original  inhabi- 
tants of  Iberia  or  Spain,  and  some  philologists  have  believed  that  a 
few  words  of  their  tongue  still  lurk  in  some  of  our  most  ancient 
place-names.  However  these  things  may  be,  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  blood  of  this  ancient  race  still  flows  in  the  veins 
of  many  of  those  now  dwelling  in  our  land. 

3.  The  Iberian  inhabitants  of  Britain  were  ultimately  attacked 
by  a  stronger  and  more  ingenious  race  called  the   Celts.     This 
people  belonged  to  the  great  Aryan  family,  whose 
language  was  the  origin  of  nearly  all  the  civilized' 
tongues  of  Europe,  and  of  those  of  a  considerable  part  of  western 
Asia.     Their  physical  characteristics  were  very  different  from  those 
of  their  short  and  swarthy  predecessors.     They  were  tall,  fair- 
skinned,  with  red  or  yellow  hair,  and  their  skulls  were  broader, 
shorter,  and  more  highly  developed,  belonging  to  the  type  called 
brachy cephalic.   They  came  to  Britain  in  two  great  waves  of  migra- 
tion.    The  earlier  Celtic  wave  deposited  in  our  islands  the  races 
called  Goidelic,  or   Gaelic,  which  are  now  represented 
Gofdels  kv  the  Irish,  the  Scottish  Highlanders,  and  the  Manx- 

men. The  second  migration  was  that  of  the  Brythonic 
peoples,  who  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Britons,  afterwards  called 

the  "Welsh,  as  well  as  of  the  Bretons  of  Brittany  and 
The  • 

Brythons        ^e  Cornishmen.    In  each  case  the  incoming  race  took 

possession  of  the  richer  and  more  fertile  southern  and 
eastern  parts  of  our  island,  and  drove  the  previous  inhabitants  into 
the  mountains  of  the  west  and  north.  The  Goidels  forced  the 
Iberians  back  into  these  regions,  and  were  then  in  their  turn  pushed 
westwards  and  northwards  by  the  incoming  Britons.  By  the  time 
that  our  real  knowledge  begins,  the  Britons  had  occupied  the  whole 
of  the  south  and  east,  and  the  mass  of  the  G-oidels  had  been  driven 
over  sea  to  Ireland,  and  to  the  barren  mountains  of  the  north  be- 
yond the  Forth  and  the  Clyde.  There  was  still,  however,  a  strong" 
Goidelic  element  along  the  western  coasts  of  southern  Britain, 


PREHISTORIC  AND   CELTIC  BRITAIN  3 

especially  in  the  south-west  peninsula,  which  now  makes  Cornwall 
and  Devonshire,  in  south  Wales,  and  in  the  lands  round  the 
Solway. 

4.  It  is  to  these  western  and  northern  lands  that  we  must  look 
if  we  would  study  the  older  populations  of  the  British  islands. 
The  Goidels,  when  driven  into  the  west,  seem  to  have  become 
amalgamated  with  the  Iberians  whom  they  had  earlier  pushed  into 
those  regions.   The  result  of  this  was  the  development  _ 

there  of  two  physical  types  which  have  survived  to  our  gamatlon  of 
own  days.  The  incoming  Celt  is  still  represented  Iberians 
in  Ireland,  Wales,  and  the  Scottish  Highlands  by  andCelts* 
occasional  tall,  fair  men ;  but  the  most  usual  type  in  those  districts 
is  that  of  a  short,  dark-haired,  dark-complexioned  race,  which  is 
probably  largely  derived  from  the  blood  of  the  pre-Celtic  inhabi- 
tants of  our  land.  But  for  both  types  alike,  the  Celtic  language 
and  the  Celtic  institutions  became  universal.  There  was,  and  is, 
however,  a  great  difference  between  the  Goidelic  speech  of  the 
earlier  Celtic  migration,  still  spoken  by  some  of  the  Irish,  Manx, 
and  Scottish  Highlanders,  and  the  Brythonic  tongue  of  the  later 
immigrants,  still  surviving  in  Welsh  and  Breton,  and,  till  the  nine- 
teenth century,  in  Cornish. 

5.  Civilization  now  steadily  progressed,  though  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  say  for  certain  whether  the  next  great  steps  forward  were 
the  work  of  the  earlier  or  of  the  later  race.  The  people's  increasing 
care  for  the  dead  led  them  to  erect  huge  circles  of  great  stones,*each 
resembling  the  stone  chamber  of  the  barrow,  stripped  of  its  mound 
of  earth,  and  piled  up  in  magnificent  order  in  mighty 
megalithtc  monuments.  Of  these,  Avebury  in  northern  monuments 
Wiltshire,  and  Stonehenge  on  Salisbury  plain,  are  the 

most  famous  examples.  After  the  coming  of  the  Celts  the  fashion 
of  burial  changed.  Instead  of  the  long  barrow,  destined  to  receive 
the  remains  of  many  warriors,  short  round,  barrows,  each  the  grave 
of  a  particular  chieftain  or  of  his  kin,  became  so  usual  as  to  be  ex- 
tremely numerous.  In  these  were  deposited  the  bodies,  or  some- 
times the  burnt  ashes,  of  the  dead,  and  along  with  them  were  put 
implements  of  stone  and  bronze,  ornaments  of  gold,  jet,  amber, 
and  glass,  and  pottery,  made  by  hand,  and  unglazed,  but  rudely 
ornamented,  and  polished  by  hard  rubbing. 

6.  When  this  stage  had  been  attained,  the  stone   Tne  Bronze 
age  was  over,  and  the  period  was  reached  when  the   andiron 
use  of  metals  was   known.     This   marked  an   enor-      ges* 
mous  advance  of  civilization.     First  came  the  bronze  age,  which 


4  PREHISTORIC  AND   CELTIC  BRITAIN 

was  ultimately  succeeded  by  the  iron  age,  which  has  been  going  on 
ever  since.  The  Groidel  came  to  Britain  in  the  age  of  bronze, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  iron  age  the  Britons  of  the  newer 
Celtic  migration  had  become  the  masters  of  the  southern  part  of 
our  island,  to  which  they  had  given  the  name  of  Britain. 

7.  The  Celts  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  our  island  to  attain 
a  respectable  level  of  civilization.     They  wore  clothes,  used  metal 

weapons,  and  delighted  in  gold  and  glass  ornaments. 
civnizatio10    TIiey  tilled  tlie  g'rotuldJ  opened  up  tin  and  lead  mines, 

and  began  to  trade  with  their  neighbours.  They  were 
brave,  high-spirited,  and  enterprising ;  had  a  real  love  of  beautiful 
things,  and  delighted  in  war  and  battle.  They  were  split  up  into 
different  tribes,  each  of  which  had  its  own  king,  though  occasionally 
several  tribes  would  join  together  under  a  common  king,  especially 
in  times  of  danger.  The  Celts  were  fickle  and  quarrelsome,  and 
seldom  remained  permanently  under  any  other  ruler  than  the 
chief  of  their  o~vn  tribe  or  clan.  The  gentry  went  to  battle  in  war- 
chariots,  drawn  by  horses,  which  they  managed  with  extraordinary 
skill.  They  protected  themselves  by  bronze  helmets  and  body 
armour,  often  beautifully  enriched  by  ornament.  Their  weapons 
were  the  sword,  the  buckler,  the  dart,  and  the  axe.  The  Celts  wor- 
shipped many  gods,  and  sought  to  propitiate  them  by  human  sacri- 
fices. They  held  in  great  honour  their  priests,  who  were  called 
Druids,  and  who  also  were  the  poets,  prophets,  and  judges  of  the 
people.  The  chief  wealth  of  the  nation  lay  in  their  flocks  and 
herds,  and  the  population  lived  for  the  most  part  in  scattered  home- 
steads. They  erected,  however,  as  refuges  in  times  of  war,  great 
earthworks  called  duns.  Favourite  sites  for  these  fortresses  were 
the  summits  of  high  hills,  from  which  they  could  overlook  the 
countryside.  The  majority  of  the  Britons  lived  upon  the  uplands, 
as  the  river  valleys  were  swampy,  unhealthy,  and  hard  to  cultivate ; 
but  some  of  them  were  fishermen  or  watermen,  like  the  dwellers 
in  the  lake  villages  discovered  near  Glastonbury.  There  was 
enough  intercourse  between  tribe  and  tribe  for  rough  trackways  to 
be  marked  out  over  the  downs  and  hills  from  one  settlement  to 
another. 

8.  Though  the  Druids  composed  verses,  wherein  they  com- 
memorated the  deeds  of  great  men,  and  set  forth  the  laws  and 
The  voyage  "wisdom  of  their  ancestors,  the  Britons  had  no  books, 
of  Pytheas,  so  that  no  account  of  them  from  their  own  point 
?  330  B.C.  0£  ^ew  j^g  been  nanaed  down  to  us.  The  earliest 
information  that  we  have  of  the  Britons  comes  from  the  travellers' 


PREHISTORIC  AND   CELTIC  BRITAIN  5 

tales  of  Greek  explorers  from  the  Mediterranean.  Somewhere 
about  330  B.C.,  some  merchants  of  the  Greek  colony  of  Massilia 
(now  called  Marseilles),  in  the  south  of  Gaul,  sent  a  mathematician 
named  Pytheas  to  explore  the  lands  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
Europe  in  the  hope  of  opening  up  a  trading  connection  with  them. 
Among  other  countries  Pytheas  visited  Britain,  sailing  through  the 
Channel  and  all  up  the  eastern  coast,  and  setting  down  his  observa- 
tions of  the  country  and  its  people  in  writings  of  which,  unluckily, 
only  fragments  have  come  down  to  us.  From  the  voyage  of 
Pytheas  a  trading  connection  between  Britain  and  the  commercial 
cities  of  the  Mediterranean  was  opened  up,  which  soon  became 
important.  There  were  also  close  dealings  between  the  Britons 
and  their  Celtic  kinsmen  the  Gauls,  their  nearest  continental  neigh- 
bours. Many  Gauls  settled  in  southern  Britain,  and  still  further 
raised  its  standard  of  refinement.  The  tin,  lead,  amber,  and  pearls 
of  the  Britons  found  a  ready  market  in  cities  like  Massilia,  and  by 
this  means  some  vague  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  Britain 
became  spread  among  civilized  people.  So  active  did  commerce 
become  that  the  Britons  struck  coins  of  gold  and  tin,  which  were 
rudely  fashioned  after  the  models  of  the  Greek  monies  of  the 
period.  So  intercourse  increased  and  civilization  grew  until,  nearly 
three  hundred  years  after  the  voyage  of  Pytheas,  the  advance 
of  the  Roman  Empire  brought  Britain  into  the  fuller  light  of 
history. 


X 


CHAPTER  II 
ROMAN  BRITAIN  (55  B.C-449  A.D.) 

Chief  Dates : 

55-54  B.C.  Julius  Caesar's  expeditions  to  Britain. 

43  A.D.  Claudius  begins  the  Roman  conquest  of  Britain. 

78-85.  Government  of  Agricola. 

122.  Hadrian's  Wall  built. 

297.  Diocletian  reorganizes  the  British  provinces. 

410.  Withdrawal  of  the  Roman  legions. 

1.  In  the  generations  preceding  the   Christian  era  the  Romans 
established  their  dominion  over  the  whole  of  the  lands  surrounding 
the   Mediterranean,  the  centre  of  the  civilization  of 
Julius  ^e  ancjen^  world.     The  last  step  of    this   conquest 

Expedition  was  the  subjugation  of  Gaul  by  Gaius  Julius  Caesar, 
to  Britain,  between  58  and  50  B.C.  Brought  by  his  triumphant 
progress  to  the  shores  of  the  Channel,  Caesar  learnt 
that  the  Britons  had  afforded  refuge  to  the  fugitives  from  his  arms 
in  Gaul,  and  believed  that  their  sympathy  with  their  continental 
brethren  would  make  it  harder  for  the  Romans  to  keep  Gaul 
quiet.  Accordingly  he  resolved  to  teach  the  Britons  the  might 
of  the  Roman  power,  and  in  55  B.C.  he  led  a  small  expedition 
over  the  straits  of  Dover,  and  successfully  landed  it  in  Kent, 
despite  the  vigorous  resistance  which  the  Britons  offered  to  his 
disembarkation.  Caesar  found,  however,  that  the  Britons  were 
stronger  than  he  thought,  and  that  he  had  not  brought  enough 
troops  to  accomplish  anything  great  against  them.  For  the  few 
weeks  that  he  remained  in  Britain,  he  did  not  venture  far  from 
the  coast.  Before  long  he  returned  to  Gaul,  convinced  that  he 
must  wipe  out  his  failure  by  conducting  a  stronger  army  to  England 
as  soon  as  he  could. 

2.  Next  year,  54  B.C.,  Caesar  landed  in  Britain  for  the  second 
time.     He  then  took  with  him  more  than  twice  as  many  soldiers  as 
on  the  previous  occasion.     Having  established  a  camp  on  the  coast, 
6 


55  B.C.]  ROMAN  BRITAIN  7 

he  marched  boldly  into  the  interior.     He  was  opposed  by  Cassivel- 
launus,  king"  of  the  tribes  dwelling  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Thames.     The  light-armed  Britons   shrunk   from  a 
pitched  battle  with  the  Romans,  and  failed  to  prevent  *Iu,ius, 
them  from  forcing  their  passage  over  the  Thames,   second  Ex- 
But  their  swift  war-chariots  hung  upon  the  Roman   pedition  to 
line  of  march,  threatened  to  destroy  Caesar's  camp  on   5£  %c' 
the  coast,  and  prevented  him  from  winning  any  very 
striking  triumphs.    However,  some  of  the  British  tribes  were  jealous 
of  Cassivellaunus.     Conspicuous  among  these  were  the.  Trinovantes, 
his  eastern  neighbours,  dwelling  in  what  is  now  Essex.     This  tribe 
sent  envoys  to  Caesar,  and  submitted  to  him.    Alarmed  at  this 
defection,    Cassivellaunus   also  made  his   peace  with  the  Roman 
general,  and  agreed  not  to  disturb  the  Trinovantes.     Some  of  the 
tribes  promised  to  yield  up  hostages  and  to  pay  tribute  to  the 
Romans.     Thereupon  Caesar  went  back  to  the  continent.     He  had 
not  even  attempted  to  conquer  Britain,  but  he  had  taught  the 
Britons  a  lesson,  and  had  prevented  them  from  harming    the 
Roman  power  in  GauL     The  most  enduring  result  of  Caesar's  visits 
is  to  be  found  in  the  description  of  Britain  and  the  Britons  which 
he  wrote  in  his  famous  Commentaries.     This  is  the  first  full  written 
account  of  our  island  that  has  come  down  to  us.     With  it  the 
continuous  history  of  our  land  begins. 

3.  For  ninety  years  after  Caesar's  landing  no  Roman  troops  were 
seen  in  Britain.  Increased  commerce  followed  upon  the  greater 
knowledge  which  Romans  and  Britons  now  had  of 

each  other.     The  Trinovantes,  who  remained  true  to   Britain, 
the  Roman  connection,  profited  by  it  to  make  them-   54  B.C.— 
selves  masters  of  most  of  south-eastern  Britain.    Their  *   * 

power  came  to  a  head  under  their  king  Cunobelinus,  the  Cymbeline 
of  Shakespeare  and  romance.  He  struck  coins 'which  closely 
imitated  those  of  the  contemporary  Romans,  made  Camulodunum 
(Colchester)  his  capital,  and  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  throw  off 
Roman  control.  One  of  his  brothers,  disgusted  at  being  supplanted, 
appealed  to  the  Romans  for  help,  but  his  valiant  son  Caractacus 
continued  his  policy  after  his  death.  Thus  strained  relations  en- 
sued between  the  Romans  and  the  Trinovantes.  The  promised 
tribute  was  not  paid ;  Gaulish  rebels  were  encouraged,  and  Gaulish 
fugitives  from  Roman  rule  received  once  more  a  welcome. 

4.  The  renewed  hostility  of  the  Britons  to  Rome  convinced  the 
Emperor  Claudius  that  the  only  way  of  making  Gaul  secure  was 
fcy  conquering  Britain.    Accordingly,  in  43  a.d.,  Claudius  sent 


8  ROMAN  BRITAIN.  [43- 

a  strong  army  to  the  island,  under  Aulus  Plantius.  "With  his 
The  Roman  landin8'  the  systematic  Roman  conquest  of  Britain 
conquest  of  began.  Plautius  soon  made  such  progress  that  Claudius 
Britain.  himself  visited  the  country,  and  witnessed  his  soldiers 

taking  by  storm  Caractacus'  stronghold  of  Camulodunum,  which 
Aulus  soon  became  a  Roman  colony — the  first  in  Britain. 

Plautius,  When  Plautius  returned  to  Rome  in  47,  he  had  made 
43-47  A.D.  himself  master  of  the  south  and  midlands  as  far  as 
the  Humber  and  the  Severn.  The  next  governor,  Ostorius  Scapula 
Ostorius  -(47-52),  strove  to  subdue  the  Silures  and  Ordo vices, 
Scapula,  the  fierce  tribes  that  dwelt  in  the  hills  of  southern  and 
47-52.  central  Wales,  among  whom  Caractacus  found  a  refuge 

after  the  conquest  of  his  own  district.  The  Roman  general  defeated 
Caractacus  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  forced  In'm  to  flee  northwards 
to  the  Brigantes  of  the  modern  Yorkshire.  Surrendered  by  these 
to  the  Romans,  the  British  king  was  led  in  triumph  through  Rome. 
His  brave  and  frank  bearing  won  the  favour  of  Claudius,  who  per- 
mitted him  to  end  his  days  in  honourable  retirement.  But  the 
conquest  of  the  Welsh  hills  was  not  lasting,  and  all  the  Romans 
could  do  was  to  establish  a  ring  of  border  garrisons  at  Deva 
(Chester),  Yiroconium  ("Wroxeter),  and  Isca  Silurum  (Caerleon-on- 
Usk),  whereby  the  wild  mountaineers  were  restrained. 

5.  The  Roman  conquest  of  Britain  was  further  advanced  by 
the  governor,  Suetonius  Paullinus  (59-62),  who  in  61  completed 
Suetonius  ^e  subjugation  of  the  hill-tribes  of  the  west  by  the 
Paullinus,  reduction  of  Mona  or  Anglesey,  the  last  refuge  of 
59-62.  j^Q  Druids.     A  sanguinary  insurrection  of  the  Iceni, 

the  clan  inhabiting  what  is  now  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  recalled 
Paullinus.  The  Icenian  King,  Prasutagos,  who  had  ruled  under 
Roman  over-lordship,  made  the  Emperor  his  co-heir,  jointly  with 
his  two  daughters.  On  his  death  the  Romans  took  possession  of 
his  lands,  brutally  ill-treated  his  daughters,  and  cruelly  scourged  his 
widow,  Boudicca  (Boadicea),  who  strove  to  maintain  their  rights. 
The  indignant  tribesmen  took  advantage  of  the  governor's  absence 
to  rise  in  revolt.  Camulodunum  was  stormed,  and  all  the  Romans 
within  it  put  to  the  sword.  A  like  fate  befell  Verulamium  (St. 
Albans),  the  seat  of  Roman  government,  and  Londinium  (London), 
the  chief  commercial  centre  of  Britain.  The  legion  that  held  the 
northern  frontier  hurried  southwards,  but  was  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
Iceni  in  the  open  field.  At  last  Paullinus,  fresh  from  his  triumph 
at  Mona,  marched  eastward  at  the  head  of  the  strong  force  which 
had  held  down  the  disturbed  western  frontier.     Defeated  in  a 


-i  22. J  ROMAN  BRITAIN  9 

pitched  battle,  Boudicca  avoided  captivity  and  shame  by  drinking 
off  a  bowl  of  poison.  The  suppression  of  the  rebellion  completed 
the  reduction  of  all  Britain  south  of  the  Humber  and  east  of  the 
Dee  and  Usk.  But  the  mountaineers  of  what  is  now  called  Wales 
took  advantage  of  Paullinus'  withdrawal  to  renew  their  freedom, 
and  for  many  years  th.6  Roman  advance  northwards  and  westwards 
was  stayed. 

6.  The  next  forward  movement  was  under  Julius  Agricola,  a 
famous  statesman  and  general,  who  was  governor  of  Britain  from 
78  to  85.  Agricola's  son-in-law,  the  famous  historian,  juhus 
Tacitus,  wrote  a  life  of  his  father-in-law  in  such  detail  Agricola, 
that  we  learn  more  of  his  doings  in  Britain  than  of  78~85* 
those  of  any  commander  since  Julius  Caesar.  Agricola's  first 
military  exploit  was  to  complete  the  subjugation  of  the  hill-tribes 
of  the  west.  Thereupon  he  turned  his  arms  northwards  and  sub- 
dued the  fierce  Brigantes,  establishing  a  new  camp  at  Eburacum 
(York),  which  soon  became  the  chief  centre  of  the  Roman  power. 
Within  the  next  few  years  he  seems  to  have  advanced  still  further 
northwards,  until  he  found  a  natural  barrier  in  the  narrow  isthmus 
which  separates  the  Firth  of  Forth  and  Clyde,  where  he  erected  a 
line  of  forts.  Not  contented  with  this,  Agricola  advanced  beyond 
this  line  into  the  mountains  of  northern  Scotland,  whose  wild  in- 
habitants, called  then  the  Caledonians,  opposed  him  vigorously 
under  their  chieftain  G-algacus.  At  last,  in  84,  Agricola  won  a 
victory  over  Galgacus  at  an  unknown  place  called  Mons  Grawpius. 
After  this  he  circumnavigated  the  north  coast  of  Scotland  with  a 
fleet,  and  even  talked  of  conquering  Ireland.  Next  year,  however, 
he  was  recalled,  and  his  successors  took  up  a  less  enterprising 
policy.  Even  more  important  than  Agricola's  victories  were  the 
efforts  he  made  to  civilize  the  Britons  and  spread  Roman  fashions 
among  them.  The  sons  of  the  chieftains  learned  to  speak  Latin, 
adopted  the  Roman  dress,  and  followed  their  conquerors'  habits  of 
life. 

7.  South  Britain  remained  hard  to  hold.     A  revolt  annihilated 
the  legion  stationed  at  York,  and  about  122  the  wise  Emperor 
Hadrian,   abandoning   the   northern    regions,   which   Tlie  ^ 
Agricola  had  claimed  as  part  of  the  province,  erected   Roman 

a  solid  wall  of  stone,  fortified  by  frequent  forts,  to   walls« 
form   a   scientific    frontier    for  the    region   solidly  held    by  the 
Romans.     The  line  chosen  for  this  purpose  ran  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Solway  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne — roughly  speaking,  from 
Carlisle  to  Newcastle — a  distance  of  more  than  seventy  miles.     If 


IO  ROMAN  BRITAIN  [143- 

the  still  narrower  frontier-line  from  Clyde  to  Forth  were  too 
remote  to  be  held  with  safety,  the  limits  thus  chosen  were  the  best 
that  could  be  found.  After  nearly  seventeen  centuries  the  sub- 
stantial remains  of  this  great  work,  stretching  across  the  high  hills 
that  separate  the  valleys  of  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway,  still  con- 
stitute by  far  the  most  majestic  memorial  of  the  Roman  power 
in  Britain.  In  143,  Lollius  Urbicus,  the  governor  of  Britain 
under  the  Emperor  Antoninus  Pius,  went  back  to  the  limits  once 
conquered  by  Agricola,  and  erected  a  new  boundary  wall  between 
the  Forth  and  the  Clyde.  Built  of  sods  laid  on  a  basement  of  stone, 
the  northern  wall  of  Antoninus  was  a  much  less  solid  structure  than 
the  wall  of  Hadrian.  It  soon  became  unimportant,  as  the  Romans 
made  few  attempts  to  occupy  the  barren  moorlands  that  take 
up  most  of  the  region  between  the  two  walls.  Occasionally  the  old 
aggressive  spirit  revived,  and  notably  between  208  and  211,  when 
the  able  Emperor  Septimius  Severus  spent  four  years  in  Britain, 
and,  like  Agricola,  waged  fresh  campaigns  against  the  Caledonians. 
On  his  death,  at  Eburacum,  the  Roman  energies  relapsed,  and  thus 
the  wall  of  Hadrian  became  the  permanent  frontier  of  Roman 
Britain. 

8.  Roman  rule,  thus  established  by  Agricola  and  Hadrian, 
lasted  in  Britain  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.  At  first 
Roman  Roman  Britain  consisted  of  a  single  'province,  ruled, 

divisions  of  like  all  the  frontier  districts,  by  a  legate  of  the 
Britain.  Emperor.      Severus    divided    the   country  into    two 

provinces,  called  Upper  and  Lower  Britain  (Britannia  Superior 
and  Britannia  Inferior),  whose  boundaries  are  not  at  all  clear. 
At  last,  the  famous  emperor,  Diocletian,  the  second  founder  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  included  Britain,  about  297,  in  his  general  scheme 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  provinces.  The  number  of  British 
provinces  was  increased  to  four,  Britannia  Prima,  Britannia  Se- 
cunda,  Flavia  Csesariensis,  and  Maxima  CsesaHensis.  To  these  a 
fifth,  Valentia,  was  afterwards  added.  We  are  almost  entirely  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  situation  of  these  provinces.  A  special  novelty  of 
Diocletian's  reforms  was  the  bringing  together  of  neighbouring 
provinces  into  larger  administrative  divisions,  called  Dioceses  and 
Praetorian  Prsefectures.  All  British  provinces  were  joined  together 
in  the  diocese  of  Britain,  ruled  by  a  vicar,  while  the  diocese  of 
Britain  was  but  a  part  of  the  great  praetorian  prefecture  of  the 
Gauls  which  extended  over  the  whole  of  the  west.  This  system 
lasted  as  long  as  the  Roman  power. 

9.  The  Roman  occupation  of  Britain  was  mainly  military.    The 


-297.]  ROMAN  BRITAIN  1 1 

land  was  strongly  held  by  a  garrison  of  three  legions,  each  con- 
sisting  of  about  5000  regular  troops,  all  Roman  citizens. 
One    legion,    the    Sixth,    had    its    headquarters    at   gapPi°JSfn 
Eburacum,  while  the   Second  was  quartered  at  Isca 
Silurum,  and  the  Twentieth  at  Deva,  in  positions  which  they  had 
held  from  the  first  century  onwards.     Besides  these  regular  troops, 
a  large  number  of  irregular  auxiliaries  garrisoned  the  wall  of 
Hadrian  and  the  detached  forts  of  the  north.     Both  legions  and 
auxiliaries  were   largely  recruited  on  the  continent,  and    most 
Britons  who  wished  to  serve  the  emperor  were  drafted  to  fight 
upon  the  Rhine  or  the  Danube.     Well-constructed  roads,  paved 
with  stone,  ran  straight  from  garrison  to  garrison,  and  also  served 
as  avenues  of   commerce.     The  most  famous  of  the 
Roman  roads  of  Britain  was  the  Wailing  Street,  which   ^^^ 
ran  from  the  coast  at  Dubrse  (Dover)  to  Londinium, 
and  thence  by  Verulamium  to  Viroconium,  from  which  point  a 
branch  went  south  to  Isca,  while  the  main  road  proceeded  to  Deva, 
where  it  sent  a  branch  to  Segontium  (Carnarvon).     From  Deva, 
Watling  Street  was  continued  eastwards  to  York,  and  thence  to 
the  frontier.    The  Ermine  Street,  the  central  part  of  the  road  that 
connected  Eburacum  with  Lindum  (Lincoln),  Camulodunum,  and 
Londinium,  was  only  less  famous  ;  while  the  Watling  Street  was 
crossed  diagonally  by  a  third  great  artery,  called  the  Fosse  Way, 
which  went  from  Lindum  to  Isca  Dumnoniorum  (Exeter).    A 
fourth  road,  named  ATceman  Street,  connected  Camulodunum  and 
Verulamium  with  the  watering-place  of  Aquas  Sulis  (Bath). 

10.  Along  the  chief  routes  grew  up  walled  towns,  which,  at 
least  in  the  south  and  east,  were  not  wholly  military  in  character. 
Under  the  strong  Roman  peace,  marshes  were  drained,  poman 
forests  cleared,  and  commerce  furthered.  Britain  be-  civilization 
came  one  of  the  chief  granaries  of  Europe;  and  its  in  Britain, 
iron,  tin,  and  lead  mines  were  extensively  developed.  Salt-works 
were  opened,  and  pottery  and  fine  glass  were  made.  Many  Roman 
officials,  soldiers,  and  traders  spread  the  use  of  the  Latin  tongue, 
and,  at  least  in  the  southern  and  eastern  parts  of  the  province,  the 
upper  classes  among  the  Britons  themselves  learnt  to  talk  Latin, 
and  were  proud  to  be  considered  as  Romans.  But  the  Romans 
never  romanized  Britain  as  they  had  romanized  Gaul.  The  best 
proof  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  Celtic  tongue  continued  to  be 
spoken  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  as  is  shown  by  its  continuance 
in  Wales  to  this  day.  In  Gaul,  on  the  other  hand,  the  use  of  Latin 
became  universal,  and  quite  displaced  the  ancient  Gaulish  language. 


12  ROMAN  BRITAIN  [287. 

11.  During  the  fourth  century  Christianity  became  the  religion 
of  the  Romans,  and  Constantine,  the  first  Christian  emperor 
The  Romano-  (306-337),  first  took  up  the  government  of  the  Empire 
British  at  Eburacum,  where  his  father  had  died.  Even  before 
Church.  -fljjg  tbere  had  been  Christians  in,  Britain,  and  during 
the  last  persecution  of  the  Christian  Church  by  the  Emperor 
Diocletian  (284-305),  several  British  martyrs  gave  up  their  lives 
for  the  faith.  The  most  famous  of  these  was  Alban,  slain  at 
Verulamium,  where  in  after  years  a  church  was  erected  in  his 
honour  that  gave  the  Roman  city  its  modern  name  of  St.  Albans. 
During  the  fourth  century  we  know  that  there  were  bishops  at 
Londinium,  Lindum,  and  Eburacum,  many  churches  and  monasteries, 
and  an  active  and  vigorous  ecclesiastical  life.  The  British  Church 
became  strong  enough  to  send  out  missionaries  to  other  lands,  of 
whom  the  most  famous  were  St.  Patrick,  who  completed  the  con- 
version of  the  Irish  to  the  faith,  and  St.  Ninian,  who  first  taught 
the  Caledonians,  or  Picts,  the  Christian  religion.  Britain  even  had 
a  heretic  of  its  own  in  Pelagius,  who  denied  the  doctrine  of  original 
sin,  and  made  himself  very  famous  all  over  the  Roman  world  as  the 
foe  of  St.  Augustine,  the  great  African  father.  Prom  the  British 
Church  is  directly  descended  the  Welsh  Church,  and  less  directly 
the  Churches  of  Ireland  and  Scotland.  By  its  means  civilization  was 
extended  into  regions  which,  though  inaccessible  to  the  Roman 
arms,  were  brought  by  Roman  missionaries  into  the  Christian  fold. 

12.  Gradually  the  Roman  Empire  decayed,  and  Britain  suffered 
much  from  its  growing  weakness.     Towards  the  end  of  the  third 

century  the  legions  garrisoning  distant  provinces  grew 
the  Roman  ou^  °f  hand,  and,  without  regard  for  the  central  power 
power  in         in  Italy,  made  and  unmade  emperors  of  their  own. 

Thus  in  287,  Carausius,  a  Roman  admiral,  allied  him- 
self with  bands  of  pirates,  received  the  support  of  the  soldiers, 
seized  the  government  of  Britain,  and  strove  to  make  himself 

master  of  the  whole  Roman  world.     He  conquered 

U£LP£LUS1US 

287-293,  '      Park  °f  northern  Gaul,  but  in  293  was  slain  by  his 
and  own  chief  minister,  Allectus,  who  ruled  over  Britain 

293^296'  until  he  was  slain  in  296.  It  was  to  put  down  such 
disorders  that  Diocletian  carried  out  his  reforms  in 
the  administration,  and  Constantine,  succeeding  after  a  time  to 
Diocletian's  power,  continued  his  general  policy,  though  he  took  up 
a  different  line  as  regards  religion.  The  reforms  of  Diocletian  and 
the  recognition  of  Christianity  by  Constantine  kept  the  Roman 
Empire  together  for  a  century  longer. 


ROMAN  BRITAIN 


13 


ROMAN  BRITAIN 


EnjcryWaUcti  k- 


14  ROMAN  BRITAIN  [284- 

13.  Fresh  troubles  soon  arose,  which,  fell  with  speeial  force  on  a 
remote  province  like  Britain.     Despite  the  frontier  wall,  bands  of 

fierce  Caledonians,  by  this  time  more  often  called  Picts, 
Barbarian  raided  at  their  will  the  northern  parts  of  the  province, 
and  the  *  Swarms  of  Irishmen,  then  generally  called  Scots, 
efforts  to  similarly  plundered  the  western  coasts  and  effected 
them  off.         large  settlements  in  regions  so  wide  apart  as  Cornwall, 

Wales,  and  Galloway.  An  even  worse  danger  came 
from  the  east,  where  swarms  of  pirates  and  adventurers  from  North 
Germany,  called  Saxons  by  Romans  and  Britons,  devastated  the 
coasts  of  the  North  Sea  and  Channel.  To  ward  off:  these  invaders 
the  Romans  set  up  a  new  military  organization.  A  new  military 
officer  was  appointed,  called  Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore  (Comes  litoris 
Saxonici),  whose  special  duty  it  was  to  protect  the  region  specially 
liable  to  these  invasions.  A  series  of  forts,  stretching  from  the 
Wash  to  Sussex,  formed  the  centres  of  the  Roman  defence  against 
the  pirates ;  and  the  majestic  ruins  of  Rutupiae  (Richborough) 
in  Kent,  Anderida  (Pevensey)  in  Sussex,  and  Gariannonum  (Burgh 
Castle)  in  Suffolk,  show  the  solid  strength  of  these  last  efforts  to 
uphold  the  Roman  power.  At  the  same  time  the  northern  defence 
was  reorganized,  and  the  troops  garrisoning  the  wall  of  Hadrian 
were  put  under  another  high  military  officer,  called  the  Duke  of  the 
Britains  {Dux  Britanniarum),  while  the  legionary  army  in  its  camps 
was  commanded  by  the  Count  of  the  Britains  (Comes  Britanniarum). 
All  these  military  changes  date  from  the  reign  of  Diocletian,  and 
were  parts  of  his  great  scheme  for  reinvigorating  the  empire. 

14.  Early  in  the  fifth  century  the  Roman  Empire  upon  the  con- 
tinent was  overrun  by  fierce  German  tribes,  anxious  to  find  new 

homes  for  themselves.  The  settlement  of  the  Franks 
drawaf  of  *n  northern  Gaul  cut  off:  Britain  from  the  heart  of  the 
the  Roman  empire,  and  Rome  and  Italy  itself  were  threatened, 
legions,  With  the  Germans  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  it  became 

impossible  for  the  emperors  to  find  the  men  and  money 
necessary  for  keeping  up  their  authority  in  a  distant  land  like 
Britain.  After  410,  the  year  which  saw  the  sack  of  Rome  by 
Alaric  the  Goth,  the  Romans  ceased  to  send  officials  and  troops 
to  Britain.  Henceforth  the  Britons  were  left  to  look  after  them- 
selves, and  their  entreaties  to  the  emperors  to  help  them  in  their 
distress  were  necessarily  disregarded. 

15.  Roman  rule  had,  however,  lasted  so  long  in  Britain  that 
the  upper  classes  at  least  considered  themselves  Romans,  and 
strove  to  carry  on  the  government  after  the  Roman  fashion.     To 


-449-1  ROMAN  BRITAIN  1 5 

them  it  did  not  seem  that  Britain  had  ceased  to  be  Roman :.  but 
rather  that  they  as  Romans  had  to  carry  on  Roman  rule  them- 
selves, without  the  help  of  the  emperor  or  the  other 
districts  of  the  empire.    It  -was  soon  found,  however,   lej£  ^  their 
that  the  Britons  were  not  romanized  enough  to  be   own  re- 
able  to  maintain  the  Roman  system.     The  leaders  did  ^^[f  „' 
not  work  together,  and  gradually  the  old  Celtic  tribal 
spirit  revived  in  a  fashion  that  made  united  action  and  organized 
government  very  difficult. 

16.  Before  long  southern  Britain  "began  to  split  up  into  little 
tribal  states,  and  this  break  up  of  unity  made  it  possible  for  the 
barbarians,  who  had  been  withstood  with  difficulty  all  mjj  pjcts 
through  the  previous  century,  to  carry  everything  Scots,  and 
before  them.  The  Picts  crossed  the  Roman  wall,  and  Saxons- 
plundered  and  raided  as  they  would.  The  Scots  from  Ireland 
established  themselves  along  the  west  coast,  and  besides  other 
settlements,  effected  so  large  a  conquest  of  the  western  Highlands 
and  islands  outside  the  northern  limits  of  the  old  provinces  that 
a  new  Scotland  grew  up  on  British  soil.  Even  more  dangerous 
were  the  incursions  of  the  Saxon  invaders  in  the  east.  These  were 
no  longer  simply  plunderers,  but,  like  the  Franks  and  Goths  on 
the  continent,  wished  to  establish  new  homes  for  themselves  in 
Britain.  Before  their  constant  incursions  the  Britons  were 
gradually  forced  to  give  way.  Within  forty  years  of  the  with- 
drawal of  the  last  Roman  governors,  the  process  of  German 
conquest  had  begun. 

17.  The  barbarian   conquest  went  on  gradually  for  about  a 

century  and  a  half,  and  by  the  end  of  it  nearly  every  trace  of 

Roman'  influence  was  removed.     The  ruins  of  Roman    „ 

Permanent 
towns,  villas,  churches,  and  public  buildings  ;  the  still   results  of 

abiding  lines  of  the  network  of  Roman  roads ;  the  con-  Roman  rule 
tinuance  of  the  Christian  faith  among  the  free  Britons ; 
a  few  Roman  words  still  surviving  in  the  language  of  the  Celtic- 
speaking  Britons,  and  a  few  place-names  (such  as  street  from  strata) 
among  their  Teutonic  supplanters,  were  almost  all  that  there  was 
to  prove  the  abiding  traces  of  the  great  conquering  people  which 
had  first  brought  our  island  into  relation  with  the  main  stream  of 
ancient  civilization. 


CHAPTER   III  # 

THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN 
BRITAIN   (449-607) 

Chief  Dates : 

449.    Jutes  established  in  Kent. 
516.    Battle  of  Mount  Badon. 
577.    Battle  of  Deorhara. 
607.    Battle  of  Chester. 

1.  The  Teutonic  invaders,  who  began  to  set  up  new  homes  for 
themselves  in  Britain  after  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  came 
_  _  .  .  from  northern  Germany.  Their  original  homes  were 
conquest  of  along  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea,  the  lower  courses 
Southern        0f  the  Elbe  and  Weser,  and  the  isthmus  that  connects 

the  Danish  peninsula  with  Germany.  Though  all 
were  very  similiar  in  their  language  and  manners,  they  were  divided 
into  three  different  tribes — the  Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Angles. 

Of  these  the  Jutes  were  the  least  important,  though 

they  were  the  first  to  settle  in  our  island.  They  are 
generally  said  to  have  come  from  Jutland,  the  Danish  peninsula, 
which  used  to  be  explained  as  meaning  the  land  of  the  Jutes. 
But  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  this  view,  and 
some  people   now  believe   that  the   Jutes   came  from  the  lower 

Weser,  to  the  west  of  the  other  colonizers  of  Britain. 

The  Saxons  came  from  the  lower  Elbe,  and  were  so 
numerous  a  group  of  tribes  that  before  long  nearly  all  the  peoples 

of  North  Germany  were  called  Saxons.  The  Angles 
Aneles  lived  to  the  north  of  the  Saxons,  in  the  region  now 

called  Holstein.  So  many  of  them  crossed  over  to 
Britain  that  their  name  soon  disappeared  from  Germany  altogether. 
2.  Each  of  the  invading  tribes  included  many  small  states,  ruled 
by  petty  kings  or  by  elected  magistrates,  called  aldermen.  The  new- 
comers had  no  common  name  and  no  common  interests.  Each  little 
group  lived  in  a  village  apart  from  their  neighbours,  and  all  of  them 
were  very  warlike,  fierce,  and  energetic.  They  had  dwelt  farther 
16 


449  ]      ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN       1 7 

away  from  the  Romans  than  the  other  barbarian  invaders  of  the 
empire,  and  were  therefore  much  less  influenced  by  Roman  civi- 
lization than  nations  like  the  Franks  and  the  Goths,  ^he  institu- 
For  that  reason  they  remained  heathens,  worshipping  tions  of  the 
Woden,  Thor,  and  the  other  battle-loving  gods  of  the  lnvadePS« 
old  Germans.  They  had  little  of  the  respect  for  the  Roman 
Empire  which  made  the  Teutonic  conquerors  of  Gaul  and  Italy  eager 
to  be  recognized  by  the  emperors,  and  quick  to  learn  many  of  the 
Roman  ways.  It  resulted  from  this  that  they  made  a  much  cleaner 
sweep  of  Roman  institutions  than  did  their  brethren  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  that  the  more  since  the  Britons  fought  against  them  more 
vigorously  and  for  a  longer  time  than  the  Romans  of  Gaul  or  Italy 
against  their  invaders.  Yet  their  conquest  of  Britain  is  but  a  part 
of  that  general  movement  called  the.  Invasion  of  the  Barbarians, 
or  the  Wandering  of  the  Nations,  which  everywhere  broke  down  the 
Roman  power  in  western  Europe.  In  fact,  this  was  done  more 
completely  in  Britain  than  anywhere  else. 

3.  The  invaders  of  Britain  had  no  common  name  for  themselves. 
Since  the  fourth  century  the  Romans  and  Britons  had  called  them 
all  Saxons,  and  to  this  day  the  Celtic  peoples  of  the  Th  heein- 
land,  the  Welsh,  the  Irish,  and  the  Highland  Scots,  nings  of 
still  continue  the  Roman  custom  in  their  own  tongues.  Eng!&nd. 
But  when  the  invaders  had  settled  in  Britain,  and  had  begun  to  find 
the  need  of  a  common  word  to  describe  them  all,  they  used  the 
word  Angle  as  a  general  name.  Angle  is  only  another  form  of 
English,  and  as  this  has  remained  ever  since  the  name  of  all  the 
new  settlers  and  their  descendants,  it  is  perhaps  better  for  us  to 
call  them  English  from  the  first.  They  are,  however,  sometimes 
styled  the  Anglo-Saxons — that  is,  the  people  formed  by  the  union 
of  the  Angles  and  Saxons.  For  convenience'  sake  we  shall  use 
the  word  "  English "  in  this  broader  sense,  and  keep  the  term 
"  Angle  "  for  the  tribes  who  shared  with  the  Jutes  and  Saxons  in 
the  conquest  of  Britain.  The  parts  of  Britain  in  which  the  new- 
comers, whether  Angle,  Jute,  or  Saxon,  settled,  were  henceforth 
England — that  is,  land  of  the  English — and  they  were  the  fore- 
fathers of  most  modern  Englishmen.  As  time  went  on,  however, 
many  people  of  British  descent  began  to  speak  the  English  tongue 
and  regard  themselves  as  English  ;  and  nowadays  a  great  many 
Englishmen  are  in  no  wise  descended  from  the  old  English. 

5.  We  know  very  little  of  the  fashion  in  which  the  English 
tribes  came  to  Britain.  There  are  famous  legends  of  some  aspects 
of  the  conquest,  but  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  they  are  true 

c 


1 8       ENGLISH  CONQ UEST  OF  SO UTHERN  BRITAIN     [449- 

or  not,  as  they  are  first  told  many  hundred  years  after  the  event. 
There  is  a  well-known  story  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  new- 
comers in  Britain.  Vortigern,  one  of  the  British  kings,  we  are 
told,  followed  the  fashion  of  the  Romans  of  the  continent,  who 
called  in  German  warriors  to  help  them  to  fight  against  their 
enemies.  Attracted  by  the  high  pay  that  he  offered,  a  tribe  of 
The  Jutes  Jutes,  headed  by  their  dukes,  the  brothers  Hengist 
in  Kent,  449,  and  Horsa,  came  to  the  aid  of  Vortigern  against 
3f  wrh<htSle  ^c^s  an(^  Scots.  But  when  they  had  done  their  work, 
instead  of  going  home,  they  resolved  to  settle  in  the 
land  of  the  Britons.  In  449  they  chased  away  the  Britons,  and 
established  themselves  in  Kent,  which  thus  became  the  first  English 
settlement  in  Britain.  Before  long  Kent  became  a  kingdom,  and 
Hengist  and  Horsa  were  its  first  kings.  Some  years  later  another 
Jutish  settlement  was  effected  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  on  the  south 
coast  of  what  is  now  called  Hampshire.  These  were  the  only 
Jutish  conquests,  and  the  very  name  of  Jute  was  soon  forgotten. 
Though  Kent  long  remained  a  separate  kingdom,  the  Jutes  of 
Wight  became  absorbed  in  the  larger  population  of  Saxon  settlers 
who  established  themselves  all  around  them. 

5.  The  Saxons  conquered  and  settled  southern  and  south-eastern 
Britain.     The  first  Saxon  settlement  was  made  in  477,  when  a  chief- 
tain named  JElle  set  up  the  kins-dom  of  Sussex — that 

TV10  Qavnn 

settlements.   *s'  South  Saxony — in  the  district  that  is  represented 

by  the  later  county  of  the  name.     A  very  famous 

incident  of  .ZElle's  conquest  was  the  storming  of  the  old  Soman 

fortress  of  Anderida  (Pevensey),  one  of  the  strongholds  set  up 

in    the    fourth    century    to    protect  the    south  coast  from  the 

Saxon  pirates.    At  last  it  was  to  succumb  to  the  fierce 

assaults  of  their  descendants.     Before  long,  JElle  and 

his  men  had  set  up  new  homes  for  themselves  in  the  land  of  their 

choice.     The  great  and  pathless  oak  forest  of  the  Weald  cut  them 

off  from  the  Jutes,  who  settled  to  the  east  and  west,  and  from 

other  Saxon  tribes  that  later  sailed  up  the  Thames  and  established 

the  little  kingdom  of  Surrey  to  their  north.    A  more 

important  conquest  began  in  495,  when  the  Saxon 

chiefs,  Cerdic  and  his  son  Cynric,  landed  at  the  head  of  Southampton 

water  and  began  the  kingdom  of  Wessex,  or  West  Saxony.     This 

was  originally  confined  to  part  of  what  is  now  Hamp- 

Wessex,         shire,  but  it  gradually  extended  its  limits,  absorbing 

the  Jutish  kingdom  of  Wight  and  the  Saxon  kingdom 

of  Surrey,  and  gaining  still  greater  advantages  at  the  expense  of" 


-S47-]      ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN      19 

the  Britons  of  the  tipper  Thames  and  lower  Severn  valleys  and  of 
the  regions  of  downs  and  hills  that  stretches  from  Hampshire  west- 
wards. Thus,  Tinlike  Kent  and  Sussex,  which  remained  in  their 
original  limits,  the  history  of  "Wessex  is  from  the  beginning  a 
history  of  constant  expansion. 

6.  Other  Saxon  kingdoms  were  established  on  the  eastern  coast 
of  England.  The  East  Saxons  set  np  the  kingdom  of  Essex,  and 
the  Middle   Saxons  that  of  Middlesex,   a  petty  state 

that  owed  its  sole  importance  to  containing  within    jyjjclcUesex 
its  limits  the   great  trading  city  of  London,  whose 
commercial  prosperity  was  checked  rather  than  destroyed  by  the 
wave    of    barbarian    conqnest.    Ultimately,    however,    Middlesex 
became  absorbed  in  Essex,  just  as  its  sonthern  neighbour,  Snrrey, 
was  swallowed  np  in  "Wessex.   Here  the  Saxon  invasion  was  stayed. 

7.  The  conqnest  of  the  east,  the  midlands,  and  the  north  was 
the  work  of  the  Angles.  To  the  north  of  Essex,  Anglian  swarms 
peopled  the  lands  between  the  great  fens  of  the  Ouse 

valley  and  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea.     This  region  «ttlema5» 
became  the  kingdom  of  East  Anglia,  or  East  England, 
and  was   divided  geographically  into  a  northern   and    sonthern 
portion,  whose  names  are  preserved  in  the  modern  counties  of 
Norfolk — that  is,  land  of  the  North  folk — and  Suffolk, 
the  land  of  the  South  folk.   Other  Anglian  bands  made   Amelia, 
their  way  up  the  Trent  valley,  and  gradually  set  up  a 
series   of  small  states  in  Middle  England,  extending  southwards 
from  the  Humber  to  the  northern  boundaries  of  the  Saxon  settle- 
ments in  the   Thames  valley.     The  history  of  these  districts   is 
very  obscure,  and  is  not  preserved,  as  in  the  Saxon  lands  further 
south,  by  the  names  and  limits  of  the  modern  shires.    Of  the  many 
Anglian  kingdoms  of  the  midlands  one  only  survived,  and  ulti- 
mately absorbed  all  the  others.     This  was  the  little    Mereiaand 
kingdom  of  Mercia — that  is,  the  March  or  boundary   the  midland 
land — set  up  in  the  upper  Trent  valley,  and  stretching   kingdoms, 
over  the  rough  hill-land  of  Cannock  chase  towards  the  middle  Severn 
valley,  where  the  Britons  long  held  their  own.     North  of  the 
Humber  two  well-defined  Anglian  kingdoms  grew  up. 
These  were  Deira,  or  the  southern  kingdom,  which   b°j^  ^"^ 
roughly  corresponds  to  the  modern  Yorkshire,  and  the 
more  northerly  state  of  Bernicia,  which  stretched  along  the  east  coast 
from  the  Tees  to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  which  was  founded,  it  is  said, 
by  Ida  in  547.     Both  these  kingdoms  had  as  their  western  boun- 
dary the  wild  uplands  of  the  Pennine  chain  and  its  northern 


20       ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN     [516- 

continuation,  the  Ettrick  Forest.  This  tangle  of  hills  and  moors  was 
difficult  for  the  invaders  to  traverse,  and  long"  protected  the  freedom 
of  the  Britons  of  the  west  coast  between  the  Clyde  and  the  Dee. 

8.  It  took  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  English 
settlements  were  completely  established.  The  Britons,  who  fought 
Character-  rery  stubbornly  to  protect  their  liberties,  remembered 
istics  of  the  so  much  of  the  Roman  discipline  and  organization  that 
English  they  remained  formidable  foes  to  a  series  of  disorderly 

tribes,  each  consisting  of  a  small  number  of  warriors 
fighting  for  their  own  hands.  The  English  brought  over  with  them 
their  wives  and  families,  and  aimed  not  simply  at  conquering  their 
enemies,  but  sought  to  establish  new  homes  for  themselves.  They 
brought  with  them  their  Teutonic  speech,  the  parent  of  our  English 
tongue.  They  preserved  the  manners,  institutions,  and  religion 
which  they  had  followed  in  their  original  homes  in  northern  Germany. 

9.  The  best  and  bravest  of  the  Britons  withdrew  before  the 
English  and  joined  their  brethren,  who   still  remained  masters 

in  the  hills  of  the  west.  Such  as  remained  in 
the  Britons.    *ne  eas*  an<^  south,  as  slaves  and  dependants  of  the 

conquerors,  gradually  lost  their  ancient  tongue  and 
institutions,  and  became  one  with  the  invaders.  It  shows  how 
thorough  the  conquest  was  that  the  Christian  religion,  professed 
by  all  the  Britons,  was  entirely  rooted  out  in  all  the  districts  where 
the  English  established  themselves.  Luckily  for  the  English,  the 
Britons  seldom  acted  together  for  any  long  time.  The  wiser 
Britons  held  fast  to  the  Roman  tradition  of  unity,  and  set  up  war- 
leaders  who  might  take  the  place  of  the  sometime  Roman  governors. 
The  most  famous  of  these  was  the  great  Celtic  hero,  King  Arthur, 
Arthur  and  whose  mighty  victories  stayed  for  a  time  the  advance 
Mount  of  the  English,  and  perhaps  saved  the  Britons  of  the 

Bajjon,  516.  wes^  from  ^e  £a^  0£  ^heir  brethren  of  the  east.  The 
best  known  of  Arthur's  battles  was  fought  at  a  place  called  Mom 
Badonicus  or  Mount  Badon,  in  about  516.  Its  situation  is  quite 
uncertain,  but  it  is  most  probably  to  be  found  somewhere  in 
the  south-west,  possibly  at  Badbury  in  Dorsetshire.  It  seems 
that  Arthur's  triumph  was  over  the  West  Saxons,  whose 
advance  was  stayed  for  nearly  sixty  years.  But  the  Britons  only 
united  when  compelled  to  do  so  to  meet  the  English  attacks. 
They  split  up  into  little  tribal  states,  and,  if  the  English  had  not 
themselves  also  been  disunited,  the  invaders  could  have  probably 
driven  their  foes  into  the  sea.  As  it  was,  many  of  the  more 
Strenuous  Britons  scorned  to  live  any  longer  in  the  land  which 


-607.]     ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN      2 1 

they  shared  with  their  Saxon  enemies.     There  was  so  large  an 
emigration  of  Britons  to  the   Gaulish    peninsula  of  Armorica. 
that  that  land  obtained  the  new  name  of  Brittany  or   j^e  emj. 
Britain,  and  to  this  day  a  large  part  of  the  inhabitants   gration  to 
of    this  little  Britain    beyond  the    sea  continue  to      r  ttany# 
speak  a  Celtic  tongue,  very  similar  to  the  "Welsh  or  Cornish,  which 
their  forefathers  took  with  them  to  Gaul  when  they  fled  from  the 
Saxon  conquerors.     Their  withdrawal  made  easier  the  work  of  the 
English,  and  it   speaks  well  for  the  toughness   of  the   British 
resistance  that  so  much  of  the  island  remained  in  their  hands. 

10.  For  about  a  century  fresh  swarms  of  English  came  to 
Britain  from  beyond  sea.  After  that  the  migration  ceased,  but 
the  stronger  of  the  English  kingdoms  continued  to  The  BrJtons 
advance  westwards  at  the  expense  of  the  Britons.  The  become  the 
English  did  not  call  the  Britons  by  that  name,  but  de-  Welsn- 
scribed  them  as  the  Welsh — that  is,  as  the  foreigners,  or  the  speakers 
of  a  strange  tongue.  Gradually  the  Britons,  who  in  the  sixth 
century  were  still  proud  to  call  themselves  Romans,  took  the 
name  of  the  Cymry,  or  the  Comrades,  by  which  the  Welsh  are  still 
known  in  their  own  language.  A  Welsh  monk  named  Gildas,  who 
lived  in  the  sixth  century,  has  written  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  state 
of  Britain  during  the  period  of  the  English  conquest.  The  heathen 
English  were  cruel  and  bloodthirsty  ;  but  the  Welsh  were  quarrel- 
some and  divided,  and  Gildas  regarded  their  defeat  as  the  just 
punishment  of  their  sins. 

11.  The  warfare  between  Welsh  and  English  still  went  on,  and 
at  last  the  Welsh  received  a  rude  shock  from  two  English  victories, 
which  cut  the  British  territories  into  three  parts,  and   The  end    - 
destroyed   any  hopes   of  future   Celtic  unity.      The    the  period 
West  Saxons  gradually  made  their  way  westward  from    of  English 
their  original  settlement  in  Hampshire,  and  in  577 

Ceawlin,  the  West  Saxon  king,  won  a  great  battle  over  the  Welsh 
at  Deorham  (Dyrham),  in  Gloucestershire,  which  led  to  their 
conquest  of  the  lower  Severn  valley.  Thirty  years  after  this  (607) 
the  Bernician  king,  iEthelfrith,  won  a  corresponding  victory  at 
Chester,  which  pushed  forward  the  northern  Anglian  settlements 
to  the  Irish  Channel,  and  transferred  the  lands  between  Kibble  and 
Mersey  from  British  to  English  hands.  Up  to  these  days  the 
Welsh  had  ruled  over  the  whole  west  from  the  Clyde  to  the 
English  Channel.  Henceforth  they  were  cut  up  into  three  groups. 
Of  these  the  northernmost  was  called  Cumbria  or  Cumberland— 
that  is,  land  of  the  Cymry  or  Welsh.     This  stretched  from  th* 


22       ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN      [607. 

Clyde,  the  northern  limit  of  the  Britons,  to  the  Kibble,  and  was 
separated  from  Bernicia  and  Deira  by  the  Pennine  chain.  The 
modern  county  of  Cumberland  still  preserves  for  a 
part  of  this  area  its  ancient  name.  Enclosed  within 
this  region  was  a  colony  of  Goidelic  Picts,  in  the  extreme  south- 
west of  the  modern  Scotland,  which  derived  from  its  Goidelic 
inhabitants  its  name  of  Galloway. 

12.  The  central  and  chief  British  group  of  peoples  is  repre- 
sented by  the  modern  Wales,  and  by  a  large  stretch  of  land  to  the 
eastward,  including  the  valley  of  the  middle  Severn,  which  has 

.  ~.  .       since  become  English  by  a  slow  process  of  conquest 
North  Wales.       ,     ,  ,.  a  v+  1     •     1  i  • 

and  absorption,     oplit  up  among  several  rival  kings, 

this  district  lost,  through  its  want  of  unity,  some  of  the  im- 
portance which  it  gained  by  its  size  and  by  the  inaccessibility  of 
its  mountains.     In  early  days  the  whole  region  was  described  as 

North  Wales — that  is,  Wales  north  of  the  Bristol 
Wales^       ChanneL     This  was  to  distinguish  it  from  West  Wales, 

the  country  still  held  by  the  Britons  in  the  south- 
west peninsula.  Separated  from  North  Wales  by  the  West  Saxon 
victory  of  Deorham,  West  Wales  still  included  the  whole  of  Corn- 
wall and  Devonshire,  and  a  good  deal  of  Somerset.  Both  in 
North  and  West  Wales  there  were  occasional  colonies  of  Goidelic- 
speaking  Scots  or  Irish,  who  have  left  memorials  of  this  tongue  in 
the  Irish  inscriptions,  written  in  a  character  called  Ogham,  found 
in  many  parts  of  Wales  and  Cornwall. 

13.  Thus  was  the  old  Roman  diocese  of  Britain  unequally  divided 

between  the  English  and  the  Welsh.     The  great  part  of  the  district 

north  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Picts — a  race 

doubtless  identical  with  the  ancient  Caledonians,  and  apparently 

•  made  up  of  Goidelic  tribes  with  a  large  Iberian  inter* 

The  Picts#  . 

mixture.      But  in  the    north-western  parts  of   the 

modern   Scotland  the  Picts  had  been  driven  out  by  immigrant 

Scots  from  Ireland,  who  had  set  up  an  independent  kingdom  of 

the   Scots  in  the  western    Highlands    and  islands, 

running  inland  as  far  as  the  chain  of  hills  called  Drum~ 
alban,  which  forms  the  watershed  of  the  eastern  and  western 
seas.  From  these  the  north-west  of  Britain  first  got  the  name 
of  Scotland,  or  land  of  the  Scots ;  but  at  first  this  term  was 

only  given  to  a  very  small  fragment  of  the  modern 
Columba,        Scotland.     Soon,  however,  the  Scots  began  to  influence 

the  Picts.  Up  to  the  sixth  century  the  Picts,  alone 
of  the  Celts,  still  remained  heathen ;  but  Columba,  the  greatest  of 


ENGLISH  CONQ  UEST  OF  SO  UTHERN  BRITAIN      2  3 


Emery  Walker  5c 


24       ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN     [597- 

the  Irish  saints,  settled  down  in  a  monastery  in  the  little  island  of 
Iona,  among  the  British  Scots,  and  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life, 
until  his  death  in  597,  to  the  conversion  of  the  Picts.  Two  and  a 
half  centuries  after  the  Picts  had  learnt  their  faith  from  the  Scots, 
they  obtained  a  Scot  for  their  king.  In  844  Kenneth  Mac  Alpine 
(that  is,  son  of  Alpine),  King  of  the  Scots,  succeeded  through  his 
Union  of  the  m°ther  to  the  Pictish  kingdom  beyond  Drumalban. 
Picts  and  His  successor  continued  to  rule  Pictland  as  well  as 
Scots.  Scotland,  and  as  they  were   Scots  by  race,  and  the 

difference  between  the  two  peoples  was  not  very  great,  Picts  and 
Scots  were  gradually  fused  into  one  people.  The  result  was  that 
the  whole  of  the  population  north  of  Forth  and  Clyde  acquired 
the  name  of  Scots,  and  their  country  was  called  Scotland.  For 
many  centuries,  however,  the  Irish  continued  to  be  called  Scots, 
until  at  last  confusion  was  avoided  by  the  term  becoming  gradually 
restricted  to  their  brethren  in  northern  Britain. 

14.  By  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  the  British  islands 
were  settling  down  into  something  like  their  modern  divisions. 

.  There  was  an  England,  much  smaller  than  modern 

of  England,  England,  though  extending  further  northwards  to  the 
Wales,  Scot-  Firth  of  Forth,  and  gradually  making  its  way  west- 
Irelana  ward  at  the  expense  of  the  Welsh.     There  was  a  Wales, 

much  bigger  than  the  modern  Wales,  but  cut  into 
three  portions  by  the  fights  at  Chester  and  Deorham,  with  the  result 
that  the  largest  of  the  three,  represented  by  the  modern  Wales, 
became  in  a  special  sense  the  representative  of  the  ancient  Britons. 
There  was  a  new  Scotland,  comprising  the  lands  beyond  Forth  and 
Clyde,  and  Ireland,  though  still  a  land  of  Scots,  became  quite 
separated  from  it. 

15.  In  all  these  districts,  Anglian  and  Saxon,  British  and 
Goidelic,  the  land  was  split  up  into  many  small  states,  constantly 
Whv  Ene-  a^  war  w^1  eacn  other,  and  filling  the  country  with 
land  be-  ceaseless  confusion.     While  the  Celtic  states,  owing  to 

came  the  the  strength  of  the  tribal  system,  seldom  showed  any 
strongest.  . 

tendency  to  be  drawn  together,  the  English  tribes, 

on  the  contrary,  began  almost  from  the  beginning  to  unite  with 
each  other,  and  so  bring  about  the  beginnings  of  greater  unity. 
The  Celts  were  Christians,  and  infinitely  more  civilized  and  culti- 
vated than  their  enemies ;  but  they  lacked  the  political  capacity  and 
persistent  energy  which  made  the  English  stronger  in  building  up 
a  state.  The  result  was  that  supremacy  fell  more  and  more  into 
English  hands.     While  the  struggles  of  Celtic  chieftains  resulted 


-844.]     ENGLISH  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN      2  5 

in  nothing*  at  all  save  bloodshed  and  confnsion,  the  equally  cruel 
fighting  between  the  English  tribes  led  to  the  absorption  of  the 
weaker  into  the  stronger  kingdoms,  and  so  prepared  the  way  for 
the  growth  of  English  unity.  This  tendency  became  the  more 
active  when  the  conversion  of  the  English  to  Christianity  gave 
them  a  common  faith  and  a  common  Church  organization.  In  the 
next  chapter  we  shall  see  how  the  early  steps  towards  English  unity 
were  made,  and  how  the  English  became  Christians. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  AND  THE 
CONVERSION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  TO 
CHRISTIANITY  (597-821). 

Chief  Dates : 

597.  Death  of  St.  Columba  and  landing  of  St.  Augustine. 

627.  Conversion  of  Edwin. 

664.  Synod  of  Whitby. 

668.  Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

685.  Death  of  Ecgfrith. 

757.  Death  of  Ethelbald  of  Mercia. 

796.  Death  of  Offa. 

821.  Death  of  Cenulf. 

1.  We  have  seen  how  numerous  were  the  kingdoms  set  up  by  the 
English  who  conquered  southern  Britain.     The  settlement  was, 

however,  hardly  completed  when  a  strong  tendency 
steps  to-  towards  amalgamation  set  in  among  them.  In  all 
wards  Eng-  cases  the  union  of  kingdoms  was  due  to  conquest  by  a 
is  ni  y.  stronger  and  more  vigorous  king.  It  was  rarely,  how- 
ever, that  such  a  monarch  was  able  to  effect  a  complete  subjection 
of  his  weaker  neighbours.  In  most  instances  he  was  content  with 
forcing  his  defeated  enemy  to  acknowledge  his  superiority,  and 
perhaps  to  pay  him  tribute.     Thus  more  frequent  than  downright 

conquests  of  one  kingdom  by  another  was  the  establish- 

Overtord-        ment  of  such  overlordships  on  the  part  of  a  more 

ships  of  one    vigorous  state  over  feebler  kingdoms.    Of  brief  duration 

state  over  ^^  indefinite  meaning,  these  overlordships  were  of 
another.  .    &'  * 

importance  in  preparing  the  way  to  more  complete  con- 
quest. By  these  processes  the  original  kingdoms  of  the  settlers 
were  by  the  early  part  of  the  seventh  century  reduced  to  seven  in 

number.  These  were  the  states  long  known  as  the 
The  so-ealled  Heptarchy,  a  word  intended  to  mean  a  land  divided 

into  seven  kingdoms.     In  reality,  however,  the  "  Hep- 

-tarchic  "  states  represent  not  the  first  but  the  second  stage  of  the 
26 


655.)  THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  2? 

history  of  the  English  in  Britain.  They  were  Northumbria,  Mercia, 
Wessex,  East  Anglia,  Essex,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  and  among  them 
the  first  three  "were  very  much  stronger  than  the  last  four. 

2.  Northumbria,  or  Northumberland — that  is,  the  land  north 
of  the  Humher — was  formed  by  JEthelfrith,  king  of  Bernicia 
(593-617),    conquering    his   southern  neighbours    in 

Deira,  and  driving  their  king  into  exile.     It  was  the    **e '  stronsep 
great  power  gained  by  JEthelfrith  after  this  victory  Northumbria 
which  enabled  him  to  defeat  the  Welsh  at  Chester,  and  under 
add  the  lands  between  Babble  and  Dee  to  his  kingdom.  593-617.    ' 
But  he  had  so  much  to  do  fighting  the  "Welsh  and 
Scots  that  he  had  little  leisure  to  concern  himself  with  the  affairs 
of  his  southern  neighbours. 

3.  In  the  south,  Ceawlin,  king  of  the  West  Saxons  (560-593), 
played  rather  earlier  a  similar  part  to  that  of  JEthelfrith  in 
the  north.     Wessex  had  long  been  extending  itself 

beyond  its  original  scanty  limits.     It   absorbed  the    undep 
Jutish  kine-dom  of  Wight  and  the  Saxon  kingdom  of   Ceawlin, 
Surrey ;  but  its  main  advance  was  at  the  expense  of  * 

the  Welsh.  By  this  time  the  districts  now  comprised  in  Wiltshire, 
Berkshire,  and  Dorsetshire  had  been  added  to  Cerdic's  original 
kingdom.  Moreover,  for  a  time,  Wessex  crossed  the  middle  and 
upper  Thames,  and  extended  into  midland  districts  that  finally 
became  Mercian.  The  victory  of  Deorham  made  Gloucestershire 
and  part  of  Somerset  included  within  Wessex,  so  that  Ceawlin 
is  as  much  the  creator  of  the  later  Wessex  as  JEthelfrith  is  of 
Northumbria. 

4.  More  than  a  generation  after  this,  a  similar  process  in  the 
midlands  created  a  third  great  English  state  in  Mercia.  Up  to  the 
days  of  its  king,  Penda  (626-655),  Mercia  was  only  juereia.  under 
a  little  Anglian  kingdom  in  the  upper  Trent  valley.  Penda, 

By  a  series  of  successful  wars,  Penda  destroyed  the  626_655« 
power  of  nearly  all  the  other  Anglian  monarchs  in  middle  England. 
Moreover,  he  wrested  from  the  West  Saxons  some  of  their  conquests 
from  the  Welsh  in  the  lower  Severn  valley,  and  took  from  the  Nor- 
thumbrians a  good  deal  of  what  JEthelfrith  had  won  at  Chester. 
The  result  of  his  work  was  to  create  a  greater  Mercia  that  included 
the  whole  of  middle  England.  So  completely  was  this  conquest 
effected  that  the  very  names  and  boundaries  of  the  kingdoms 
conquered  by  Penda  became  almost  forgotten. 

5.  Northumbria,  Mercia,  and  Wessex  became  the  three  great 
English  states;  but  the  little  kingdoms  of  the  south-east,  East 


28  THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  [597- 

Anglia,  Essex,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  were  so  well  established  and 
so  clearly  marked  out  by  natural  boundaries  that  they  long- 
The  king-  continued  to  maintain  their  individuality.  Downright 
doms  of  the  conquest  was  here  extremely  difficult,  but  the  abler 
sou  -eas  .  j^gg  succeeded  in  turn  in  setting  up  an  overlord- 
ship  over  their  neighbours.  Sussex  and  Essex  were  too  weak  to 
accomplish  anything,  but  one  vigorous  king  gave  to  Kent,  and 
another  procured  for  East  Anglia,  a  brief  period  of  supremacy. 
Profiting  by  the  confusion  that  fell  over  Wessex  after  Ceawlin's 
Ethelbert  death,  Ethelbert,  king  of  the  Kentishmen,  defeated 
and  Red-  his  West  Saxon  neighbours  and  ruled  as  overlord 
wald,  616.  over  ^q  kingdoms  0f  the  south-east.  His  power  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  English  king  who  had 
any  dealings  with  the  continent,  choosing  as  his  wife,  Bertha,  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  Prankish  kings  ruling  over  Gaul.  On 
Ethelbert's  death  in  616,  his  power  passed  to  Redwald,  the  king- 
of  the  East  Anglians.  To  Ceawlin,  Ethelbert,  and  Redwald  the 
name  of  Bretwalda,  or  ruler  of  the  Britons,  has  sometimes  been 
given  by  later  writers.  It  has,  of  course,  no  appropriateness 
except  in  the  case  of  the  conqueror  of  the  Britons  at  Deorham,  but 
it  shows  the  impression  left  by  their  power. 

6.  Though   planted  for   a  century  and  a  half  in  a  land  once 
Christian,  the  English  still  remained  heathens  at  the  end  of  the 

sixth  century.  They  scorned  to  accept  the  religion 
Church  °^  ^e  conquered  Britons,  and  the  "Welsh  had  no  wish 

to  share  with  .their  hated  supplanters  the  benefits 
of  their  faith.  Yet  the  Welsh  were  ardent  Christians,  and  the 
Welsh  Church  attained  the  highest  of  its  power  and  influence  by 
this  period.  It  was  the  great  age  of  the  Welsh  saints,  such  as 
David,  the  founder  of  the  bishopric  of  St.  David's ;  Daniel,  first 
bishop  of  Bangor ;  Dyvrig,  bishop  of  Llandaff,  and  Kentigern,  first 
bishop  of  Glasgow,  then  a  British  town,  and  afterwards  the  founder 
of  the  see  called  from  his  disciple  and  successor,  St.  Asaph.  Even 
more  flourishing  was  the  state  of  the  Church  in  Ireland,  where 
Columba,  the  missionary  of  the  Picts  and  the  founder  of  the  abbey 
of  Iona,  was  the  greatest  of  a  long  catalogue  of  Irish  saints. 
Celtic  Britain  was,  however,  so  far  cut  off  from  the  continent  that 
it  developed  during  these  years  a  type  of  Christianity  of  its  own, 
differing  in  some  respects  from  the  Church  of  the  western  world, 
which  was  attaining  increased  unity  and  vigour  under  the  supre- 
macy of  the  popes  or  bishops  of  Rome.  The  Celtic  Church  took 
little  heed  of  what  the  Roman  Church  was  doing.     It  celebrated 


-6i6.]  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  29 

the  Easter  feast  according1  to  a  different  calculation  from  that  which 
was  accepted  on  the  continent.  It  was  so  much  influenced  by  the 
monastic  movement  that  the  bishops  of  the  Church,  especially  in 
Ireland,  became  in  practice  subordinate  to  the  abbots,  who,  though 
simple  priests,  ruled  over  the  great  houses  of  religion  that  Celtic 
piety  had  established.  Thus  Columba,  priest  and  abbot  only, 
governed  all  the  churches  of  the  Scots  of  the  Highlands  and  also 
over  his  converts  the  Picts.  His  death  in  597  is  doubly  memorable 
because  in  that  same  year  the  first  effort  was  made  to  preach 
Christianity  to  the  English. 

7.  Bertha,  the  wife  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  was,  like  all  the 
Franks,  a  Christian,  and  a  Christian  bishop  went  over  with  her  to 
Kent  as  her  chaplain.     For  his  wife's  use  Ethelbert 

set  apart  a  church,  deserted  since  the  English  con-    ^elbertl 
quest,  which  still  remained  erect  in  the  old  Roman 
city  of  Durovernum,  from  which  Ethelbert  ruled  over  the  Kentish- 
men,  and  which  the  English  now  called  Canterbury — that  is,  the 
borough  of  the  Kentishmen.    But  though  tolerant  to  his  wife's 
faith,  he  showed  no  disposition  to  embrace  it. 

8.  The  power  of  Rome  still  counted  for  much,  and  the  Roman 
Empire,  after  it  had  ceased  to  rule  the  West,  still  went  on  in  the 
East,  though  the  emperors  had  abandoned  Italy,  and  Gregory  the 
now  lived  at  Constantinople.  Their  withdrawal  made  Great  and 
the  pope  the  greatest  man  in  Rome,  and  by  this  time  Au£ustme« 
the  influence  of  Rome  in  the  West  meant  that  of  the  Roman 
bishop  even  more  than  that  of  the  emperor.  It  happened  that 
one  of  the  greatest  of  all  the  popes  was  ruling  the  Church  while 
Ethelbert  was  king  of  Kent.  This  was  Gregory  1.,  or  the  Great, 
whose  high  character,  strong  will,  and  profound  earnestness  did 
much  to  extend  permanently  the  influence  of  the  Roman  see  over 
Christendom.  Gregory  still  looked  upon  Britain  as  part  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  was  pained  that  a  once  Christian  province  had 
fallen  largely  into  the  hands  of  heathen  barbarians.  Accordingly 
he  set  Augustine,  abbot  of  a  Roman  monastery  which  Gregory 
himself  had  founded,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  monks,  and  in- 
structed them  to  make  their  way  to  Britain  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  English  heathens.  In  597  Augustine  and  his  companions 
landed  in  Kent,  at  Ebbsfleet  in  Thanet,  where  it  was  believed  that 
Hengist  and  Horsa  had  landed  a  century  and  a  half  earlier. 
Ethelbert  welcomed  the  missionaries,  and  allowed  them  to  preach 
freely  to  all  who  chose  to  listen  to  them.  Meanwhile  the  monks 
lived  at  Canterbury,  hard  by  the  king's  court,  and  before  long  the 


30  THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  {597- 

example  of  their  pious  and  unselfish  livfts  induced  Ethelbert  and 
Theconver-  mos^  °^  n^s  subjects  to  receive  baptism.  After  the 
sion  of  king's   conversion  Augustine    crossed  over  to  Gaul, 

Kent»  597»  whence  he  soon  came  back  to  England  as  archbishop 
of  the  English  Church.  He  built  his  cathedral  at 
Canterbury,  which,  as  the  capital  of  the  first  Christian  king  among 
the  English,  remained  ever  after  the  chief  bishopric  of  the  English 
Church.  Before  long  another  bishopric  was  set  up  at  Rochester, 
which,  as  its  name  shows,  was  also  an  old  Roman  city,  and  before 
long  the  new  faith  spread  beyond  Kent  to  the  dependent  kingdom 
of  Essex,  over  which  Ethelbert's  influence  was  strong.  The  East 
Saxon  bishopric  was  set  up  at  London,  the  commercial  capital  of 
the  land  since  Roman  times. 

9.  Before  long  the  East  Angles  began  to  turn  Christians  also, 
but  their  king,  Redwald,  though  professing  the  Christian  faith. 
The  conver-  a^so  confr|lue<l  to  worship  idols.  Redwald  was  a  strong 
sion  of  ruler,  and  after  Ethelbert's  death  the  overlordship  of 
Edw|"'  627»  south-eastern  Britain  passed  over  to  him.  He  gave 
supremacy  shelter  to  Edwin,  son  of  the  king  of  Deira,  whom 
of  Northum-   iEthelf rith  of  Bernicia  drove  out  of  his  home  when 

he  united  the  northern  kingdoms  with  Northumbria. 
iEthelfrith  went  to  war  against  Redwald  when  he  refused  to  yield 
up  the  fugitive,  but  at  a  battle  on  the  Idle,  near  Retford,  .SSthel- 
frith  was  slain.  Thereupon,  with  Redwald's  help,  Edwin  made 
himself  king  over  all  Northumbria.  He  married  the  daughter  of 
Ethelbert  of  Kent,  whose  name  was  Ethelburga.  Being  a  Christian 
this  lady  took  with  her  to  her  husband's  court  at  York  a 
Christian  monk,  called  Paulinus,  as  her  chaplain.  Before  long  the 
influence  of  his  wife  and  Paulinus  prevailed  over  Edwin,  and  in 
627  the  Northumbrian  king  received  baptism  from  Paulinus,  who 
was  soon  consecrated  archbishop  of  York.  In  a  short  time  most  of 
„     .     ,  Deira  was  won  over  to  the  new  faith.     This  triumph 

of  the  Nop-  was  the  more  important  since  the  newly  converted  ruler 
thumbrian  soon  proved  a  mighty  warrior.  "When  Redwald  died, 
overlordship.  Edwin  became  t}ie  strongest  of  the  kings  of  the  Eng- 
lish. Under  him  a  more  real  overlordship  over  the  lesser  kingdoms 
was  set  up  than  that  which  had  prevailed  under  any  earlier 
monarchs.  To  him  and  his  two  successors  the  title  of  Bretwalda 
was  also  sometimes  given. 

10.  Augustine  was  already  dead,  but  Paulinus  was  one  of  his 
followers,  and  his  conversion  of  the  Deirans  was  the  greatest  result 
c£  the  mission  which  his  master  had  led  from  Rome  to  England. 


-635- ]  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  3 1 

To  have  done  so  much  in  so  short  a  time  might  well  seem  to  be 
a  great  success ;  but  Pope  Gregory  had  formed  even  more  ambi- 
tious schemes  for  Augustine  than  the  good  monk  was 
able  to  oarry  out.     Gregory  expected  Augustine  to   success  0f 
convert  all  the  English,  to  make  friends  with  the   the  Augrus- 

British  Christians,  and  to  set  up  two  archbishops  and   t,nlan 

mission 
twenty-four  bishops,  under  whom  the  whole  Church  of 

Britain  was  to  be  governed.  But  Augustine  had  only  taught  Chris- 
tianity to  the  little  kingdoms  of  the  south-east,  and,  though  he  met 
some  of  the  Welsh  bishops  at  a  conference,  he  had  been  unable  to 
establish  friendly  relations  with  them.  They  rejected  his  claims 
to  be  their  superior,  and  Augustine,  denouncing  them  as  schismatics 
who  stood  outside  the  true  Church,  prophesied  terrible  disasters  if 
they  would  not  join  with  him  in  converting  the  English.  The 
victory  of  the  heathen  JEthelfrith  over  the  Welsh  a  few  years  later 
at  Chester  seemed  to  the  Christians  of  Kent  only  a  fulfilment  of 
Augustine's  prophecy.  Under  these  circumstances  there  was  no 
chance  of  carrying  out  Gregory's  scheme  for  bringing  all  the 
Churches  of  Britain  into  one  fold. 

11.  Even  in  Kent  and  Essex  many  fell  away  from  the  faith 
after  Augustine's  death.     The  English  converts  found  that  the 
Christian  missionaries  wished  them  to  give  up  many   pen(ja  and 
of  their  old  customs,  and  held  up  to  their  admiration   the  heathen 
humble  and  weak    saints    whom    they    despised    as   peactloru 
useless  for  fighting.     A  great  heathen  reaction  arose,  and  the  old 
king  of  the  Mercians,  Penda,  whose  victories  had  made  him  master 
of  central  England,  made  himself  the  champion  of  the  grim  gods 
of  pagan  Germany.     The  power  of  the  Christian  king,  Edwin,  had 
grown  so  great  that  all  his  neighbours  were  afraid  of  him,  and 
Penda  hated  Edwin  both  as  a  Christian  and  as  the  enemy  of  Mercia. 
Edwin  had  also  won  victories  over  the  Welsh,  and  harried  the 
Welsh  king,  Cadwallon,  so  much  that  he  forgot  his  Christian  faith, 
and  made  a  league  with  the  heathen  Penda  against  the  Northum- 
brians.    It  was  the  first  time  that  Englishmen  and   Battle  of 
Welshmen  had  fought  on  the  same  side,  after  nearlv   Heathfield, 
two  centuries  of  bitter  hostility.     The   combination 

was  irresistible.  In  633  Penda  and  Cadwallon  defeated  and  slew 
Edwin  at  the  battle  of  Heathfield,  in  southern  Yorkshire. 

12.  For  a  year  Welsh  and  Mercians  cruelly  devas-  Oswald  of 
tated  Northumbria.  Christianity  was  almost  blotted  Northum- 
out,  and  Paulinus  fled  to  Kent,  where  he  died  bishop   bpia" 

of  the  little  see  of  Rochester.     In  635,  however,  a  saviour  arose 


32  THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  [635- 

for  the  north  in  Oswald,  the  son  of  the  mighty  iEthelfrith,  who, 
on  Edwin's  accession,  had  been  driven  into  exile  among  the 
Scots  of  Britain.  In  a  battle  at  Heavenfield,  near  the  Roman  wall, 
Oswald  overthrew  the  British  king,  and  henceforth  reigned  as  king 
over  the  Northumbrians.  Cadwallon  was  the  last  British  king  who 
was  able  to  seriously  check  the  course  of  the  English  conquest.  After 
his  death  the  Welsh  of  Cumbria  were  forced  to  accept  Oswald  as 
their  lord.  Thus,  though  Penda  was  still  unsubdued,  the  son  of 
-ffithelfrith  succeeded  to  most  of  the  power  of  his  rival  Edwin. 

13.  Oswald  was  as  good  a  Christian  as  Edwin,  and,'  after  his 
accession,  the  new  faith  was  once  more  preached  in  Northumbria. 
Aidan  and  -But  Oswald  had  learnt  his  religion  after  a  different 
the  Scottish  fashion  from  that  in  which  his  predecessor  had  been 
mission.  taught.  He  had  been  instructed  in  the  faith  at 
Iona,  the  great  Scottish  island  monastery  where  the  successor  of 
Columba  still  ruled  over  the  Churches  of  the  north  ;  and  when  he 
became  king,  Scottish  monks  from  Iona  came  at  his  bidding  into 
Northumbria,  and  took  up  the  work  laid  down  by  the  Roman  mis- 
sionaries. Their  chief,  Aidan,  became  bishop  of  the  Northumbrias, 
and  set  up  his  cathedral  in  the  little  island  of  Lindisf  arne,  off  the 
coast  of  Bernicia.  Before  long  his  zeal  and  piety  had  won  most 
of  Bernicia  to  the  Christian  faith. 

14.  The  work  of  Oswald  and  Aidan  was  soon  cut  short.  In  642 
there  was  a  fresh  war  with  the  Mercians,  and  Penda  slew  Oswald 

at  the  battle  t "  Maserfield,  near  Oswestry.  Again  there 
Oswiu  an        was  a  Period  °f  terrible  confusion  in  Northumbria, 

but  again  a  strong  king  was  found  in  Oswald's  brother 
Oswiu,  who  in  655  defeated  and  killed  Penda  at  Winwood.  On 
the  Mercian's  death  the  Northumbrian  overlordship,  which  had 
gone  on  fitfully  despite  the  victories  of  the  heathen  king,  was 
established  on  a  more  solid  basis  than  ever.  It  lasted  for  the  rest 
of  Oswiu's  reign,  and  also  for  that  of  his  son  and  successor, 
Ecgfrith.  During  this  period  the  conversion  of  the  English  was 
completed,  and  the  Church  established  on  a  firm  and  solid  footing. 

15.  Even  during  Penda's  lifetime  the  Christian  missionaries 
had  no  need  to  despair.  Though  no  saint  like  Oswald,  Oswiu  was 
The  final  a  8°°^  friend  of  the  Christians,  and  even  in  Mercia 
conversion  the  new  religion  had  made  such  progress  that  in  his 
of  Northum-   0id  age   Penda  had  been  compelled  to    tolerate  it. 

Penda's  son  and  successor  was  a  Christian,  and  wel- 
comed the  Scottish  and  Northumbrian  missionaries  that  Oswiu 
sent  to  his  people.     The  most  famous  of  these  was  Ceadda,  op 


-664.]  THE   CONVERSION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  33 

Chad,  who  became  famous  as  the  apostle  of  Mercia  and  the  patron 
saint  of  the  Mercian  bishopric  at  Lichfield.  Though  an  English- 
man, Chad  had  been  brought  up  by  Scottish  monks,  and  thus  was 
friendly  to  the  customs  of  the  Celtic  Church. 

16.  By  this  time  the   other   English  kingdoms  had  become 
Christian  also.     Some  of  them  were  converted  by  Scottish  mis- 
sionaries ;  others  by  Roman  teachers  from  Kent  or  the   pjecemeaj 
continent.     Thus  East  Anglia  was  won  over  by  Felix,    conversion 
a  Burgundian;  Wessex  by  Birinus,  a  Roman;  while   °£Hiei!estj 
Cedd,   a  brother   of    Chad,  had  revived  the  waning 

faith  of  the  East  Saxons  ;  and  Wilfrid  of  Ripon,  a  Northumbrian 
monk  who  was  an  eager  friend  of  the  Roman  usages,  converted 
the  South  Saxons,  the  last  Englishmen  to  give  up  their  ancient 
gods.  But  there  was  no  order  or  method  in  this  piecemeal  process 
of  conversion.  Each  state  had  its  own  bishop,  whether  it  was  a 
great  state  like  Mercia,  or  a  little  state  like  Sussex.  The 
successor  of  Augustine  at  Canterbury,  though  still  called  arch- 
bishop, had  small  power  outside  Kent,  and  was  in  practice  little  more 
than  bishop  of  the  Kentishmen.  All  over  the  north  and  midlands 
there  were  eager  champions  both  of  the  Roman  and  of  the  Scottish 
Easter,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  war  between  Christian  and  heathen 
was  only  to  be  succeeded  by  war  between  the  two  rival  forms  of 
Christianity. 

17.  Oswiu  was  only  a  rough  warrior,  but  he  saw  the  need  of 
stopping  the  conflict  of  Scot  and  Roman,  and  in  664  summoned 
a  synod,  or  Church  council,  of  both  parties  in  the 

Church  to  Streoneshalch,  on  the  coast  of  Deira,  better  Whitby  g64 
known  by  its  later  Danish  name  of  Whitby.  His  object 
in  doing  this  was  that  he  might  hear  what  was  to  be  said  in  favour  of 
their  teaching,  and  so  make  up  his  mind  as  to  which  form  of  the  faith 
he  should  adopt.  The  chief  point  of  dispute  was  the  right  time  of 
celebrating  Easter.  Wilfrid  of  Ripon  upheld  the  Roman  usage ; 
the  Scottish  bishop  Colman,  Aidan's  successor  at  Lindisfarne, 
pleaded  for  the  traditions  of  Columba,  and  Chad  of  Lichfield 
sought  to  mediate  between  the  two.  At  last  Oswiu  declared  in 
favour  of  the  Roman  Easter,  whereupon  Colman  and  the  Scots 
withdrew  to  Iona.  Oswiu  was  strong  enough  to  make  all  England 
accept  his  decision,  and  this  secured  that  English  Christianity 
should  follow  Rome  and  not  Iona.  This  was  a  good  thing,  for 
though  the  Scottish  monks  were  the  saintliest  of  men  and  the  best 
of  missionaries,  their  Church  had  more  faith  and  enthusiasm  than 
•order  or  method.     In  declaring  for  the  Roman   Easter,   Oswiu 

D 


34  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  [6tuf~ 

prevented,  the  English  Church  being  cut  off  from  the  Church  of 
the  world  at  large.  He  secured  for  England  the  priceless  blessings 
of  order  and  civilization,  which  were  in  those  days  represented  by 
Home.  Before  long  the  Roman  Easter  was  accepted  even  by  the 
Scots  and  Britons.  Thus  all  the  Churches  of  the  British  Islands 
were  brought  into  the  same  system. 

18.  Four  years  after  the  synod  of  "Whitby,  a  Greek,  Theodore 
of  Tarsus,  a  native  of  the  city  where  St.  Paul  had  been  born, 
Th  k  f  was  sen^  ^rom  B>°me  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Theodore  Theodore  was  a  much  wiser  and  stronger  man  than 
of  Tarsus,      any  of  the  other  early  bishops  of  the  English.    He 

made  friends  with  Oswiu,  and  after  that  king's  death 
in  671,  became  equally  intimate  with  his  son  Ecgfrith.  Archbishop 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  Theodore  was  able,  before  his  death  in 
690,  to  organize  the  English  Church  in  a  very  satisfactory  fashion- 
He  divided  all  England  into  bishoprics,  and  set  up  several  different 
bishops  in  each  of  the  three  great  kingdoms.  He  forced  every 
bishop  in  England  to  pay  obedience  to  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, who  in  those  days  was  the  only  archbishop  in  the  land.  He 
set  up  schools  for  the  training  of  the  clergy,  and  took  care  that 
each  bishop  should  have  a  number  of  priests  and  monks  to  work 
under  him.  It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  Theodore  divided 
England  into  parishes,  each  under  its  priest ;  but  this  was  done 
very  gradually,  and  not  until  long  after  Theodore's  day.  Theodore 
also  provided  that  the  clergy  of  the  English  Church  should  meet 
from  time  to  time  in  national  councils.  This  was  very  important, 
since  it  brought  Englishmen,  subject  to  different  kings,  into  close 
contact  with  each  other.  Thus  Theodore  united.  England  under  a 
single  Church  long  before  she  had  become  united  into  a  single 
kingdom.  He  could  not  have  done  his  work  so  effectively  but  for 
the  power  of  the  Northumbrian  kings,  whose  overlordship  was  a 
real  step  towards  political  unity. 

19.  From  Theodore's  time  onward,  the  English  Church  pros- 
pered greatly.  It  soon  became  unnecessary  for  England  to  get  its 
_,.  .  .  bishops  from  abroad,  and  Theodore's  successors  were 
of  the  Old  nearly  all  Englishmen.  During  the  eighth  century 
English  the  Church  of  England  became  a  pattern  to  all  the 

West.  It  sent  out  missionaries  who  made  Germany  a 
Christian  land,  the  chief  of  these  being  Boniface,  the  first  archbishop 
of  Mainz,  who  did  for  the  German  Church  what  Theodore  did  for  the 
Church  of  England.  Famous  monasteries  and  schools  arose  in  Eng- 
land, and  especially  in  Uorthumbria,  which  were  filled  with  learned 


-685.]  THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS  3$ 

and  pious  men.  In  one  monastery  at  Whitby,  ruled  by  a  royal 
abbess  named  Hilda,  dwelt  Caedmon,  a  poor  lay  brother,  whose 
rare  gift  for  song  made  him  the  greatest  of  the  old  English  poets. 
In  another,  Jarrow-on-the-Tyne,  lived  the  monk  Bede,  the  first 
English  historian,  whose  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English  People 
tells  us  nearly  all  that  we  know  of  our  history  up  to  his  own  life- 
time. Another  distinguished  Englishman  of  those  days  was  Egbert, 
bishop  of  York,  who  won  back  for  his  Church  the  position  of  an 
archbishopric,  which  it  had  held  under  Paulinus,  though  for  many 
centuries  the  archbishops  of  York  were  bound  to  profess  obedience 
to  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury.  Under  Egbert  the  schools  of 
York  became  very  famous,  and  one  of  their  disciples,  Alcuin,  was 
so  well  known  for  his  learning  that  he  was  called  from  York 
to  Gaul  to  be  the  head  of  the  school  which  Charles  the  Great, 
the  famous  king  of  the  Pranks,  set  up  in  his  palace.  Thus 
England,  which  previously  had  been  barbarous  and  ignorant, 
became,  after  its  conversion,  a  centre  of  light  and  learning  to  all 
western  Europe. 

20.  The  eighth  century  was  the  great  age  of  the  Northumbrian 
Church,  but  the  Northumbrian  political   supremacy  had  utterly 
passed  away.     Oswiu  was  the  last  Northumbrian  king 
to  be  called  Bretwalda,  though  his  son  Ecgfrith  (671-  g^fS' 
685)  was  not  much  less  powerful  than  his  father.     In   and  the  fall 
685,  however,  Ecgfrith  tried  to  conquer  the  Picts,  but   of  Nopthum- 
was    defeated,   and  met  his  death  at  the  battle  of   supremacy. 
Nectansmere.     None   of  his  successors  were  strong 
enough  even  to  rule  his  own  kingdom. 

GENEALOGY  OF  CHIEF  NORTHUMBRIAN  KINGS 

^THELFRITH. 


Oswald.  Oswiu. 

21.  Mercia  soon  stepped  into  the  place  of  supremacy  left  vacant 
by  the  fall  of  Northumbrian  greatness.     Ever  since  the  victories 
of  Penda  she  had  been  a  great  state,  though  over-   jhe  Mercian 
shadowed  by  the  superior  power  of  the  Northumbrians,    overlord- 
For  the  greater  part  of  the  eighth  century  Mercia   snlp* 
was  by  far  the  strongest  of  all  the  English  kingdoms.    During  most 


36 


THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS 


[716- 


of  this  period  she  was  ruled  by  two  great  kings,  each  of  whom 
Under  reigned  for  an  exceptionally  long  period.     The  first  of 

these,  Ethelbald  (716-757),  became  so  powerful  that 
he  was  not  content  to  be  called  king  of  the  Mercians, 
but  styled  himself  "  king  of  all  the  South.  English."    Under  his 


Ethelbald, 
716-757. 


R    T    H    U   M    B 


I   A 


Sketch  Map  showing  position  of  Nectansmere. 


And  Offa, 
757-796. 

kingdom. 


successor,  Offa  the  Mighty  (757-796),  tbe  Mercian  supremacy 
attained  its  culminating  point.  Offa  drove  the 
Northumbrians  out  of  the  lands  that  now  form 
southern  Lancashire,  and  incorporated  them  with  his 
He  conquered  from  the  West  Saxons  all  their  territories 
north  of  the  Thames,  which  henceforward  remained  the  boundary 
of  the/two  states.  He  made  Shrewsbury  an  English  town,  driving 
the  Welsh  from  the  middle  Severn  valley,  and  digging,  it  is  said, 
a  deep  ditch  and  mound,  called  OffcCs  Dyke,  between  the  mouth  of 
the  Dee  and  the  mouth  of  the  Wye,  to  separate  Mercia  and  Wales. 
He  slew  the  king  of  the  East  Angles,  and  annexed  Kent.  He 
appointed  two  sons-in-law  as  dependent  kings  over  Wessex  and 
Northumbria.  In  every  way  he  exercised  more  authority  over  the 
rest  of  England  than  any  king  before  his  days.  He  was  one 
of  the  few  Old  English  kings  powerful  enough  to  have  much 


-796.] 


THE  EARLY  OVERLORDSHIPS 


37 


influence  beyond  sea.  The  great  Frankish  king,  Charles  the 
Great,  was  his  friend,  and  often  corresponded  with  him.  Though 
a  fierce  warrior,  like  all  the  great  Mercians,  Offa  was  a  good  friend 
of  the  Church,  and  built  the  abbey  of  St.  Alban's  in  honour  of 


the  first  British  martyr.  Offa  thought  it  unworthy  of  the  great- 
ness of  Mercia  that  it  should  be  subject  to  an  archbishop  who 
lived  outside  Mercia.  He  therefore  persuaded  the  pope  to  make 
Lichfield,  the  chief  Mercian  see,  an  archbishopric.  If  this  plan 
had  succeeded,  each  of  the  three  chief  states  of  England  would  have 


38  THE    EARLY    OVERLORDSHIPS  [821. 

had  an  archbishop  of  its  own,  for  Northumbria  had  its  primate 
at  York,  and  Canterbury,  cut  off  from  ruling  the  Midlands,  would 
soon  have  become  the  archbishopric  of  the  West  Saxons  only. 
The  result  of  this  would  have  been  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the 
English  Church  as  established  by  Theodore.  Luckily  Offa's  plan 
did  not  last  long,  for  only  one  archbishop  ever  sat  at  Lichfield. 

22.  Offa's  successor,  Cenulf  (796-821),  was  less  powerful  than 
he,  and  was  so  much  afraid  of  the  persistent  hostility  of  Canterbury 
that  he  gave  up  the  plan  of  making  Lichfield  an  arch- 
796-821,  bishopric.  When  Cenulf  died,  Mercia  fell  into  anarchy, 
and  the  fall  just  as  Northumbria  had  done  after  the  death  of 
9  ercia.  Ecgfrith.  Supremacy  depended  mainly  on  the  character 
of  the  king',  and  no  kingdom  had  the  good  luck  to  have  an 
uninterrupted  succession  of  kings  strong  enough  to  rule  their 
neighbours.  But  each  fresh  overlordship  was  a  fresh  step  towards 
the  unity  of  England,  and  Offa  had  done  much  towards  it  by 
breaking  down  the  power  of  the  lesser  kingdoms.  The  smaller 
"  heptarchic "  states  had  by  this  time  ceased  to  have  any  real 
independence.  Only  the  three  great  states  counted  any  longer. 
Of  these  Northumbria  and  Mercia  had  exhausted  themselves,  so 
that  soon  after  Cenulf  s  death  supremacy  once  more  passed  south- 
wards, when  the  supremacy  of  Wessex  succeeded  upon  that  of  the 
midland  and  the  northern  kingdoms. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    WEST    SAXON    OVERLORDSHIP  AND 
THE  DANISH   INVASIONS  (802-899) 

Chief  Dates : 

802.  Accession  of  Egbert. 

825.  Battle  of  Ellandune. 

858.  Death  of  Ethelwulf. 

871.  Alfred's  year  of  battles. 

878.  Treaty  of  Chippenham. 

886.  Alfred  and  Guthrum's  Peace. 

899.  Death  of  Alfred. 

911.  Normandy  established. 

1.  Dttbing  the  Northumbrian  overlordship  Wessex  was  steadily 
making  its  way  westwards  at  the  expense  of  the  "West  Welsh,  and 
eastwards  at  the  cost  of  the  little  Saxon  and  Jutish 
kingdoms  of  the  south-east.     Its  progress  was  stayed   Wessex 
for    a    time  when  its    neighbour,   Mercia,   replaced 
Northumbria  as  the  supreme  state  among  the  English.     During 
this  period  Wessex  was  forced  to  surrender  to  Mercia  the  West 
Saxon  lands  north  of  the  Thames  and  its  supremacy  over  Kent 
and  the  little  kingdoms  of  the  south-east.     On  the  west,  however, 
Wessex  did  not  cease  its  gradual  conquests  over  the  West  Welsh. 
It  was  during  the  eighth  century  that  Wessex  added  to  its  posses- 
sions all  that  is  now  Somersetshire  and  the  south-east  parts  of 
Devonshire,  including  Exeter  and  Crediton. 

2.  The  worst  blow  to  West  Saxon  power  was  when  Offa  set 
up  his  son-in-law  as  its  king,  and  drove  beyond  the  seas  the  iEthel- 
ing  (prince)  Egbert,  who  was  forced  to  live  many   The  rejgn 
years  as  an  exile  at  the  court  of  Charles  the  Great,   of  Egbert, 
the  king  of  the  Franks.     When  Egbert  was  still  with    802-839- 
Charles,  the  great  Erankish  king  was  crowned  Roman  emperor  at 
Rome  on  Christmas  Day,  800,  by  the  pope.     Two  years  later,  after 
his  rival's  death,  Egbert  was  called  home  to  be  made  king  of  the 
West  Saxons  (802).    A  skilful  statesman  and  a  bold  warrior,  he 
employed  the  first  years  of  his  reign  in  waging  war  against,  the 
»  39 


40  THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND    THE  DANES  [825- 

"West  Welsh,  whose  power  he  broke  for  ever,  conquering  all 
Devonshire  up  to  the  Tamar,  and  forcing  the  still  unsubdued 
Cornishmen  to  pay  him  tribute.  After  Cenulf's  death  in  821, 
Mercia  fell  into  such  confusion  that  Egbert  was  tempted  to  attack 

.     .  it.     In  825  he  defeated  the  Mercians  at  a  great  battle 

of  the  West  a^  EHandune  (Ellingdon  near  Swindon),  in  "Wiltshire. 
Saxon  supre-  The  Mercian  supremacy  collapsed  in  that  single  day, 
macy,  .  an(j  henceforth  Egbert  was  overlord,  or  Bretwalda, 
over  all  the  English  and  most  of  the  Welsh.  Kent,  Sussex, 
Essex  were  reconquered  by  Wessex;  East  Anglia,  in  its  hatred 
of  Mercia,  willingly  yielded  to  West  Saxon  supremacy ;  the  Nor- 
thumbrians submitted  as  soon  as  a  West  Saxon  army  approached 
their  southern  frontier;  and  the  Welsh  of  North  Wales  were 
forced  to  make  humble  submission.  Thus  began  that  West  Saxon 
overlordship  out  of  which  ultimately  grew  the  united  English 
monarchy. 

3.  Despite  all  his  triumphs,  Egbert  did  not  die  in  peace. 
Though  no  foes  ventured  to  stand  up  against  him  in  Britain,  new 
Beginnings  enemies  came  from  beyond  the  sea,  whose  ravages 
of  the  soon  threatened  to  undermine  the  West  Saxon  power. 

Danish  in-       After  some  centuries  of  rest,  fresh  swarms  of  Teutonic 

V£LS10T1S 

barbarians  began  to  seek  for  spoil  in  the  lands  which 
had  once  acknowledged  Rome  as  their  master.  These  were  the 
fierce  pirates  known  in  England  as  Danes,  in  Germany  as  East- 
men,  and  Gaul  as  the  Northmen.  They  came  from  Scandinavia, 
both  from  Norway  and  from  Denmark.  These  regions  were  at 
this  period  much  in  the  same  condition  as  North  Germany  had 
been  four  centuries  before,  when  it  sent  the  Angles  and  Saxons  to 
the  shores  of  Britain.  The  country  was  too  poor  and  remote  to 
satisfy  the  wants  of  its  inhabitants,  who  gradually  got  into  the 
habit  of  seeking  plunder  and  adventure  at  the  expense  of  more  fertile 
and  sunny  districts.  The  road  by  land  southwards  to  the  continent 
was  blocked  by  the  armies  of  Charles  the  Great,  so  the  Norsemen 
took  to  the  sea,  and  sought  out  the  coasts  of  Britain  and  Ireland 
as  places  where  booty  might  be  won  at  no  great  risk  to  themselves. 
Greedy,  ferocious,  but  terribly  efficient,  they  could  generally  break 
down  the  resistance  offered  to  them.  They  were  still  heathens, 
and  took  special  delight  in  plundering  Christian  churches  and 
monasteries.  Before  Offa's  death  they  had  begun  to  devastate 
Northumbria.  In  the  latter  years  of  Egbert  they  ventured  to 
attack  Wessex  itself.  The  Cornish  Welsh  were  so  afraid  of  Egbert 
that    they  gladly  made    common    cause    with    the    new-comers. 


-872.]  THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE   DANES  4 1 

Egbert's  last  victory  was  gained  at  Hengston  Down,  in  East  Corn- 
wall, over  a  joint  foi'ce  of  Danes  and  Cornishmen. 

4.  Two  years  afterwards,  in  839,  the  great  king  died,  leaving  to 
his  pious  and  gentle  son,  Ethelwulf  (839-858),  the  task  of  dealing 
with  these  terrible  foes.  Ethelwulf  was  a  well-mean-  j^q  pejg^  0f 
ing  king,  but  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  uphold  Ethelwulf, 
West  Saxon  supremacy  against  such  formidable  rivals.  839~858- 
He  gained  some  victories  over  them,  but  the  pirates  soon  found  that 
they  had  only  to  persevere  in  their  incursions  to  obtain  what  they 
sought.  At  first  they  had  come  in  summer-time  as  plunderers,  and 
were  content  to  sail  home  in  autumn,  with  their  ships  laden  with 
booty,  that  they  might  revel  in  their  own  homes  all  through  the  dark 
and  long  northern  winter.  Before  long  they  began  to  winter  in 
England,  and  thereby  found  that  the  land  was  a  pleasanter  place  to 
live  in  than  their  own  country.  Thus,  like  the  English  before 
them,  they  ceased  to  be  mere  plunderers,  and  began  to  wish  to 
make  settlements. 

5.  Great  changes  in  Scandinavia  soon  increased  the  desire  of  the 

Danes  to  win  new  homes  outside  their  mother-country.     Up  to  this 

time  Danes  and  Norsemen  had  been  split  up  into  a   „.     jjopse 

large  number  of  little  states,  ruled  by  petty  chieftains,    migrations 

called  jarls.     But  now  some  of  the  chieftains  proved   of  tne  ninth 

.  ccntui*v 

themselves  stronger  than  their  rivals,  fought  against 

them,  and  conquered  them  after  the  same  fashion  in  which  some 
of  the  English  kingdoms  were  constantly  bringing  their  weaker 
neighbours  into  subjection.  Before  long  there  was  a  single  king 
governing  all  Norway,  another  all  Denmark,  and  another  all 
Sweden.  The  most  famous  of  these  was  Harold  Fairhair 
(860-872),  the  first  king  of  all  Norway.  So  sternly  did  Harold 
rule  over  the  conquered  tribes  that  the  freedom-loving  Norse- 
men bitterly  resented  his  supremacy.  As  they  were  unable  to 
overthrow  him  in  his  own  land,  many  of  them  abandoned  their 
native  valleys,  and  sought  out  new  abodes  for  themselves  in  the 
lands  which  they  had  already  got  to  know  during  their  plundering 
expeditions.  Thus  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  century  saw  a 
great  Norse  migration,  which  profoundly  affected  the  whole  of 
western  Europe.  The  first  places  chosen  for  these  new  settlements 
were  the  islands  that  were  nearest  to  the  coasts  of  Norway.  After 
this  fashion  Iceland,  hitherto  almost  uninhabited,  became  a  Norse 
island,  and  ultimately  the  special  home  of  the  bravest,  strongest, 
and  most  typical  of  the  Scandinavian  race.  Some  of  the  Norsemen 
made  their  way  beyond  Iceland,  settled  in  Greenland,  and  sent 


42 


THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES 


[858- 


out  explorers,  who 

r 


discovered,  five  centuries  before  Columbus,  the 
continent  of  North 
America.  The  dis- 
tricts at  which  they 
touched,  which  were 
afterwards  called  New 
England,  they  called 
Vinland,  the  land  of 
the  vine. 

6.  More  important 
for  us  than  the  move- 
ment westward  was 
the  migration  south- 
ward, which  now 
made  the  Faroe 
Islands,  Orkney  and 
Shetland  the  homes 
of  Norse  settlers.  Be- 
fore long  the  hardy 
seamen  made  their 
way  to  the  coasts  of 
Britain.  They  estab- 
lished themselves  on 
the  mainland  of  the 
extreme  north,  driv- 
ing out  the  Celts  from 
■fehe  northern  parts  of 
the  modern  Scotland, 
and  establishing  the 
Norse  tongue  and  the 
Norse  people  in  Caith- 
ness and  Sutherland. 
This  latter  district, 
the  south  land,  marked 
the  southern  limit  of 
their  settlements  on 
the  mainland.  But 
along  the  western  sea- 
board of  Scotland  the 
Norsemen  penetrated 
very  much  further. 
They  settled  in  the 


i8j  THE   WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  43 

Hebrides,  and  pushed  their  way  from  island  to  island  until  they 
had  conquered  the  Isle  of  Man.    Ireland,  which  had  learnt  little 
from  the  Romans  save  the  Christian  faith,  and  had   Th    Nopse 
stood  outside  the  range  of  the  English  conquest,  was   settlements 
now  at  last  brought  into  the  general  current  of  great   *n  Celtic 
European  movements  by  the  establishment  of  Norse 
settlements   upon   its   coasts.      However,   in  Ireland,  as    in  the 
Hebrides  and  southern  islands,  the  invaders  did  not  utterly  dis- 
place the  former  inhabitants  as  the  English  had  done  in  south- 
eastern Britain,  and  the  Norse  in  Orkney,  Shetland,  and  Caithness. 
Side  by  side  with  the  new  Danish  states,  the  old  Celtic  tribal 
states  still  lived  on ;   and  perpetual  wars  were  waged  for  many 
centuries  between  the  new-comers  and  the  older  inhabitants. 

7.  At  last  South  Britain  itself  was  exposed  to  the  Norse 
migration.  The  dependent  kingdoms  of  the  north-east  of  England 
were  not  strong  enough  to  resist  it,  and  before  long 

East  Anglia,  southern  Northumbria,  and  the  northern    settlements 
parts  of  Mercia  were  conquered  by  the  Danes.     Nor   in  England 
were  the  British  islands  alone  exposed  to  Danish  settle-   andtjhg  t 
ment.     Other  swarms  of  Norsemen  sought  out  new 
abodes  on  the  Continent.   A  Swedish  chief,  named  Rurik,  conquered 
the  Slavs  on  the  east  of  the  Baltic,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
modern  Russia.     In  the  next  generation  they  set  up  a  Scandi- 
navian state  upon  the  north  coast  of  Gaul,  which  took  the  name  of 
Normandy,  or  land  of  the  Northmen. 

8.  Wessex  was  the  last  English  state  to  feel  the  impact  of  the 
victorious  Scandinavians.    Yet  even  in  Ethelwulf  's  lifetime  Danish 
armies  had  taken  up  their  winter  quarters  within  his 
dominions,  as,  for  example,  in  855,  when  the  Northmen   on\^gssex 
settled  for  the  cold  season  in  Sheppey,  an  island  off 

the  coast  of  Kent,  which  had  now  virtually  become  a  part  of  the 
West  Saxon  realm.  During  the  short  reigns  of  Ethelwulf 's  sons 
the  full  force  of  the  Norse  migration  threatened  Wessex  with  the 
fate  of  East  Anglia  and  Mercia. 

9.  Ethelwulf  died  in  858,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  four  sons  in 
succession.     After  the  Frankish  fashion,  he  divided  his  dominions, 
making  his  eldest  son,  Ethelbald,  king  of  the  West   -rne  sons  0f 
Saxons,  while  Ethelbert,  the  second,  became  under-    Ethelwulf, 
king  of  Kent.     But  after  a  short  reign  of  two  years   858~899- 
Ethelbald  died,  whereupon  Ethelbert  became  king  of  Wessex  from 
860  to  866.     He  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Ethelred,  king  of  Wessex 
from  866  to  871.     On  Ethelred's  death,  Alfred  obtained  possession 


44  THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  [871- 

of  the  throne,  and  ruled  until  899.  During  the  first  three  of  these 
reigns  the  Danes  perpetually  troubled  Wessex;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  last  year  of  Ethelred's  reign  that  they  began  the 
systematic  conquest  of  that  kingdom.  Ethelred,  a  strenuous  and 
mighty  warrior,  withstood  the  invaders  with  rare  spirit  and  with 
partial  success,  and  was  ably  supported  by  his  younger  brother, 
Alfred's  ^ne  -3£theling  Alfred.   In  one  memorable  year,  871,  the 

year  of  West  Saxons  fought  nine  pitched  battles  against  the 

battles,  871.  Danes.  The  most  famous  of  these  was  the  battle  of 
Ashdown  on  the  Berkshire  downs,  where  the  invaders  were  so 
rudely  repulsed  that  they  withdrew  for  a  time  to  their  camp  at 
Reading.  Within  a  fortnight,  however,  they  resumed  the  attack, 
and,  after  another  fierce  fight,  Ethelred  died,  worn  out  with  the 
strain  and  exposure  involved  in  the  resistance  to  them.  Alfred,  his 
fellow- worker,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-three,  at  once  assumed 
the  monarchy  of  the  West  Saxons.  He  assailed  the  Danes  so 
fiercely  that  they  were  glad  to  make  peace  and  withdraw  over  the 
Thames.  For  the  next  few  years  they  left  Wessex  to  itself. 
During  this  period  they  completed  the  conquest  of  Mercia  by 
dividing  its  lands  amongst  their  leaders.  When  this  process  was 
once  accomplished,  Wessex  was  once  more  to  feel  the  weight  of 
their  power. 

10.  In  January,  878,  the  Danes  again  invaded  Wessex.  They 
were  led  by  a  famous  chieftain,  Guthrum,  and  fought  under  a 
Alfred  saves  banner  bearing  the  sign  of  a  raven.  It  was  unusual 
Wessex,  in  those  days  to  fight  in  winter,  and  Alfred  was  un- 

*  prepared  for  their  sudden  onslaught.     He  was  driven 

from  Chippenham,  where  he  was  residing,  and  forced  to  withdraw, 
while  the  enemy  overran  his  kingdom.  But  even  in  this  crisis  he 
kept  up  his  courage.  With  a  little  band  he  made  his  way  by  wood 
and  swamp  to  Athelney,  an  island  amidst  the  marches  of  Mid 
Somerset,  at  the  confluence  of«  the  Tone  and  Parret.  There  he 
built  a  fort,  from  which  he  kept  fighting  against  the  foe.  Before 
long  he  was  able  to  abandon  his  refuge  and  gather  an  army  round 
him.  In  May  he  defeated  Guthrum  in  a  pitched  battle  at  Edington 
in  Wiltshire.  The  Danes  fled  in  confusion  to  Chippenham,  where 
they  had  entrenched  a  camp,  and  were  pursued  and  besieged  by 
Alfred.  After  a  fortnight's  siege,  Gruthrum  was  willing  to  make 
peace  with  his  enemy.  The  Danes  "  swore  mighty  oaths  that  they 
would  quit  Alfred's  realm,  and  that  their  king  should  receive 
baptism."  Alfred  stood  godfather  to  Guthrum,  and  entertained 
him  at  Wedmore,  in  Somerset,  for  twelve  days.     For  this  reason 


-886.]  THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  45 

the  treaty  between  Alfred  and  the  Danes  is  often  called  the  treaty 
of  Wedmore.  By  it  the  Danes  not  only  agreed  to  withdraw  from 
Wessex;  they  left  southern  and  western  Mercia  in  the  hands  of 
Alfred,  and  contented  themselves  with  the  northern  and  eastern 
districts  of  Mercia,  where  they  had  already  made  an  effective 
settlement.  But  they  kept  their  hold  over  Essex  and  London,  and 
besides  this,  were  rulers  over  eastern  Mercia,  East  Anglia,  and 
Northumbria.  Thus  Alfred  saved  "Wessex  from  the  Danes,  and  in 
saving  his  own  kingdom,  he  preserved  all  England  from  becoming 
a  merely  Danish  land. 

11.  For  a  season  there  was  peace  between  Alfred  and  the 
Danes.  Seven  years  later  more  fighting  broke  out,  and  Alfred  once 
more  proved  victorious.  In  886  Gruthrum  was  once  Alfred  and 
more  forced  to  make  a  disadvantageous  peace,  by  Guthrum's 
which  he  yielded  up  London  and  its  neighbourhood  to  Peace>  886- 
the  "West  Saxons.  By  the  second  treaty,  called  Alfred  and 
Ghiihrum's  Peace,  the  boundary  between  Alfred's  kingdom  and  the 
lands  of  the  Danes  was  fixed  as  follows :  It  went  up  the  Thames  as 
far  as  the  river  Lea,  then  up  the  Lea  to  its  source,  and  thence  to 
Bedford,  from  which  town  it  continued  up  the  Ouse  to  "Watling 
Street.  Beyond  that  it  is  not  known  for  certain  where  the  dividing- 
line  ran,  but  it  is  often  thought  that  it  followed  the  old  Roman 
road  as  far  as  Chester,  which  thus  became  the  northern  outpost  of 
Alfred's  kingdom.  Thus  "West  Saxon  Mercia  formed  a  great 
triangle,  whose  base  was  the  Thames,  whose  other  sides  were  the 
"Watling  Street  and  the  "Welsh  frontier,  and  whose  apex  was  the  old 
Roman  city  of  Chester.  "Within  these  limits  Alfred  ruled  as  he 
pleased.  But  the  tradition  of  independence  was  still  strong  in 
Mercia,  and  Alfred  thought  it  wise  to  set  up  a  separate  government 
for  that  part  of  the  midland  kingdom  which  now  belonged  to  him. 
He  made  Ethelred,  a  Mercian  nobleman,  alderman  of  the  Mercians, 
and  ensured  his  fidelity  by  marrying  him  to  his  own  daughter, 
Ethelflaed.  Before  long  the  many  princes  of  "Wales  submitted  to 
his  overlordship,  and  promised  to  be  as  obedient  to  him  as  were 
Ethelred  and  his  Mercians.  Alfred  thus  ensured  "West  Saxon 
supremacy  over  all  southern  Britain  that  was  not  governed  by  the 
Danes. 

12.  North  of  the    boundary  line    the  Danes    still    remained 
masters.     They  ruled  the  country  after  the  Danish  fashion,  divided 
the  lands  among  themselves,  and  forced  the  English   jhe  Dane- 
to  work  for  them.     The  Danish  districts  were  called   law. 

the  Danelaw,  because  they  were  governed  according  to  the  law  of 


46 


THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND    THE  DANES 


[886- 


the  Danes.     But  the  Danelaw  did  not  long  keep  itself  distinct  from 
the  rest  of  England.     The  Danish  conquerors  were  few  in  number, 


ENGLAND 

after  Alfred  &  Guthrum's  Peace 
886. 

English jHIa 

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._V     The  Five  Danish  Boroughs-* 


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«,;  )X>   SherbornX 


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S  H 


Emery  Walker  « 

and  not  very  different,  either  in  language  or  in  manners,  from  the 


-892.]  THE   WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  Afi 

English  among  whom  they  lived.  They  soon  followed  Gnthrum's 
example,  and  became  Christians.  When  they  had  renounced  their 
old  heathen  gods,  the  chief  thing  that  separated  them  from  the 
English  disappeared.  Gradually  they  abandoned  their  own  tongue 
and  used  the  language  of  the  English,  which  was  not  very  unlike 
their  own  speech.  The  result  was  that  English  and  Danes  in  the 
Danelaw  were  joined  together  in  a  single  people,  differing  only 
from  their  West  Saxon  neighbours  in  the  south  because  they  still 
retained  something  of  the  fierceness  and  energy  of  the  Danish 
pirates  from  whom  some  of  them  were  descended.  For  many 
generations  the  mixed  Danes  and  English  of  the  north  and  mid- 
lands remained  more  warlike  and  vigorous  than  the  sluggish  West 
Saxons  of  purer  English  descent.  Finally,  however,  it  only 
became  possible  to  distinguish  the  Danelaw  from  the  rest  of  the 
country  by  the  occurrence  of  certain  Scandinavian  suffixes  in  p]ace- 
names  such  as  "  by,"  "  ness,"  "  force,"  "  thwaite,"  and  the  like. 
Wherever  such  forms  cluster  thickly,  as  in  Yorkshire  and  the 
northern  midlands,  there  we  know  that  the  Danes  had  at  one  time 
settled  most  numerously. 

18.  Though  the  men  of  the  Danelaw  were  better  fighters,  the 
greater  civilization  of  the  West  Saxons  still  enabled  them  to 
exercise  influence  over  the  ruder  north  country.  More- 
over,  while  Wessex  remained  under  Alfred  and  his  restoration 
successors  a  single  state  ruled  by  a  strong  king,  the  of  West 
Danelaw  was  broken  up  into  many  petty  states,  each  Suppemaey. 
governed  by  its  own  jarl,  or  alderman.  This  division 
of  the  Danish  power  made  it  easy  for  Alfred  to  restore  his  overlord- 
ship  over  northern  and  eastern  England,  so  that  before  he  died  he 
held  quite  as  strong  a  position  as  ever  Egbert  had  done.  Thus  the 
West  Saxon  supremacy,  threatened  with  destruction  by  the  Danish 
invasion,  was  restored  on  a  broader  basis  after  a  very  few  years. 
The  Danes  had  destroyed  the  old  local  lines  of  kings,  whom  Mercians 
and  East  Anglians  had  so  long  obeyed.  This  made  it  easier  for  the 
West  Saxon  kings  to  exercise  authority  over  the  north  and  east 
than  had  been  the  case  in  earlier  times.  Alfred  had,  in  fact,  done 
more  than  revive  the  overlordship  of  Egbert.  He  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  that  single  monarchy  of  all  England  which  was  soon  to 
become  a  reality  under  his  son  and  grandson.  "  He  was,"  saya 
the  English  Chronicle,  "  king  over  the  whole  kin  of  the  English, 
except  that  part  which  was  under  the  sway  of  the  Danes."  But 
he  still  generally  called  himself  "  king  of  the  West  Saxons,"  like 
his  predecessors.     His  self-restraint  was  wise,  for  the  old  English 


48  THE    WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  [892- 

local  feeling  still  remained  very  strong,  and  the  new  blood  in  the 
Danelaw  did  something  to  strengthen  it. 

14.  Alfred  took  care  to  prevent  the  renewal  of  Danish  invasions 
by  devising  improved  ways  of  marshalling  the  "fyrd,"  or  local 
Alfred's  militia,  in  which  every  free  man  was  bound  in  those 
military  days  to  serve.  This  force  he  divided  into  two  parts, 
reforms.  «  g0  ifc^  always  half  were  at  home  and  half  were  on 
service."  He  also  increased  the  number  of  fortresses  in  England. 
Moreover,  he  saw  that  the  best  way  of  keeping  the  Norsemen  out 
of  his  kingdom  was  by  building  ships  and  trying  to  defeat  the 
enemy  at  sea,  so  as  to  prevent  them  landing  at  all.  He  caused  a  new 
type  of  ships  to  be  made,  which  were  bigger  and  stronger  than  the 
frail  craft  of  the  Danes.  Yet  all  his  pains  could  not  prevent  his 
kingdom  being  assailed  once  more  by  a  chieftain  named  Haesten, 
„.  who,  being  driven  from  th§  continent  in  892,  tried  to 
with  effect  a  regular  conquest  of  "Wessex.  After  a  good 
Haesten,         deal  of  bloodshed,  Haesten  withdrew  baffled.     After 

his  failure  little  is  heard  of  fresh  Danish  invasions  for 
the  best  part  of  a  century.  There  was  plenty  of  fighting  between 
English  and  Danes,  but  the  Danes  against  whom  Englishmen  had 
to  contend  were  the  Danes  settled  in  England.  The  great  period 
of  Danish  settlement  was  at  last  over,  not  only  in  Britain,  but  also 
Beginnings  on  ^ne  continent.  There,  in  911,  the  Norsemen, 
of  Nor-  under  the  leadership  of  a  sea-king  named  Rolf,  made 

mandy,  911.  ^eir  ias^  an(j  most  famous  conquest  in  the  lower  part 
of  western  Erance,  on  both  sides  of  the  lower  Seine.  From  them 
the  land  took  its  name  of  "  Normandy,"  or  "  land  of  the  Northmen," 
and  its  people  were  called  Normans,  a  softened  form  of  Northmen. 
But  just  as  the  Norsemen  in  England  quickly  become  English,  so 
did  their  kinsfolk  in  France  quickly  become  French.  We  shall 
see  later  how  important  these  Normans  became  in  English  history. 

15.  In  resisting  the  Danes,  Alfred  won  great  fame  as  a  warrior 
But  there  were  many  soldiers  in  that  age  of  hard  fighting  who 
Alfred's  approached  Alfred  in  military  reputation.  It  is  his 
peaceful  peculiar  glory  that  he  was  as  strenuous  and  successful 
reforms.  j^  ^e  arts  of  peace  as  in  the  arts  of  war.  He  stands 
far  above  the  mere  soldier-king  by  his  zeal  to  promote  good  laws, 
sound  administration,  and  the  prosperity  and  civilization  of  his 
people.  He  found  England  in  a  terrible  state  of  desolation  after 
the  Danish  invasions.  He  laboured  with  great  zeal  and  no  small 
measure  of  success  to  bring  back  to  the  land  the  blessings  of  peace 
and  prosperity.     He  collected  the  old  laws  by  which  the  West 


-899.]         THE   WEST  SAXONS  AND   THE  DANES  49 

Saxons  had  long  "been  ruled,  and  put  them  together  in  a  convenient 
form,  long  famous  as  the  laws  of  Alfred.  He  encouraged  trade, 
repeopled  London,  which  the  Danes  had  left  desolate,  and  was 
a  special  friend  to  merchants  and  seafarers.  He  encouraged  sailors 
to  explore  distant  seas  and  tell  him  the  results  of  their  inquiries. 
He  corresponded  with  the  pope  ana  many  foreign  kings,  and  sent 
gifts  to  foreign  Churches,  including  the  distant  Christian  Church 
of  India.  Yet  his  own  country  was  always  foremost  in  his  mind. 
In  England  he  restored  the  churches  and  monasteries  that  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  and  strove  to  fill  them  with  well- 
educated  priests  and  monks.  In  his  early  years  he  had  been 
appalled  at  the  ignorance  of  his  clergy.  "  There  was  not  one  priest 
south  of  the  Thames,"  said  he,  "  who  could  understand  the  Latin 
of  the  mass-book,  and  very  few  in  the  rest  of  England."  To  spread 
knowledge  among  those  who  did  not  understand  Latin,  he  caused 
several  books  of  importance  to  be  translated,  among  them  being 
Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History  and  a  treatise  by  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great  on  Pastoral  Care.  Moreover,  he  ordered  the  compilation  of 
an  English  Chronicle,  in  which  was  set  down  all  that  was  then 
known  of  the  history  of  the  English  people,  and  which,  continued 
in  various  monasteries  up  to  the  twelfth  century,  became  from  that 
time  onward  the  chief  source  of  our  knowledge  of  Old  English 
history,  and  the  most  remarkable  of  the  early  histories  which  any 
European  people  possesses  written  in  its  own  language.  He  set  up 
schools  in  the  royal  court,  after  the  example  of  Charles  the  Great. 
As  he  found  few  West  Saxons  able  to  co-operate  with  him  in  these 
learned  labours,  he  welcomed  to  his  coast  scholars  from  foreign 
lands,  from  Mercia,  from  Wales,  and  from  the  continent.  The 
most  famous  of  these  was  a  Welshman  named  Asser,  who  became 
bishop  of  Sherborne,  in  Dorsetshire,  and  afterwards  wrote  Alfred's 
life.  Alfred's  work  was  the  more  remarkable  since  he  was 
constantly  troubled  by  a  painful  illness,  and  never  succeeded  in 
winning  many  efficient  fellow- workers  among  his  sluggish  fellow- 
countrymen.  Even  more  wonderful  than  what  he  did  was  the 
spirit  in  which  he  worked.  His  character  is  among  the  noblest 
and  purest  in  all  history.  He  was  truth-telling,  temperate, 
virtuous,  high-minded,  pious,  liberal,  and  discreet,  the 
friend  of  the  poor,  and  so  eager  to  uphold  justice  that  Affred°B99 
he  often  administered  the  law  himself,  and  always 
kept  a  watchful  eye  on  the  decisions  of  his  judges.  He  died  in 
899,  amidst  the  lamentations  of  his  subjects,  and  has  ever  since 
been  known  as  King  Alfred  the  Great. 

E 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SUCCESSORS  OF  ALFRED  AND  THE 
BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MON- 
ARCHY (899-978) 

Chief  Dates : 

899-924.  Reign  of  Edward  the  Elder. 

924-940.  Reign  of  Athelstan. 

940-946.  Reign  of  Edmund  the  Magnificent. 

946-9SS.  Reign  of  Edred. 

955-959-  Reign  of  Edwy.  ' 

959-975-  Reign  of  Edgar. 

975-978.  Reign  of  Edward  the  Martyr. 

1.  Alfred  was  succeeded  by  bis  eldest  son,  Edward,  called 
Edward  tbe  Elder,  wbo  bad  already  been  associated  in  tbe  govern- 
Edward  the  ment  during  bis  father's  lifetime.  Tbougb  carefully 
Elder,  educated,  Edward  showed  no  trace  of  bis  father's  love 

899-924.  £or  £ke  g^g  0£  peace  He  was,  however,  as  strenuous 
a  warrior  as  ever  Alfred  had  been.  He  worthily  carried  on  the 
great  king's  work  of  bringing  together  England  into  a  single 
state.  In  this  be  was  much  helped  by  bis  brother-in-law,  Ethelred 
of  Mercia,  and,  after  his  death,  by  his  sister  Ethelflaed,  whom  he 
continued  in  the  government  of  Mercia  with  the  title  of  the  Lady 
of  the  Mercians.  Edward  and  bis  sister  waged  constant  war 
against  the  Danes.  They  strengthened  their  frontier  both  against 
the  Danes  and  the  Welsh  by  building  or  restoring  "  boroughs,"  or 
fortified  towns,  from  which  they  might  attack  the  enemy  in  bis  own 
binds.  A  further  step  soon  followed  when  the  West  Saxons  and 
Mercians  overstepped  the  line  drawn  by  Alfred,  and  gradually 
conquered  tbe  Danelaw  after  much  hard  fighting.  The  most 
famous  of  these  contests  centred  round  the  district  dependent  on 
the  Five  Danish  Boroughs  of  Derby,  Stamford,  Nottingham, 
Leicester,  and  Lincoln.  At  tbe  moment  of  their  final  contest 
Ethelflaed  died.  She  had  shown  as  much  warlike  skill  as  her 
brother,  and  had  loyally  worked  with  him.  Edward  felt  so  much 
stronger  than  Alfred  that  be  appointed  no  successor  to  bis  sister, 
5° 


924.]     BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY        5 1 

but  took  over  the  government  both  of  Danish  and  of  English  Mercia 
into  his  own  hands.  He  next  assailed  East  Anglia,  and  easily 
subdued  it.  Then  came  the  turn  of  Northumbria,  in  which  Deira, 
or  Yorkshire,  was  ruled  by  a  Danish  jarl,  while  Bernicia,  which 
had  escaped  Norse  conquest,  was  governed  by  an  independent 
English  alderman.  Edward  prepared  for  his  northern  advance  by 
building  a  fresh  line  of  fortresses  from  Chester  eastwards  along 
the  line  of  the  Mersey.  In  923  he  made  his  first  conquest  of 
Northumbrian  territory  by  taking  possession  of  "Manchester  in 
Northumbria." 

2.  By  this  time  the  rulers  of  Britain  perceived  that  there  was  no 
use  in  fighting  against  the  great  West  Saxon  king.   Immediately  on 
the  conquest  of  Mercia  the  kings  of  the  "Welsh  and  all  Edward  the 
their  people  sought  Edward  as  their  lord.     At  their  flrst  king 
head  was  Howel  the  G-ood,  the  famous  law-giver,  and  of  tne 

the  most  distinguished  of  the  Welsh  princes  for  many  ' 

generations.  "  And  in  924,"  says  the  Chronicle,  "  then  chose  him 
for  father  and  lord  the  king  of  the  Scots  and  the  whole  nation  of 
the  Scots,  and  all  those  who  dwell'  in  Northumbria,  whether 
English  or  Danes,  and  also  the  king  of  the  Strathclyde  Welsh  and 
all  the  Strathclyde  Welsh."  This  was  the  culminating  act  of 
Edward's  reign.  He  died  before  the  end  of  924,  when  still  a  young 
man.  Conscious  of  his  increasing  power,  he  was  not  content  to 
call  himself  king  of  the  West  Saxons  as  Alfred  had  done.  He 
preferred  to  describe  himself  as  king  of  the  English,  or  king  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons — that  is,  of  the  two  races  of  Angles  and  Saxons 
which  we  collectively  call  the  English.  Prom  his  day  onward  the 
monarchy  of  England,  though  often  threatened,  became  a  perma- 
nent thing.  Thus  the  West  Saxon  overlordship  grew  into  the 
kingdom  over  all  the  English. 

3.  Three  sons  of  Edward  the  Elder  now  ruled  successively  over 
the  English.  Of  these,  Athelstan,  the  eldest,  was  as  vigorous  a 
warrior  as  his  father.    He  put  an  end  to  the  dynasty  of 

Danish  princes  that  had  hitherto  reigned  in  Deira,  and  924^940  D' 
added  that  district  to  the  dominions  directly  governed 
by  him.  He  ruled,  we  are  told,  over  all  the  kings  that  were  in 
Britain.  So  firmly  did  his  power  seem  established  that  foreign 
princes  sought  his  alliance,  and  the  greatest  rulers  of  the  age  were 
glad  to  marry  themselves  or  their  kinsfolk  to  Athelstan's  sisters. 
The  empire  of  Charles  the  Great  had  now  broken  up,  and  separate 
kingdoms  had  arisen  for  the  East  and  the  West  Franks,  out  of 
which  the  later  kingdoms  of  Germany  and  France  were  soon  to 


52       BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY      [924- 

arise.  Henry  the  Fowler,  king  of  the  East  Franks,  or  G-ermans, 
married  his  son  Otto  to  Athelstan's  sister  Edith.  This  was  the 
Otto  who  afterwards  became  the  Emperor  Otto  the  Great,  the 
reviver  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  founder  of  the  great  German 
monarchy,  which  annexed,  so  to  say,  the  title  of  Roman  emperors 
for  itself.  Other  sisters  of  Athelstan  were  married  to  Charles  the 
Simple,  king  of  the  West  Franks,  or  French,  and  to  Hugh,  duke 
of  the  French,  whose  son,  called  Hugh  Capet,  finally  put  an  end  to 
the  rule  of  the  Carolings,  or  descendants  of  Charles  the  Great, 
and  begun  the  Capetian  dynasty  which  ruled  over  France  as  long 
as  France  retained  the  government  of  kings.  The  result  of  all 
these  alliances  was  that  no  Old  English  king  was  so  well  known  on 
the  continent  as  Athelstan. 

4.  In  937  jealousy  of  their  "West  Saxon  overlord  drew  the 
dependent  rulers  of  Britain  into  a  strong  coalition  against  him. 
The  battle  The  leaders  of  this  were  Constantine,  king  of  Scots, 
of  Bpunan-  the  Danish  kings  of  Dublin,  and  some  of  the  Welsh 
burn.  princes.  But  Athelstan  met  the  confederate  army  and 
crushed  it  at  Brunanburh,  a  place  probably  situated  in  the  north-west 
of  England,  though  its  exact  site  is  unknown.  This  fight  is  com- 
memorated in  a  magnificent  war-song  given  in  the  English  Chronicle. 
It  ensured  peace  for  the  rest  of  Athelstan's  lifetime.  Three  years 
later  he  died,  in  940.  Men  called  him  Glorious  Athelstan.  He 
made  many  good  laws,  and  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Church. 

5.  Athelstan's  younger  brother,  Edmund,  who  had  shared  in 
the  glory  of  Brunanburh,  then  became  king.  He  was  soon  con- 
Edmund  the  fronted  by  revolts  of  the  Danes  of  northern  Mercia 
Magnificent,   and  Deira.     But  he  easily  reconquered  both  the  Five 

Danish  Boroughs  and  Danish  Yorkshire.  He  then 
took  Cumberland  from  its  Welsh  princes  and  gave  it  to  Malcolm, 
king  of  Scots,  "  on  the  condition  that  he  should  be  his  fellow- 
worker  as  well  by  sea  as  by  land."  For  these  exploits  he  was 
called  the  Magnificent,  or  the  Deed-Doer.  His  career  was  cut 
short  in  946  through  his  murder  by  an  outlaw. 

6.  Edmund  left  two  sons,  named  Edwy  and  Edgar,  but  they 
were  young  children,  and  no  one  thought  of  making  either  of  them 

king.  The  nobles  turned  rather  to  their  uncle  Edred, 
946^955  ^e  youngest  of  Edward  the  Elder's  sons,  who  was  at 

once  chosen  king.  Unlike  his  two  brothers,  Edred 
was  weak  in  health  and  unable  to  play  the  warrior's  part.  But  he 
was  prudent  enough  to  put  the  management  of  his  affairs  into  the 
hands  of  the  wisest  man  in  all  England.     This  was  Dunstan,  abbot 


-959-1      BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY      53 

of  Glastonbury,  who  was  already  famous  for  having  reformed  the 
lax  state  of  the  monks  under  his  charge,  and  who  now  showed  that 
he  was  a  shrewd  statesman  as  well  as  a  zealous  ecclesiastic.  Under 
his  guidance  the  West  Saxon  monarchy  continued  in  its  career 
of  victory  under  its  sickly  king,  though,  as  a  rule,  in  those  days 
a  weak  ruler  meant  an  unlucky  reign.  Once  more  Northumbria 
was  conquered  from  the  Danes  in  954,  and  Wjith  this  event  the 
unity  of  England  seemed  accomplished.  Proud  of  his  great  power 
Edred  was  no  longer  content  to  call  himself  king  of  the  English. 
He  sometimes  styled  himself  emperor,  king,  and  Caesar  of  Britain, 
as  if  to  the  English  monarchy  he  had  added  the  dominion  over  all 
the  island.  These  titles  must  not  be  taken  too  seriously,  yet  they 
show  that  the  aim  now  before  the  West  Saxon  house  was  nothing 
less  than  supremacy  over  all  the  British  isles.  Thus  under  Edred 
the  work  began  by  Alfred  was  completed.  It  was  rendered  the 
easier  by  the  fact  that  Danes  and  English  of  the  Danelaw  had  by 
this  time  become  blended  into  a  single  people.  Dunstan  was  wise 
enough  to  allow  the  men  of  the  north  country  to  retain  their  own 
laws  and  be  ruled  by  their  own  earls.  It  was  the  best  way  to  make 
them  obedient  to  their  West  Saxon  king.  But  the  great  difference 
of  temper  between  north  and  south  still  remained,  and  there  soon 
arose  an  opportunity  for  it  to  assert  itself. 

7.  Edred  died  in  955,  and  his  nephew  Edwy,  though  hardly  yet 
a  man,  was  chosen  king  as  the  oldest  member  of  the  royal  house 
available.    Under  him  troubles  soon  began.    The  young 

king  quarrelled  with  Dunstan,  and  drove  him  into  95^059 
banishment.  The  abbot  was  popular  among  the 
Northumbrians  and  Mercians,  though  he  had  many  enemies  among 
the  West  Saxon  nobles  who  swayed  the  mind  of  the  young  king. 
It  is  very  likely  that  after  Dunstan's  exile  the  rule  of  Edwy  over 
the  Northumbrians  and  Mercians  became  more  severe  than  the 
mild  government  of  Edred.  Anyhow,  Mercia  and  Northumbria 
rose  in  revolt,  and  declared  that  they  would  no  longer  have  Edwy 
to  reign  over  them.  They  then  chose  as  their  king  the  JEtheling 
Edgar,  Edwy's  younger  brother.  England  was  now  so  far  united 
that  even  those  who  wished  to  divide  it  could  only  find  a  king  in 
the  sacred  royal  house  of  Wessex. 

8.  Edgar  easily  became  king  of  the  north  and  midlands.     He 
at  once  recalled  Dunstan  from  exile,  and  made  him    Edgar  the 
bishop,  first  of  Worcester,  and  afterwards  of  London   Peaceful, 

as  well.      For    the   rest   of  his   life    Edwy    reigned   959"975- 
over  Wessex  alone.     His  early  death  in  959  resulted,  however,  in 


54       BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY     [959- 

the  reunion  of  England.  Thereupon  the  West  Saxons  chose  Edgar 
as  their  king.  From  that  day  till  his  death  Edgar  ruled  over  all 
England,  and,  alone  of  the  great  West  Saxon  kings,  ruled  without 
the  need  of  fighting  for  his  throne.  For  that  reason  men  called  him 
Edgar  the  Peaceful.  Again,  as  under  Edred,  Dunstan  became  the 
king's  chief  adviser.  He  was  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
the  crown  became  powerful  and  the  country  prosperous  under  his 
strong  but  conciliatory  government.  A  great  proof  of  Dunstan's 
willingness  to  make  sacrifices  to  keep  the  peace  was  to  be  seen  in 
the  dealings  between  England  and  Scotland.  In  the  weak  days 
of  division  the  Scots  had  taken  possession  of  the  border  fortress 
of  Edinburgh,  hitherto  the  northernmost  Northumbrian  town. 
To  avoid  war  and  obtain  the  goodwill  of  the  Scots,  Edgar  yielded 
up  to  their  king  the  Northumbrian  district  called  Lothian.  Up 
to  now  the  Scots  had  been  Highland  Celts,  but  since  Edmund's 
cession  of  Cumbria  the  Scottish  kings  had  had  Welsh  subjects. 
Now  they  had  English  subjects  also.  And  before  long  the  English 
element  grew,  until  the  modern  Scottish  Lowlands  became  English- 
speaking  and  very  like  England,  and  only  the  Highlands  retained 
the  Celtic  tongue  and  manners  of  the  old  Scots. 

9.  The  kings  and  chieftains  of  Britain  gladly  acknowledged  the 
overlordship  of  a  monarch  so  just  and  strong  as  Edgar.  It  is  said 
Edgar  as  Oh&i  on  one  occasion  he  went  to  Chester,  where  he  met 
emperor  of  six  under-kings,  who  all  took  oaths  to  be  faithful  to 
Britain.  him  ;  and  that  the  six  kings  rowed  their  overlord  in  a 
boat  up  the  Dee  to  the  Church  of  St.  John's,  outside  the  walls.  The 
six  were  the  king  of  Scots,  his  vassal  the  king  of  Cumberland,  the 
Danish  king  of  Man,  and  three  Welsh  kings.  Even  the  Danish 
kings  who  ruled  over  the  coast  towns  of  Ireland  submitted  them- 
selves to  his  dominion.  It  was  no  wonder  that  Edgar,  like  Edwy, 
took  upon  himself  high-sounding  titles.  He  called  himself  emperor, 
Augustus,  and  Basileus  of  Britain.  Under  him  the  process  that 
begins  with  Alfred  attains  its  culminating  point.  Edgar  was  the 
most  mighty  of  English  kings  before  the  Norman  conquest. 

10.  At  home  Edgar  ruled  sternly,  but  so  justly,  that  the  only 
fault  that  his  subjects  could  find  with  him  was  that  he  loved 
n  .  foreigners  too  much.  The  chief  event  of  this  time  was 
and  the  a  religious  revival,  which  Dunstan  did  much  to  foster. 
Benedictine    Despite  Alfred's  strenuous  efforts  at  reform,  the  Church 

remained  corrupt  and  sluggish.  In  particular,  the 
monasteries  were  in  a  very  lax  state.  Dunstan  was  first  famous 
as  the  reformer  of  his  own  abbey  of  Glastonbury.     He  became 


-975-1      BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY       55 

more  eager  for  reform  after  his  exile.  When  abroad  he  had  seen 
the  good  results  which  had  happened  from  a  monastic  revival  that 
had  already  been  brought  about  on  the  continent.  Brought  back 
to  power,  he  strove  with  all  his  might  to  revive  in  England  the 
spirit  of  the  austere  Benedictine  rule  which  derived  its  name  from 
St.  Benedict  of  Nursia,  the  father  of  all  later  monasticism,  who 
lived  in  the  sixth  century,  and  whose  system  St.  Augustine  had 
first  introduced  into  this  country.  Dunstan  was  anxious  to  make 
the  easy-going  monks  of  England  live  the  same  strict  life  of 
poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  which  St.  Benedict  had  enjoined, 
and  which  he  had  seen  in  operation  during  his  banishment.  More- 
over, he  felt  sure  that  the  career  of  the  monk  was  higher  and  nobler 
than  that  of  the  secular  clerk,  who'  held  property,  married,  and 
generally  lived  a  self-indulgent  and  easy-going  life.  By  this  time 
many  of  the  monasteries  of  earlier  days  had  been  changed  into 
what  were  called  churches  of  secular  canons — that  is  to  say,  they 
were  served  by  clergymen  who  did  not  take  the  monastic  vows, 
but  lived  in  the  world  side  by  side  with  laymen.  Dunstan  was 
disgusted  at  the  lax  ways  of  the  secular  canons,  and  did  his  best 
to  drive  them  out  of  their  churches,  and  put  Benedictine  monks  in 
their  place.  But  the  canons  were  often  men  of  high  birth,  and 
had  powerful  friends  among  the  nobles,  who  disliked  Dunstan's 
policy  even  in  matters  of  state.  Hence  the  attempt  to  supersede 
canons  by  monks  met  with  much  opposition,  and  Dunstan,  who 
was  a  very  prudent  man,  took  care  not  to  go  too  far  in  upholding 
the  monks.  Yet  he  managed  to  establish  monks  in  his  own 
cathedral  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  which  henceforth  remained 
a  Benedictine  monastery  until  the  Reformation.  Some  of  his 
fellow-workers  were  less  cautious  than  Dunstan,  and  the  struggle 
of  monk  and  canon  led  to  almost  as  much  fighting  as  the  contest 
between  the  West  Saxons  and  the  Mercians.  As  long  as  Edgar 
lived,  however,  Dunstan  managed  to  keep  the  two  parties  from 
open  hostilities. 

11.  Edgar  died  in  975,  and  with  him  ended  the  greatness  of  the 
West  Saxon  house.  He  left  two  sons  by  different  mothers.  Their 
names  were  Edward  and  Ethelred.  North  and  south,  Edward1  the 
friends  of  monks  and  friends  of  canons,  quarrelled  as  to  Martyr, 
which  of  the  two  boys  should  become  king.  For  the  975_978« 
moment  the  influence  of  Dunstan  secured  the  throne  for  Edward, 
the  elder  son.  For  four  years  the  great  archbishop  went  on  ruling 
the  kingdom  as  in  the  days  of  Edgar.  But  his  task  was  much 
harder  now  that  he  was  virtually  single-handed.    In  978  the  young 


$6       BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY     [978. 

king  was  stabbed  in  the  back,  it  was  believed,  at  the  instigation  of 
his  step-mother,  who  wished  her  own  son,  Ethelred,  to  monnt  the 
throne.  This  cruel  death  gave  Edward  the  name  of  Edward  the 
Martyr.  His  half-brother,  Ethelred  11.,  succeeded  to  the  throne 
prepared  for  him  by  his  mother's  crime. 

12.  Dunstan' s  last  important  public  act  was  to  crown  the  new 
monarch.     Soon  afterwards  the  great  archbishop  withdrew  from 

political  affairs,  and  devoted  what  life  was  still  left  to 
Dunstan  him  to  the  government  of  the  Church  and  the  carrying 

on  of  the  monastic  revival.  He  lived  long  enough  to 
see  the  peace,  which  Edgar  and  he  had  upheld,  utterly  banished 
from  the  land,  and  to  witness  the  ruin  of  the  religious  reforma- 
tion amidst  the  tumults  of  a  dreary  period  of  civil  strife  and 
renewed  invasion.  He  was  the  first  great  English  statesman 
who  was  not  a  king  and  a  warrior.  In  after  days  monks,  who 
wrote  his  life,  glorified  him  as  the  friend  of  monks  with  such  exces- 
sive zeal  that  the  wise  statesman,  who  did  so  much  to  bring  about 
the  unity  of  England,  was  hidden  underneath  the  monastic  zealot 
and  the  strenuous  saint.  Yet,  both  as  a  prelate  and  as  a  politician, 
Dunstan  did  a  great  work  for  his  country.  In  him  the  impulse  to 
union  and  civilization,  which  began  with  Alfred,  attained  its  highest 
point.  He  closes  the  great  century  which  begins  with  the  treaty  of 
Chippenham,  and  ends  with  the  murder  of  Edward  the  Martyr. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  KINGDOM 
AND  THE  DANISH  CONQUEST  (978-1042) 

Chief  Dates: 

978-1016.  Reign  of  Ethelred  the  Unready. 

1002.  Massacre  of  St.  Brice's  Day. 

1013.  Swegen's  conquest  of  England. 

1016.  Rivalry  of  Edmund  Ironside  and  Cnut. 

1017-1035.  Reign  of  Cnut. 

1035-1037.  Regency  of  Harold  Harefoot. 

1037-1040.  Reign  of  Harold  Harefoot. 

1040-1042.  Reign  of  Harthacnut. 

1.  The  long  reign  of  Ethelred  11.  (978-1016)  was  a  period  of 
ever-deepening  confusion.  At  first  the  king  was  a  boy,  and  the 
nobles  managed  things  as  they  wished.  But  after  Ethelred  the 
Ethelred  became  a  man  things  grew  steadily  worse.  Unready, 
The  son  of  Edgar  had  none  of  the  great  qualities  of  978~1016- 
his  race.  Quarrelsome,  jealous,  and  suspicious,  he  was  always 
irritating  his  nobles  by  trying  to  win  greater  power  for  himself. 
Yet  he  was  too  weak  and  foolish  to  know  what  to  do  with  the 
authority  which  he  inherited.  In  scorn  men  called  him  Ethelred 
the  Unready — that  is,  the  Redeless,  the  man  without  rede,  or  good 
counsel.  Under  his  nerveless  sway  the  unity  of  the  kingdom  began 
to  break  up.  Local  jealousies  and  personal  feuds  set  the  great  men 
by  the  ears,  and  the  guiding  hand  of  a  wise  monarch  was  no  longer 
to  be  expected. 

2.  To   make  matters  worse  the  Danish  invasions  soon  began 
again.     Now  that  the  Danes  in  England  had  become  Englishmen, 
their  kinsfolk  beyond  sea,  learning  the  helplessness  of   Renewal  of 
the  land,  again  began  to  send  plundering  expeditions   the  Danish 
to  its  shores.     Ethelred  was  too  cowardly  and  lazy  to   hivasions. 
meet  the  pirate  hordes  with  an  adequate  force  of  armed  men.     He 
persuaded  his  nobles  to  impose  a  tax  on  land,  whereby  a  large  sum 
of  money  was  collected  to  buy  them  off.     The  Danes  took  the  bribe 
and  departed,   but  naturally  they  came  again  and  wanted  more. 

57  1 


58  THE  DANISH  CONQUEST  [978- 

Before  long  Danegeld,  so  this  tax  was  called,  was  regularly  levied, 
but  every  year  the  horrors  of  Danish  invasion  became 
worse  and  worse.   As  another  means  of  conciliating  the 

Danes,  Ethelred  married  Emma  of  Normandy,  the  daughter  of  the 

duke  of  the  Normans,  who  was  himself  a  Norseman  by  descent, 

and  the  ally  of  the  Danish  kings. 

3.  In  the  same  year  as  his  marriage,  Ethelred,  with  equal  folly 
and  treachery,  ordered  all  the  Danes  that  happened  to  be  living  in 
England  to  be  put  to  death.  The  day  chosen  for  this  evil  deed 
Massacre  of  was  St.  Brice's  Day,  November  13, 1002.  Tidings  of 
St.  Brice's  the  massacre  only  served  to  infuriate  the  Danes  in 
Day,  1002.  Denmark ;  and  Swegen,  their  king,  resolved  to  revenge 
his  slaughtered  countrymen  by  undertaking  a  regular  conquest  of 
Ethelred's  kingdom.  The  state  of  the  Scandinavian  north  was 
different  from  what  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  Alfred.  There  was 
now  a  strong  king  ruling  all  Denmark,  and  another  ruling  all 
Norway.  In  earlier  days  the  Danes  came  in  comparatively  small 
and  detached  bands,  whose  greatest  hope  was  to  conquer  and  colonize 
some  one  district  of  England.  It  was  now  possible  for  the  king 
of  all  Denmark  to  invade  England  with  an  army  big  enough 
to  tax  all  the  resources  of  the  country.  In  1003  Swegen  carried 
out  his  threat.  He  came  to  England  with  a  large  fleet  and 
army,    and    set    to    work    to    conquer    it.      Ethelred  made  few 

attempts  to  organize  resistance  to  him,  and,  though 
invaskms        some  districts  fought  bravely  and  checked  the  Danish 

advance,  there  was  no  central  force  drawn  from  the 
whole  country  capable  of  withstanding  the  foe.  For  the  next  ten 
years  England  suffered  unspeakable  misery.  One  famous  incident 
of  the  struggle  was  the  cruel  death  of  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, iElfheah,  or  Alphege,  whom  the  Danes,  after  a  drunken 
revel,  pelted  to  death  with  bones  because  he  would  not  con- 
sent to  impoverish  the  poor  husbandmen  who  farmed  his  lands 
by  raising  from  them  the  heavy  ransom  demanded  by  the  in- 
vaders. Alphege  was  declared  a  saint,  and  his  memory  long  held 
in  honour. 

4.  At  last  Englishmen  began  to  see  it  was  no  use  resisting 
Swegen,  or  in  upholding  so  wretched  a  king  as  Ethelred.  In  1013 
The  rule  of  ^e  Danish  king  again  appeared  in  England  and  easily 
Swegen,  conquered  the  greater  part  of  the  country.  There- 
1013-1014.  upon  Ethelred  fled  to  Normandy,  the  country  of  his 
wife.  His  withdrawal  left  Swegen  -the  real  ruler  of  England.  Had 
he  been  a  Christian,  the  English  might  well  have  chosen  him  as 


-ioi7.]  THE  DANISH  CONQUEST  59 

their  king.  As  it  was,  some  districts  still  resisted  when  Swegen 
died  in  1014. 

5.  The  Danish  soldiers  chose  Swegen's  son  Cnut  as  their  king. 
Cnnt  was  as  good  a  soldier  as  his  father.     Moreover,  he  was  a 
Christian  and  a  wise  and  prudent  man.      But  the   Et|)eired's 
English  still  regretted  their  old  king,  and  some  of   return, 
them  foolishly  asked  Ethelred  to  come  back  from  Nor-    *01*'  a/}f16 
mandy  and  take  up  his  kingship  again.     Ethelred  re- 
turned, and  war  went  on  between  him  and  Cnut  until  1016,  when 
Ethelred  died. 

6.  Ethelred's  successor  was  a  man  of  very  different  stamp. 
Edmund,  his  son  before  his  marriage  with  Emma,  was  a  strenuous 
warrior,  so  valiant  and  persistent  that  men  called  him  The  p^ipy 
Edmund  Ironside.  In  him  Cnut  found  a  worthy  foe,  of  Edmund 
and  a  mighty  struggle  ensued  between  the  two  rivals,  Jfonsi^®  ^nd 
which  made  the  year  1016  as  memorable  in  military 

history  as  the  "  year  of  battles  "  in  the  midst  of  which  Alfred 
mounted  the  throne.  Six  pitched  battles  were  fought,  the  most 
famous  of  which  was  one  at  Assandun  (now  Ashington),  in  Essex, 
in  which  Cnut  won  the  day.  In  the  long  run  neither  side  obtained 
a  complete  triumph  over  the  other,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year 
the  two  kings  met  at  Olney,  an  island  in  the  Severn,  near 
Gloucester,  where  they  agreed  to  divide  England  between  them. 
By  the  treaty  of  Olney,  Cnut  took  Northumbria  and  Mercia,  and 
Edmund,  Wessex.  A  little  later  Edmund  died,  and  in  1017  the 
nobles  of  "Wessex,  weary  of  fighting,  chose  Cnut  as  their  ruler. 

7.  Cnut  thus  became  king,  first  of  part  and  then  of  the  whole 
of  England,  very  much  as  Edgar  had  done.  Though  his  real 
claim  to  the  throne  was  not  the  choice  of  the  people, 

but  his  right  as  a  conquerer,  he  soon  proved  himself  iq 17-1 035 
an  excellent  king.  Under  him  the  prosperity  of 
Edgar's  days  was  renewed.  He  sent  home  most  of  his  Danish 
troops,  chose  English  advisers,  and  married  Emma,  Ethelred's 
widow,  so  as  to  connect  himself  as  closely  as  possible  with  the 
West  Saxon  royal  house.  He  promised  Danes  and  English  in 
England  to  rule  according  to  King  Edgar's  law.  But  Cnut  was 
king  of  Denmark  as  well  as  of  England,  and  a  few  years  later 
became  king  of  Norway  also.  Visions  of  a  great  northern  empire 
rivalling  the  realm  of  the  German  emperors,  who  still  called  them- 
selves emperors  of  Borne,  may  well  have  floated  before  his  mind. 
But  he  was  wise  enough  to  make  England,  not  Denmark,  the  centre 
of  his  power.     Rough  as  England  then  was,  Scandinavia  was  still 


60  THE  DANISH  CONQUEST  [1017- 

ruder.  It  was  still  largely  heathen ;  and  the  only  way  in  which  the 
power  of  Cnut  could  be  kept  together  there  was  for  him  to  use 
English  bishops  and  monks  to  help  him  in  civilizing  and  teaching 
the  faith  to  his  born  subjects  in  the  north.  But  though  English- 
men thus  found  new  careers  in  the  service  of  their  conqueror,  the 
cares  of  his  great  empire  compelled  Cnut  to  absent  himself  from 
England  for  long  periods.  Besides  necessary  journeys  to  his 
northern  kingdoms,  he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  whence  he 
wrote  a  touching  letter  to  his  subjects,  declaring  that  he  had 
"  vowed  to  live  a  right  life  in  all  things,  to  rule  justly  and  piously, 
and  to  administer  just  judgment  to  all."  He  steadily  lived  up  to 
the  high  ideal  thus  set  out  before  him,  and  in  every  way  proved 
himself  to  be  one  of  the  best  of  our  kings.  He  was  enabled  to 
rule  his  realm  strongly,  as  he  kept  up  a  sort  of  standing  army  in  a 
force  of  two  or  three  thousand  Souse  carles,  or  palace  guards,  whom 
he  paid  well  and  kept  under  discipline.  It  was  dangerous  to  rebel 
against  a  monarch  with  such  a  force  always  ready  at  his  disposal. 

8.  Early  in  his  reign  Cnut  divided  England  into  four  parts. 
One    of    these,    Wessex,    he    kept    for    himself,    but    the    other 

three,  Mercia,  Northumberland,  and  East  Anglia,  he 
earldoms        handed  over  to  be  governed  by  great  earls,  or,  as  they 

had  been  called  in  earlier  days,  aldermen.  Before  his 
death  he  seems  also  to  have  assigned  Wessex  to  an  earl.  For  this 
important  post  he  chose  a  wealthy,  eloquent,  and  shrewd  English- 
man named  Godwin,  whom  he  married  to  a  lady  of  the  Danish 
royal  stock,  and  to  whom  he  showed  many  other  signs  of  favour. 
As  long  as  Chut  lived  the^e  great  earls  remained  faithful  to  him, 
but  their  establishment  was  a  dangerous  experiment.  They  were 
necessarily  entrusted  with  a  great  deal  of  power.  When  they  had  be- 
come well  established  in  their  jurisdictions  they  made  themselves  the 
centres  of  the  old  local  traditions  that  still  remained  strong,  despite 
a  century  and  a  half  of  centralization.  Thiugs  grew  worse  when 
son  succeeded  father  in  the  earldoms  as  in  the  ancient  sub-king- 
doms that  had  preceded  them.  Finally,  the  great  earldoms  revived 
in  fact,  if  not  in  name,  the  separatist  feelings  of  Mercia,  North- 
umbria,  and  Wessex.  The  next  half-century  showed  the  realm  of 
Edgar  gradually  splitting  up  into  its  ancient  threefold  division. 

9.  Cnut  died  in  1035.  He  left  two  sons,  Harold,  the  firstborn, 
and  Harthacnut,  his  son  by  Emma  of  Normandy.  A  meeting  of 
the  wise  men  took  place  at  Oxford  to  decide  how  the  succession 
was  to  be  settled.  Party  feeling  ran  high,  and  Leofric,  earl  of 
Mercia,  stood  in  fierce  antagonism  to  Godwin,  earl  of  Wessex. 


-lo42.]  THE  DANISH  CONQUEST  6 1 

Godwin  and  the  West  Saxons  wished  to  make  Harthacnut  king, 
hut  he  was  away  in  Denmark,  and  this  fact  played  into  the  hands 
of  Leofric,  who  was  supported  by  north  and  midlands  Hapold  uare- 
in  his  efforts  to  uphold  the  cause  of  Harold.  Finally,  foot  and 
as  a  compromise,  it  was  agreed  to  make  Harold  regent  of  Harthacnut, 
all  England,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  his  absent  brother. 
This  suggests  that  a  division  of  the  kingdom  was  contemplated, 
but  for  more  than  a  year  England  had  no  king  at  all:  However, 
Harthacnut  abode  obstinately  in  Denmark,  and  neither  Godwin 
nor  Emma  could  long  maintain  the  rights  of  an  absentee  claimant. 
In  1037  Harold  was  definitely  chosen  king.  He  drove  Emma  out 
of  the  country,  and  reigned  until  his  death  in  1040.  Harthacnut 
was  then  at  Bruges,  in  Flanders,  where  his  mother  lived,  and  was 
waiting  with  an  army  in  the  hope  of  invading  England.  He  was  at 
once  sent  for,  and  elected  king  of  all  England.  He  showed  great 
sternness  to  his  enemies,  casting  his  dead  brother's  body  into  a 
sewer,  and  levying  heavy  taxes  on  those  who  had  resisted  his 
authority.  He  was  much  under  Emma  his  mother's  influence,  and 
to  please  her  called  home  from  Normandy  her  son  by  King  Ethelred, 
whose  name  was  Edward.  However,  Harthacnut  proved  a  bad 
ruler,  and,  says  the  Chronicle,  "  did  nothing  like  a  king  during  his 
whole  reign."  In  1042  he  died  suddenly  at  the  wedding-feast  of 
one  of  his  nobles.  With  him  expired  ignominiously  the  Danish 
line  of  kings  which  had  begun  so  well  with  his  father.  The 
influence  of  Emma  and  Godwin  secured  the  succession  for  his 
half-brother  Edward,  and  Englishmen  rejoiced  that  the  son  of 
Ethelred  had  obtained  his  true  natural  right  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors. 

GENEALOGY  OF  THE  DANISH   KINGS 

Swegen. 

Cnut,  m.  (2)   Emma  of  Normandy,, 

! (2) 

I  I 

Harold  Harkfoot.       Harthacnut. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  REIGNS  OF  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR 
AND  HAROLD  (1042-1066) 

Chief  Dates : 

1042.    Accession  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

1052.     Godwin's  return  from  exile,  and  death. 

1064.     Harold's  Welsh  war. 

1066.     Jan.  5,  Death  of   Edward  the  Confessor.     Jan.  6,  Accession  of 

Harold,  son  of  Godwin.    Sept.  25,  Battle  of  Stamford  Bridge. 

Oct.  14,  Battle  of  Hastings.     Dec.  25,  Coronation  of  William 

the  Conqueror. 

1.  Edward,  the  new  king,  was  nearly  forty  years  old  when  lie  was 
called  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  Driven  from  England  as  a 
Character  mere  child,  he  had  been  brought  up  in  his  mother's 
and  rule  of  land  of  Normandy,  and  was  Norman  rather  than 
Edward  the  English  in  speech,  manners,  and  tastes.  A  pious, 
affectionate,  gentle,  well-educated  man,  his  outlook  on 
life  was  that  of  the  cultivated  Norman  cleric  rather  than  that 
of  the  hard-fighting  English  warrior-king.  His  austerity  and 
religious  zeal  gave  him  such  a  reputation  for  sanctity  that  he  was 
canonized  after  his  death,  and  became  famous  among  royal  saints  as 
Edward  the  Confessor.  But  he  was  of  weak  health,  feeble  character, 
and  somewhat  childish  disposition.  He  was  too  old  and  sluggish 
to  learn  anything  fresh,  and  too  wanting  in  self-confidence  to  be 
able  to  live  without  favourites  and  dependants.  Under  such  a 
weakling  the  government  of  the  country  passed  largely  into  the 
hands  of  the  great  earls,  such  as  Siward  of  Northumbria,  Leofric 
of  Mercia,  and,  above  all,  Godwin  of  Wessex.  It  was  Godwin  who 
had  secured  Edward  his  throne,  and  for  long  the  king  leant  upon 
his  strong  and  resolute  counsel.  Godwin's  chief  helpers  were  his 
vigorous  young  sons,  chief  among  whom  were  Harold  and  Tostig, 
who  held  dependent  earldoms  under  their  father.  Godwin's 
daughter  Edith  became  King  Edward's  wife,  and  for  a  time  all 
seemed  to  go  well.  But  Edward  had  little  sympathy  with  his  wife's 
strenuous  kinsfolk,  and  gradually  gave  his  chief  confidence  to 
62 


1042.]      EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD  6$ 

Norman  clerks,  soldiers,  and  adventurers,  who  crossed  over  to 
England,  hoping  to  win  a  career  in  a  country  whose  monarch  was 
so  devoted  to  Normans  and  Norman  ways.  Thus  it  happened 
that  England,  which  had  withstood  successfully  all  foreign  influence 
when  ruled  by  her  Danish  sovereigns,  was  threatened  with  some- 
thing like  foreign  domination  as  the  result  of  the  restoration  of  the 
old  line  of  kings. 

2.  The  Normans  had  many  great  qualities  that  explain  Edward's 
devotion  to  the  land  of  his  mother's  kinsfolk.  Though  little  more 
than  a  hundred  years  had  passed  since  Rolf  and  his  Normandy 
followers  had  established  themselves  in  their  new  and  the 
homes  in  northern  France,  the  Norman  duchy  had  Nopmans- 
already  won  a  notable  place  for  itself  in  western  Europe.  The  same 
ready  sympathy  for  the  people  among  whom  their  lot  was  cast, 
which  had  rapidly  made  Englishmen  of  the  Northmen  of  the 
Danelaw,  had  made  Frenchmen  of  the  Northmen  on  the  banks 
of  the  Seine.  They  had  dropped  their  old  tongue  and  spoke  French. 
They  had  adopted  French  customs  and  manners.  But  like  the 
Anglo-Danes  of  England,  the  Normans  retained  much  of  the 
energy  and  fierceness  of  their  pirate  ancestors.  They  were  more 
active,  enterprising,  and  vigorous  than  most  Frenchmen.  They 
took  up  with  every  new  movement,  were  great  champions  of  the 
growing  authority  of  the  Church,  and  were  learning  the  newest 
fashions  of  fighting,  ruling,  and  holding  land.  Their  duke,  though 
a  subject  of  the  French  king,  was  quite  as  powerful  as  his  master, 
and  was  generally  strong  enough  to  restrain  his  turbulent,  unruly 
subjects.  The  duke  of  the  Normans  at  that  time  was  Edward's 
cousin  "William.  William  had  come  to  the  throne  as  a  child  with 
a  disputed  title.  But  he  had  from  earliest  manhood  shown  so 
much  activity  and  skill  that  he  had  put  down  the  revolts  of  his 
fierce  nobles,  and  made  himself  almost  a  despot.  The  gentle 
English  king  always  looked  up  greatly  to  his  stern  cousin,  and 
gladly  took  his  advice. 

3.  From  the  beginning  of  the  reign  many  Normans  were  raised 
by  royal  favour  to  eminent  positions  in  Church  and  State  in  Eng- 
land.   They  were  not  always  the  best  of  their  class,  for 

Edward  had  very  little  discrimination  in  his  friend-  J bSSS" 
ships.  One  Norman  friend  of  Edward's  was  a  bishop, 
"who,"  said  the  English  chronicler,  "did  nought  bishop-like;" 
and  a  Norman  raised  by  Edward  to  an  English  earldom  became 
infamous  in  his  new  home  as  the  "  timid  earl."  Highest  in  rank 
among  Edward's  Norman  favourites  was  Robert,  abbot  of  Jumieges, 


64  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD     [105 1- 

who,  to  the  disgust  of  Englishmen,  was  made  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. After  ten  years  the  Normans  had  won  so  many  places  and 
estates  that  a  loud  outcry  was  raised  against  them.  Godwin  and 
his  sons,  who  gradually  lost  all  influence  over  the  king,  made  them- 
selves the  spokesmen  of  the  national  hatred  of  the  foreigners.  In 
1051  they  gathered  together  an  army  and  prepared  to  drive  the 
Normans  from  court.  But  the  old  jealousy  of  Wessex  and 
its  earl  was  still  strong  in  the  north  and  midlands.  Siward  of 
Northumbria  and  Leofric  of  Mercia  took  sides  with  Edward  and 
his  Normans  against  the  house  of  Godwin.  Godwin  could  not  at 
And  the  ^e  momen^  resist  such  odds.    His  army  melted  away ; 

exile  of  he  and  his  sons  were  banished,  and  his  daughter  was 

^os,Tin'  sen^  ^  ker  husband  into  a  nunnery.     Soon  after,  as 

if  to  complete  the  Norman  triumph,  William,  duke 
of  Normandy,  came  to  England  with  a  great  company  of  French- 
men, and  was  royally  received  by  his  cousin.  Edward,  who  had 
no  children  and  no  near  relations,  seems  to  have  promised  William 
to  make  him  his  successor  to  the  throne.  Thus  the  permanence  of 
Norman  influence  seemed  assured. 

4.  Godwin  and  Harold  did  not  remain  long  in  exile.  In  1052 
'they  gathered  together  a  fleet  and  an  army,  sailed  up  the  Thames, 
The  return  an<^  ^eset  London.  Edward  and  his  Normans  collected 
and  death  another  army  to  withstand  them ;  but  the  English 
of  Godwin,      people  were  so  strongly  on  Godwin's  side  that  even 

Edward's  soldiers  were  loath  to  fight  for  him.  They 
said  to  each  other  that  they  ought  not  to  fight  against  their  own 
countrymen,  and  insisted  upon  negotiating  with  the  invaders. 
Edward  was  powerless  in  their  hands,  as  there  were  not  enough 
Normans  to  make  a  good  show  in  a  battle.  The  result  was  that 
Godwin  and  Harold  were  restored  to  their  earldoms,  "  as  fully  and 
freely  as  they  had  possessed  them  before."  "  And  then,"  writes  the 
English  chronicler,  "they  outlawed  all  the  Frenchmen  who  had 
judged  unjust  judgments  and  had  given  ill  counsel,  save  only  such 
as  they  agreed  upon  whom  the  king  liked  to  have  with  him  and 
were  true  to  his  people."  Archbishop  Robert  and  two  other 
Norman  bishops  escaped  with  difficulty  beyond  sea ;  and  English- 
men were  appointed  as  their  successors,  the  new  archbishop's  name 
being  Stigand.  Edith  came  back  from  her  cloister  to  her  husband's 
court.  The  threatened  tide  of  Norman  invasion  was  driven  back 
for  the  rest  of  Edward's  lifetime. 

5.  Godwin  died  soon  after  his  restoration,  and  Harold  then 
Decame  earl  of  the  West  Saxons.     He  was  a  brave  warrior  and  a 


M064.]      EDWARD    THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD         6$ 

shrewd  and  self -seeking  statesman,  strong  enongh  to  dominate  the 
will  of  his  weak  brother-in-law  and  control  his  policy.  When 
Earl  Siward  died  Harold  made  his  brother  Tostig  Harold,  earl 
earl  of  Northumbria  in  his  place,  while  his  younger  of  the  West 
brothers,  Gurth  and  Leofwine,  were  made  earls  of  East  Saxons- 
Anglia  and  Kent.  Two-thirds  of  England  was  now  directly  ruled 
by  the  house  of  Godwin.  After  this  Leof ric  of  Mercia  was  the  only 
great  earl  who  was  independent  of  Harold.  He  soon  died,  but  his 
son  -331f  gar  secured  the  succession  to  Mercia,  and  tried  to  strengthen 
himself  by  making  an  alliance  with  his  Welsh  neighbours.  The 
Welsh  were  excellent  soldiers,  but  as  a  rule  they  were  too  much 
divided  under  the  rule  of  rival  kings,  and  too  jealous  of  each 
other  to  be  able  to  make  headway  against  the  English.  It 
happened,  however,  at  this  time  that  a  very  powerful  Welsh  prince, 
Griffith  ap  Llewelyn — that  is,  "son  of  Llewelyn,"  had  defeated 
all  his  rivals,  and  had  made  himself  king  over  all  Wales.  Griffith 
married  Earl  iElfgar's  daughter,  Ealdgyth,  and  became  his  close 
friend  5  but  jElfgar  soon  died,  and  the  Mercian  alliance  profited 
him  very  little.  At  last,  in  1064,  Harold  led  an  army  into  Wales, 
and  overran  the  country.  The  Welsh  suffered  so  cruelly  that 
they  abandoned  their  own  king,  and  made  their  submission  to 
Harold.  Soon  Griffith  was  murdered  by  some  of  his  own  subjects, 
and  Harold  divided  his  dominions  among  Bleddyn  and  Rhiwallon, 
two  representatives  of  a  rival  family.  For  the  first  time  since  the 
days  of  Offa,  the  English  boundary  was  pushed  westwards  at  the 
expense  of  the  Welsh  as  far  as  the  Clwyd,  the  Radnor  moors,  and 
the  Usk.  Harold  himself  married  Griffith's  widow,  the  daughter  of 
the  Mercian  earl.  Her  brother  Edwin,  now  earl  of  Mercia,  was  not 
strong  enough  to  give  Harold  any  trouble. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  GODWIN 
Godwin. 


King  Harold.       Tostig.  Gurth.  Leofwine.  Edith, 

m.  Ealdgyth,  m.  Edward  the 

dau.  of  iElfgar.  Confessor. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  LEOFRIC 
Leofric. 

I 
^Elfarar. 


Edwin.  Morcar.  Ealdgvth, 

m.  (1)  Griffith  ap 


Llewelyn ;  (2)  Harold, 
son  of  Godwin. 


66  EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD      [1066- . 

6.  The  only  foes  Harold  now  feared  were  those  of  his  own  house- 
hold    His  brother  Tostig  ruled  so  badly  over  the  Northumbrians 

that  they  rose  in  revolt  against  him,  and  forced  Edward 
Edward  the  ^°  banish  him.  They  chose  as  his  successor  Morcar, 
Confessor,      the  brother  of  Edwin  of  Mercia.     It  was  the  trreatest 

blow  that  Harold's  power  had  received,  and  was  the 
more  formidable  since  the  king's  health  was  now  breaking  up. 
Since  the  expulsion  of  the  Normans,  Edward  had  withdrawn  him- 
self more  and  more  from  politics.  His  chief  interest  now  was  in 
building  a  new  monastery  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  on  a  marsh  hard 
by  the  river  Thames,  some  distance  to  the  west  of  London,  in  a 
region  which  took  from  the  king's  foundation  its  later  name  of 
Westminster.  He  just  lived  long  enough  to  witness  the  com- 
pletion of  the  magnificent  church  which  Norman  craftsmen  had 
erected  for  him  in  honour  of  his  favourite  saint.  On  Innocents' 
Day,  December  28,  the  abbey  church  was  dedicated,  but  Edward 
was  too  ill  to  be  present.  He  died  on  January  5, 1066,  and  the  very 
next  day  was  buried  behind  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's  Church. 
Miracles,  it  was  believed,  were  worked  by  his  remains  as  attestation 
of  his  claims  to  sanctity. 

7.  The  same  day  that  Edward  was  buried,  Harold  was  chosen 
king,  and  crowned  in  the  new  abbey.  For  many  years  he  had  been 
The  reign  ^nS  in  all  Dut  name,  and  it  seemed  the  easiest  course 
of  Harold,  to  give  him  the  oflice  which  his  ambition  had  doubt- 
1066.  jegg  jong.  coye^d  gut  though  the  old  English  throne 
was  in  a  sense  elective,  the  choice  of  Harold  constituted  a  real 
revolution.  Save  in  the  case  of  the  Danish  kings,  the  Witenagemot, 
or  Council  of  the  Nobles,  had  never  gone  outside  the  sacred  house 
of  Cerdic  in  their  choice  of  the  ruler.  All  that  election  had  really 
meant  hitherto  was  some  liberty  of  deciding  which  member  of  the 
royal  house  should  mount  the  throne,  and  this  freedom  of  choice 
was  limited  in  substance  to  preferring  a  brother  of  the  late  king 
who  was  old  enough  to  govern,  to  his  children  who  were  still  under 
age.  Even  the  election  of  Cnut  was  no  real  exception,  since  it 
was  simply  the  recognition  of  the  power  of  a  foreign  conqueror. 
But  Harold  was  in  possession  of  power,  and  it  is  hardly  likely  that 
the  Witenagemot  had  much  really  to  say  in  the  matter.  The 
nearest  heir  to  the  dead  king  was  his  great-nephew,  Edgar  the 
JEtheling,  a  grandson  of  Edmund  Dronside,  a  mere  boy,  and  very 
little  known.  Practically  the  same  course  was  pursued  as  in  France, 
where  in  987  Hugh  Capet,  the  greatest  of  the  French  nobles,  was 
made  king  in  preference  to  the  heir  of  the  house  of  Charles  the 


■io66.]     EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD 


67 


Great.  French  history  showed  that  Hugh,  though  the  strongest  of 
dukes,  was  the  weakest  of  kings.  It  was  the  same  with  Harold. 
He  had  not  the  mysterious  dignity  which  came  from  membership 
of  the  sacred  royal  house.     His  brother  earls  were  jealous  of  him, 


Emery  Walker  sc> 


and  thought  themselves  as  good  as  he  was.  Thus  the  election  of 
Harold  proved  a  failure ;  and  with  all  his  energy  and  strenuousness 
he  was  not  able  to  hold  his  newly  won  throne  for  a  year. 

8.  William  of  Normandy  had  not  forgotten  the  promises  made 


68  EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD      [1066- 

him  by  Edward  in  1051.  Two  or  three  years  before  his  accession 
Harold  had  been  shipwrecked  in  France.  The  lord  of  the  dis- 
trict where  the  wreck  had  taken  place  threw  him 
Normandy's  *a^°  Pr^son-  William  procured  his  release,  and  enter- 
prepara-  tained  him  with  great  kindness  at  his  court.  However, 
tions  for  before  he  allowed  Harold  to  go  home,  William  had 
forced  him  to  take  an  oath  that  he  would  help  him  to 
become  king  of  England  after  Edward's  death.  The  Norman  duke 
now  claimed  the  crown  as  King  Edward's  heir,  and  denounced 
Harold  as  a  perjurer  for  breaking  his  oath.  He  began  at  once 
making  preparations  for  invading  England,  and  many  adventurers 
from  all  parts  of  France  joined  with  his  Norman  subjects  in 
an  expedition  which  held  out  great  prospects  of  glory,  pay,  and 
booty.  Moreover,  the  pope  gave  his  support  to  the  expedition. 
Stigand,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  taken  the  place  of 
Robert  of  Jumieges  without  asking  the  pope's  permission,  and  had 
offended  Rome  by  other  irregularities.  All  therefore  who  joined 
William  were  looked  upon  as  fighting  for  the  cause  of  the  Church. 

9.  Before  William's  expedition  was  ready  another  trouble  came 
upon  England.  Tostig,  the  sometime  earl  of  Northumbria,  hear- 
Tostig  and  *°&  °^  ^is  brother's  elevation  to  the  throne,  was 
Harold  anxious  to  win  his  earldom  back  by  force.  With  this 
Hardrada.  object  he  made  an  alliance  with  the  king  of  the  Nor- 
wegians, Harold  Hardrada — that  is,  Hard  rede,  or  Stern  in  Counsel. 
Hardrada  was  a  true  descendant  of  the  Norse  pirates,  and  had  had 
adventures  and  expeditions  in  many  lands.  He  gladly  took  up 
Tostig's  cause,  hoping,  perhaps,  that  if  successful  he  might,  like 
Cnut,  rule  over  England  as  well  as  his  own  land.  In  September 
the  fleet  of  Harold  and  Tostig  sailed  up  the  Humber.  Earl  Morcar 
came  to  defend  his  earldom,  and  his  brother  Edwin  joined  him 
with  the  Mercian  levies.  But  they  were  defeated  by  the  invaders 
at  Fulford,  and  on  September  20  the  victors  took  possession  of 
York. 

10.  When  the  Norwegians  landed,  King  Harold  was  in  the  south, 
waiting  anxiously  lest  William  should  cross  the  Channel.  He  at 
Battle  of  once  Procee<!e(l  northwards,  and  joined  his  forces  with 
Stamford  those  of  the  northern  earls.  On  his  arrival  Hardrada 
Bridge,  an<i  Tostig  took  up  a  position  at  Stamford  Bridge  on 

the  Derwent,  a  few  miles  east  of  York.  On  Sep- 
tember 25  Harold  fell  stoutly  upon  them.  The  English  won  a  com- 
plete victory.  Tostig  and  the  Norwegian  king  were  slain,  and  the 
survivors  of  the  northern  host  gladly  made  peace,  and  returned 


-io66.J     EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD  69 

home.  It  was  the  last  of  the  great  Norse  invasions,  and  the  defeat 
of  so  famous  a  hero  as  Hardrada  proved  once  more  the  skill  of 
Harold  as  a  soldier. 

11.  Three  days  after  the  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge,  William 
of  Normandy  crossed  the  Channel.  Landing  at  Pevensey  in 
Sussex,  he  made  Hastings  his  headquarters,  and  set  up  Landing  of 
there  a  wooden  castle.  On  news  of  his  arrival  reaching  William, 
York,  Harold  at  once  hurried  southwards  to  meet  the  SePt-  28> 
Norman  invasion.  But  Edwin  and  Morcar  did  not  follow  him, 
though  he  had  saved  the  latter  his  earldom.  Very  few  of  the  heroes 
of  Stamford  Bridge  accompanied  Harold  against  his  new  enemy; 
and  he  paused  in  London  while  the  levies  of  the  soutli  country 
poured  in  to  reinforce  his  scanty  ranks.  Tidings  came  that  the 
Normans  were  horribly  wasting  the  lands  near  the  coast,  and  Harold 
resolved  to  march  out  of  London  and  give  battle  to  them.  He 
led  his  troops  to  within  seven  miles  of  Hastings,  when  he 
halted',  took  up  a  strong  position  on  the  hill,  on  which  the  town  of 
Battle  now  stands,  and  passed  the  night  of  October  13.  The  place 
was  far  removed  from  human  habitations,  and  had  not  even  a  name. 
For  that  reason  the  fight  which  was  to  be  fought  next  day  took  its 
name  from  Hastings,  the  nearest  town. 

12.  Early  on  the  morning  of  October  14  the  English  saw  William 
and  his  Normans  arrayed  on  another  ridge,  some  distance  to  the 
south  of  the  hill  on  which  they  were  posted.  The  -^&xx\b  of 
great  battle  began  soon  afterwards.  It  was  a  struggle,  Hastings, 
not  only  between  two  nations,  but  between  two  different  0ct*  1 4* 
schools  of  warfare.  After  the  fashion  of  both  English  and  Danes, 
Harold's  army  fought  on  foot.  The  best  soldiers,  including 
Harold's  house-paries  and  personal  followers,  were  arrayed  on  the 
top  of  the  hill,  facing  southwards  towards  the  enemy.  They  were 
armed  with  helmets  and  long  coats  of  chain-mail,  and  their  chief 
weapons  were  axes,  broadswords,  and  heavy  javelins,  which  they 
hurled  at  the  enemy.  They  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  close 
array,  and  protected  themselves  with  their  long,  kite-shaped  shields, 
which  interlocked  with  each  other  so  as  to  form  a  shield-wall, 
which  it  was  difficult  for  the  enemy  to  break  through.  On  the  two 
wings  of  the  main  array,  where  the  precipitous  nature  of  the 
ground  made  a  frontal  attack  very  difficult,  were  stationed  the 
swarms  of  ill-covered  but  zealous  countryfolk,  who  had  flocked  to 
the  king's  standards  to  defend  their  country  against  the  foreigner. 
Harold  ordered  his  troops  to  maintain  their  close  order,  and  on 
no  account  to  break  their  ranks  by  pursuing  the  enemy. 


70  EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD      [1066- 

13.  The  Normans  prepared  to  fight  after  the  newer  fashion 
which  had  recently  grown  np  in  France.  The  infantry,  mostly 
The  early  archers,  were  sent  on  in  advance  to  wear  down  the 
stages  of  enemy  by  volleys  of  arrows.  But  their  shafts  had 
the  fight.  very  ijftjg  effect,  and  the  shield- wall  still  remained 
unbroken  on  the  crest  of  the  hill.  Then  came  the  turn  of  the 
cavalry,  in  whom  "William  placed  his  chief  confidence.  The  best 
soldiers  of  the  Norman  host  fought  on  horseback,  wearing  helmets 
and  armour  very  similar  in  pattern  to  that  of  the  English,  and  pro- 
tecting themselves  by  great  shields,  also  of  the  same  type  as  those 
of  their  foes.  Their  chief  weapon  was  a  long  lance,  but  they  also 
used  swords  at  close  quarters.  In  the  centre  of  the  Norman  line 
was  Duke  William  with  his  brothers,  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  a 
hard-fighting  prelate,  and  Robert,  count  of  Mortain.  Around  him 
were  his  Normans,  and  against  them  the  shield-wall  of  Harold. 
The  right  and  left  wings  of  William's  army  were  held  by  his  French 
and  Breton  mercenaries ;  these  were  opposed  to  the  lightly  armed 
levies  on  the  wings  of  the  English  host. 

14.  Time  after  time  the  Norman  army  charg-ed  on  horseback  up 
the  slopes  of  the  hill.     Each  time  they  failed  to  break  through  the 

impenetrable  shield-wall,  and  retired  discomfited  to 
of  William  their  original  position.  But  William  was^a  shrewder 
and  the  commander  than  the  English  king.     His  troops  were 

Harold°  better  equipped,  and  more  easily  moved;   they  could 

shift  their  position  and  method  of  attack  at  will; 
while  all  that  the  English  could  do  was  to  stand  firm  in  their  ranks 
and  await  each  fresh  assault.  Finding  Harold's  centre  quite  im- 
penetrable, William  threw  his  main  energy  into  assailing  the  lightly 
armed  troops  of  the  wings.  His  archers  discharged^  repeated  flights 
of  arrows,  which  spread  havoc  among  the  unarmoured  English 
peasantry  ;  and  in  order  to  lure  them  to  break  through  their  close 
formation,  the  Norman  cavalry  were  ordered  by  their  duke  to  pre- 
tend to  run  away.  The  English  believed  that  they  had  gained  the 
victory.  Rashly  breaking  their  ranks,  they  rushed  down  the  slopes 
of  the  hill  in  pursuit.  Then  the  Normans  turned,  and  it  was  soon 
found  that  in  open  fighting  the  bravest  of  foot  soldiers  were  no 
match  against  the  mail-clad  horsemen.  The  Normans  thus  gained 
access  to  the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  furiously  attacked  the  tried  troops 
on  Harold's  centre,  who  alone  still  maintained  a  semblance  of 
order.  The  Norman  archers  now  shot  their  arrows  high  into  the 
air,  so  that  they  might  fall  on  the  English  from  above.  One 
shaft  struck  Harold  in  the  eye,  and  he  fell,  bravely  fighting  to  the 


-io66.]    EDWARD    THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD 


71 


last,  close  by  his  own  standard.  With  him  died  his  brothers  Gurth 
and  Leofwine,  and  the  bravest  of  his  followers.  The  day  was  now 
won,  and  at  nightfall  the  Normans  pitched  their  tents  upon  the 
blood-stained  field.  In  pious  memory  of  his  victory  William  erected 
an  abbey  for  monks  on  the  site  of  the  English  lines,  and  called  it 
the  Abbey  of  the  Battle,  a  name  which  also  attached  itself  to  the 
little  town  that  grew  up  round  its  walls.     The  high  altar  of  the 


Scale  of  Fe^t 

500  1000 


a.  Site  of  Abbeg  Church,  the  X  marks 

the  position  of  High  Altar,(Harold's  Standard.) 


Emery  Walter  sc. 


BATTLE   OP   HASTINGS. 


abbey  church  marked  the  spot  on  the  crest  of  the  ridge  where 

Harold's  banner  had  once  stood. 

15.  In  the  weeks  succeeding  the  battle  William  busied  himself 

with  securing  the  strong  places  in  the  south-eastern  counties. 

Edwin  and  Morcar  at  last  appeared  in  London  with  _ 

The  fldv&ncG 
their  troops.     The  Witenagemot  met  and  chose  Edgar  to  London 

the  JEtheling  as  king  of  the   English.     Thereupon  and  eorona- 

the  two  earls  went  home   with  their  men,  leaving  mi?!.0     T 

London   and  the   south  to   depend  upon  their  own 

resources.     William  then  advanced  almost  to  the  gates  of  London, 

but  made  no  effort  to  attack  it.     He  next  marched  up  the  Thames 


72 


EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOR  AND  HAROLD      [1066. 


valley  as  far  as  Wallingford,  crossed  the  river,  and  approached 
London  from  the  north,  so  as  to  cnt  off  all  hope  of  succour  in  case 
the  two  earls  once  more  changed  their  minds,  and  reassembled  their 
levies.  The  best  soldiers  of  Wessex  and  the  south  lay  dead  at 
Hastings,  and  there  was  no  hope  of  opposing  the  conqueror  without 
the  help  of  the  north  and  midlands.  In  these  circumstances  the 
West  Saxon  nobles  thought  further  resistance  useless.  With  Edgar 
at  their  head,  they  sought  out  William  and  accepted  him,  like  another 
Cnut,  as  their  king.  On  Christmas  Day,  December  25,  William  was 
crowned  king  in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  thus  within  a  year 
of  its  completion  saw  two  coronations  and  one  royal  burial.  The 
first  stage  of  the  Norman  conquest  of  England  was  completed  when 
the  duke  of  the  Normans  became  the  king  of  the  English. 

GENEALOGY  OF  OLD  ENGLISH  KINGS  OF  THE  HOUSE 

OF  CERDIC 

Egbert,  802-839. 


Ethelwulf,  839-858. 


Ethelbald, 
858-860. 


Ethelbert, 
860-866. 


Ethelred, 
866-871. 


Alfred, 
871-899. 


Edward  the  Elder, 
899-924. 


Athelstan, 
924-940. 


Edmund, 
940-946. 


Edred, 
946-955. 


Edwt, 

955-959. 


Edgar, 
959-975. 


Edith,  m. 
Otto  the  Saxon, 
afterwards  the 

Emperor 
Otto  I. 


dau.  m. 
Charles  the 

Simple, 

king  of  the 

West 

Franks. 


dau.  m. 

Hugh, 
duke 

of  the 
French. 


Edward  the  Martyr, 
975-978. 


978-1016,  m.  (2)  Emma 
of  Normandy. 


Edmund  Ironside, 
1016. 

I 
Edward. 

I 


Edgar  the 

vEtneling. 


(?) 


Edward  the  Confessor, 

1042-1066,  m.  Edith, 

dau.  of  Godwin. 


I 
St.  Margaret, 
m.  Malcolm  Canmore, 
kins  of  Scots 


Matilda,  m.  Henry  I.,  1100-1135. 

(See  table  on  page  157.) 


CHAPTER    IX 

ENGLISH   LIFE   BEFORE  THE  NORMAN 
CONQUEST 

1.  Before  the  Norman  conquest  England  stood  almost  isolated 
from  the  rest  of  the  world.  Not  only  was  there  little  intercourse 
between  our  island  and  lands  beyond  sea;  there 
were  few  dealings  between  different  districts  in  Eng-  r*|  j^1<iUre 
land,  and  each  single  group  of  villagers  lived  a  life  of  tenure 
its  own,  self-sufficing  and  self-contained,  and  cut  off  before  the 
from  intercourse  with  any  but  its  nearest  neigh-  eonquest# 
bours.  The  English  were  a  nation  of  farmers  and 
herdsmen,  tilling  their  fields  and  watching  their  cattle  after  the 
fashion  of  their  forefathers,  and  dwelling  either  in  scattered 
homesteads  or  in  little  villages,  whose  houses  were  placed  to- 
gether for  mutual  protection,  and  surrounded  by  a  quickset 
hedge.  Land  held  by  individuals  was  called  folhland,  when 
the  title  to  its  possession  depended  upon  witness  of  the  people 
and  common  fame.  It  was  called  bookland  when  the  owner's 
claim  to  it  was  based  upon  a  written  document,  a  book  or 
charter.  Most  free  Englishmen  held  land  of  their  own.  But 
when  harvest  was  over  all  the  villagers  had  the  right  to  feed  their 
flock  upon  their  neighbours'  fields  as  well  as  their  own ;  and  there 
were  wide  commons  and  wastes  which  belonged  to  the  community 
as  a  whole.  The  chief  products  of  the  soil  were  corn  and  grass,  and 
custom  prescribed  a  regular  rotation  of  crops,  which  no  husband- 
man dreamt  of  departing  from.  The  land  was  ploughed  by  rude 
heavy  ploughs  drawn  by  teams  of  oxen,  and  every  year  a  half  or  a 
third  of  the  arable  soil  lay  fallow.  The  richest  and  most  thickly 
inhabited  part  of  the  country  was  the  south-east,  where  the  open 
downs  afforded  rich  pasture  for  sheep,  and  the  forests  provided 
plentiful  store  of  acorns  and  beechmast  to  fatten  swine.  But  the 
whole  land  was  scantily  peopled,  and  England  contained  less  than 
two  million  inhabitants.  The  rude  system  of  agriculture  with  the 
wasteful  fallows  yielded  a  scanty  return  to  the  farmer's  labour. 

73 


74      ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST      [449- 

Moreover,  communications  were  so  difficult  that  a  bad  harvest  in 
a  district  meant  famine  to  its  inhabitants,  even  if  there  were 
plenty  a  few  shires  off.  Each  farmer  grew  enough  to  support  his 
own  household,  and  was  independent  of  fairs  and  markets,  except 
for  a  few  luxuries. 

2.  The  nobles  possessed  great  influence,  and  held  great  tracts  of 
land  scattered  over  the  country,  which  were  cultivated  by  their  serfs 
Thegns,  an^  dependants.  The  most  important  of  the  nobles 
ceorls,  and  were  called  the  king's  thegns,  or  servants.  The  service 
theows.  0£  jfae  crown  was  thought  in  itself  to  ennoble ;  the  king's 
thegns  received  grants  of  land  from  their  master,  and  were  bound  to 
fight  his  battles  for  him.  They  attended  his  councils,  helped  nim  in 
the  government,  and  often  became  so  powerful  that  they  were  a  source 
of  trouble  and  danger  to  him.  In  later  Anglo-Saxon  times  the 
nobles  became  increasingly  important.  In  many  cases  the  smaller 
freemen,  or  ceorls,  found  it  hard  to  make  their  living,  and  had 
a  difficulty  in  resisting  the  greediness  of  the  great  landlords,  who 
wished  to  make  them  their  dependants.  Many  surrendered  their 
estates  to  a  neighbouring  noble,  and  took  them  back  to  be  held  of 
him  in  return  for  protection.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in 
Wessex  and  the  south.  In  Northumbria  and  the  Danelaw  there 
was  still  a  large  class  of  small  free  landholders  up  to  the  days  of 
the  Norman  conquest.  But  even  there  the  great  nobles  had  the 
preponderating  influence.  Men  who  did  not  possess  land  were  com- 
pelled to  choose  a  lord  to  be  answerable  for  them  in  the  law  courts. 
The  lowest  class  of  the  community  were  bond-slaves,  called  theows. 
These  were  bought  and  sold  in  the  markets  like  cattle.  Poor  men 
sometimes  sold  themselves  in  order  to  avoid  starvation,  and  others 
became  slaves  of  those  to  whom  they  owed  money.  There  was  a 
brisk  slave  trade,  especially  from  Ireland,  and  slaves  were  perhaps 
the  most  important  article  of  merchandise. 

3.  There  was  little  trade  and  towns  were  few.  The  English  were 
not  strenuous  enough  to  make  great  gains  by  commerce,  and  the 

self-sufficing  life  of  each  family  made  it  unnecessary 
to  go  often  to  market.  The  result  of  this  was  that 
most  of  the  towns  were  more  important  as  fortresses  than  as 
commercial  centres.  Surrounded  by  a  ditch  and  earth-works,  and 
fenced  about  with  timber  stockades,  they  were  more  defensible 
than  the  houses  of  the  nobles  scattered  over  the  country,  or  than 
the  ordinary  village  packed  thickly  together  behind  its  quickset 
hedge.  Stone  walls  were  almost  unknown  even  for  towns,  and 
stone  houses  were  also  very  rare.     Most  of  the  people  dwelling 


-io66.]    ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST     7$ 

within  the  towns'  earthen  ramparts  were  farmers  living  on  the 
land,  who  huddled  together  for  protection  from  Danes,  robbers, 
and  turbulent  nobles.  Some  of  the  greater  towns  were  on  Roman 
sites,  like  London,  Chester,  York,  or  Lincoln.  Others  became 
important  as  chief  residences  of  kings,  such  as  Tamworth,  the  royal 
city  of  the  Mercians,  Canterbury,  the  home  of  the  kings  of  Kent, 
and  Winchester,  the  favourite  abode  of  the  West  Saxon  royal  house. 
Others  grew  up  round  famous  churches  and  monasteries,  such  as 
Peterborough  or  Lichfield.  But  it  was  characteristic  of  the  old 
English  dislike  of  town  life  that  most  of  the  bishops  lived  not  in 
the  chief  towns,  but  in  country  places  that  owed  their  whole  im- 
portance to  their  being  the  bishop's  residence.  In  France  and 
Italy  every  important  town  had.  its  bishop  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Some  towns  united  these  various  elements,  as,  for  example,  York, 
a  Roman  city,  a  strong  fortress,  the  sometime  residence  of  Nor- 
thumbrian kings,  and  the  seat  of  the  northern  archbishopric. 
London  was  by  far  the  most  important  commercial  town.  It  had 
been  so  in  Roman  days,  and  was  so  again  by  the  time  that  the 
English  became  Christians.  Desolated  by  the  Danes,  Alfred  again 
filled  it  with  inhabitants.  Edward  the  Confessor  preferred  it  to 
Winchester,  and  the  royal  palace  that  grew  up  hard  by  the  great 
abbey  of  Westminster  made  it  in  Norman  times  the  seat  of 
government  as  well  as  a  great  commercial  centre.  When  London 
submitted  to  William  the  Norman,  the  whole  country  accepted  him 
as  its  king. 

4.  Even  the  houses  of  the  wealthy  were  made  of  wood,  and  so 
roughly  put  together  that  hangings  of  tapestry  were  necessary  to 
keep  out  draughts.     Glazed   windows    were    almost 
unknown,  and  when  the  openings  in  the  walls  were 
closed  with  wooden  shutters  the  interiors  must  have  been  dark 
and  depressing.     The  chief  feature  of  a  nobleman's  house  was 
the    great    hall,    where  the  lord  and  his  dependants  lived  and 
feasted,  and  where  the  majority  of  the  inmates  slept  on  the  ground. 
There    were    no    chimneys.      A  big  fire    blazed  in  the  middle 
of  the   floor,  and  the   smoke  found  its  way  out  through  a  hole 
in  the   roof.     Yet  there  was  plenty  of  good  cheer, 
hard  drinking,  and  coarse  revelry,  all  of  which  men    d£mfca 
loved  even  more  than  fighting.     The  nobles  amused 
themselves  with  hunting  and  hawking ;  and  when  indoors  listened 
to  songs   and  stories,  watched   jugglers  and  tumblers,  guessed 
riddles,  and  played  chess.      The  chief  luxuries  were  foreign  silk, 
linen  cloth,  quaint  jewellery,  and  jugs  and  vessels  made  of  silver 


J 6     ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST      [449- 

and  glass.  These  latter  were  so  curiously  fashioned  that  they 
would  not  stand  upright,  so  that  the  reveller  had  to  empty  his 
cup  before  he  could  set  it  down.  The  chief  sweetmeat  was 
honey,  for  sugar  and  spices  were  rare,  and  costly  foreign  luxuries. 
The  women  were  engaged  in  spinning,  weaving,  and  embroidery. 
Most  clothing  was  made  of  woollen  cloth,  which  the  women  spun 
and  wove  from  the  fleeces  of  their  own  sheep.  The  people 
drank  mead,  made  from  fermented  honey,  and  sweet  thick  beer, 
brewed  from  malt  without  hops.  In  the  south  some  wine  was 
made,  and  the  rich  used  also  wine  imported  from  France.  Food 
consisted  chiefly  of  barley  bread,  oat  cakes,  and  the  flesh  of  oxen 
and  swine.  At  the  approach  of  winter  most  of  the  live-stock  was 
killed,  and  the  people  lived  on  salt  flesh  until  the  spring  allowed  the 
grass  to  grow,  and  fattened  the  half- starved  flocks  and  herds  that 
had  escaped  the  autumn  slaughtering. 

5.  There  were  so.  few  large  rooms  that  meetings  and  councils 
commonly  took  place  in  the  open  air.     Even  the  churches  were 

small  rude  structures  of  wood.  Stone  churches  were 
ture      C  ^ae  excePti°n'  though  some  of  them  have  come  down 

to  our  own  days.  They  were  described  as  being  built 
"after  the  Roman  fashion."  They  were  small  in  size,  roughly 
finished,  with  round  arches  and  narrow,  round,  or  triangular- 
shaped  windows.  Some  of  the  towers  were  elaborately  ornamented 
with  patterns  marked  out  in  stone.  They  were  often  used  as 
fortresses  and  meeting-places  as  well  as  for  worship.  It  was  quite 
a  revolution  in  English  building  when  Edward  the  Confessor's 
Norman  craftsmen  erected  Westminster  Abbey  on  a  scale  almost 
as  large  as  the  present  church,  though  much  less  lofty. 

6.  The  laws  of  the  old  English  were  short  and  simple.     Few 

new  laws  were  passed,  and  kings  like  Alfred,  who  were  famous  as 

legislators,  did  little  more  than  collect  in  a  convenient 
Laws 

form  the  traditional  customs  of  the  race.    The  greater 

part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  codes  is  taken  up  with  the  elaborate 
enumeration  of  the  money  penalties  which  could  atone  for  almost 
every  offence.  Even  murder  could  be  bought  off  by  a  payment 
in  money.  The  price  paid  for  a  man's  life  was  called  his  wergild. 
It  varied  according  to  the  rank  of  the  person  slain.  At  one  end  of 
the  scale  was  the  wergild  of  the  king  and  archbishop,  and  at  the 
other  that  of  the  common  freemen.  The  sum  thus  paid  went  to  the 
kinsfolk  of  the  murdered  person.  Very  often,  however,  the  kins- 
men took  the  law  into  their  own  hands,  and  executed  summary 
vengeance  upon  the  manslayer. 


-io66.]    ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST     J  J 

7.  The  land  was  divided  into  shires,  hundreds,  and  town- 
ships. The  origin  of  the  shires  differed  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.     Some  of  them  represent  the  lesser  king- 

doms  which  were  gradually  absorbed  in  larger  ones  as 
English  unity  grew.  Kent,  Sussex,  Essex,  Middlesex,  and  Surrey 
haw  still  the  boundaries  of  the  little  kingdoms  from  which  they 
took  their  names.  Yorkshire  is  a  somewhat  smaller  Deira,  with 
a  new  name  taken  from  its  chief  town.  Northumberland  is 
what  is  left  of  Bernicia,  after  Lothian  had  been  given  to  the 
Scots,  and  other  districts  put  under  the  government  of  the 
bishop  of  Durham.  East  Anglia  is  represented  by  the  two 
shires  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  names  which  indicate  the  division 
of  the  East  Angles  into  a  northern  and  a  southern  people. 
The  West  Saxon  shires  are  different  in  origin.  That  kingdom 
became  so  large  that  some  sort  of  subdivision  of  it  was  found 
necessary*  By  the  ninth  century  most  of  the  West  Saxon  shires 
had  come  into  existence.  They  are  sometimes  said  to  represent  the 
lands  held  by  different  tribes  of  the  West  Saxons.  It  is  more 
likely  that  they  owe  their  existence  to  divisions  of  the  kingdom 
between  different  members  of  the  royal  family,  who  held  sub- 
kingdoms  under  a  chief  king.  Beyond  Wessex,  Cornwall  represents 
the  old  kingdom  of  the  West  Welsh,  which  was  absorbed  in  Wessex 
by  the  tenth  century.  The  midland  or  Mercian  shires  are  later  in 
origin,  and  were  artificial  in  character.  Each  of  them  (except 
Rutland)  takes  its  name  from  the  county  town,  and  in  nearly 
every  case  that  town  is,  or  was,  the  real  centre  of  the  life  of  the 
district.  They  were  probably  created  at  the  time  of  the  conquest 
of  Mercia  and  the  Danelaw  by  Alfred  and  his  successors.  Some 
of  the  east  midland  shires  may  be  Danish  in  origin. 

8.  The  shire  was  divided  into  smaller  districts,  called  hundreds, 
except  in  the  Danelaw,  where  they  are  generally  called  Wapentakes. 
They  vary  very  much  in  size  in  various  parts  of  the   Hundreds 
country ;  those  in  the  south  being,  as  a  rule,  smaller   and  town- 
and  therefore  more  numerous  than  those  of  the  north.    sniPs- 
Each  hundred  in  its  turn  consisted  of  a  number  of  townships,  or 
villages. 

9.  Both  shires  and  hundreds  each  had  a  moot,  or  court,  of  their 
own.     Both  shire  moot  and  hundred  moot  were  attended  by  four 
men  and  the  reeve,  or  chief   officer  of  every  town- 
ship within  it.     Besides  these,  the  thegns,  landholders, 

and  other  persons  of  importance  had  the   right  to  be  present. 
Lawsuits  were  dealt  with  first  by  the  hundred,  and  afterwards 


7 8      ENGLISH  LIFE  BEFORE  NORMAN  CONQUEST    [449- 

by  the  shire.  The  method  of  trial  was  very  rigid  and  formal. 
Everything  depended  on  the  suitors  saying  the  right  word  or 
doing  the  right  thing  at  the  proper  moment.  If  a  man  were 
accused  of  a  crime  he  answered  it  by  producing  compurgators — that 
is,  persons  of  good  character,  who,  knowing  the  person  and  the 
district,  took  oath  that  in  their  opinion  he  was  guiltless  of  the 
offence.  Another  way  of  clearing  an  accused  person  was  by 
the  ordeal,  or  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God.  The  suspected 
criminal  grasped  hot  iron  or  was  thrown  into  water.  It  was 
believed  that  if  he  were  innocent  a  miracle  would  be  wrought; 
the  iron  would  not  burn  or  the  water  drown.  The  whole  body  of 
suitors  and  members  formed  the  judges,  so  that  justice  must  have 
been  of  a  very  rough-and-ready  sort.  Besides  these,  local  popular 
courts,  kings  and  great  lords  also  had  courts  of  their  own,  where 
they  exercised  jurisdiction  over  their  dependants  and  servants. 
As  time  went  on  many  nobles  received  special  grants  of  jurisdiction 
over  their  lands,  which  had  the  effect  of  removing  their  tenants 
from  the  sphere  of  the  hundred  court  altogether.  But  the 'shire 
court  always  remained  of  great  importance.  It  was  not  only  a 
court  of  justice,  it  was  also  the  means  of  governing  the  country, 
and  those  attending  it  took  advantage  of  its  periodic  meetings  to 
transact  all  sorts  of  business  with  their  neighbours.  Its  activity 
kept  vigorous  the  local  life,  but  also  made  it  more  difficult  to 
induce  the  men  of  various  shires  to  work  together  for  the  general 
profit  of  the  nation. 

10.  The  king  was  the  head  of  the  people,  and  surrounded  by 
every  form  of  respect.     His  chief  officers  were  the  aldermen,  called, 

from  Cnut's  time  onward,  the  earls.  An  earl  or 
officers    S      alderman  seems  to  have  been  set  over  every  shire. 

But  it  became  customary  to  assign  several  shires  to 
the  same  alderman,  and  this  habit  received  a  further  extension  in 
Cnut's  great  earldoms,  which  in  practice  revived  the  old  kingdoms 
under  a  new  name.  The  earls  thus  became  such  dignified  persons 
that  they  could  not  spend  their  time  going  round  to  the  various 
shires  and  holding  shire  moots.  A  new  officer,  called  the  shire 
reeve,  or  sheriff,  seems  to  have  been  created  as  the  earls  withdrew 
from  the  administration  of  their  shires.  By  the  Norman  period  the 
working  head  of  the  shire  was  the  sheriff  and  not  the  earl.  But 
the  earl  continued  the  natural  commander  of  the  fyrd,  or  military 
levy  of  the  shire.  This  consisted  of  all  the  landowners,  who  were 
bound  to  provide  themselves  with  arms  and  serve  the  king  in  the 
defence  of  the  country. 


-io66.]     ENGLISH  LIFE  BEFORE  NORMAN  CONQUEST     79 

11.  The  administrative  machinery  was  very  simple.     The  local 
courts  and  the  great  landlords  had  to  see  that  the  law  was  observed. 
If  a  landholder  broke  the  law,  his  land  could  be  seized   Frithborh 
as  a  pledge  of  his  making  amends.     The  lords  were   and 
responsible    for  landless    men  and  others  who    had  ne' 
become  their  subjects.     Moreover,  the  whole  nation  was  divided 
into  frithborhs,  or  tithings — that  is,  into  groups  of  ten  men,  who 
were  mutually  made  responsible  for  each  other's  doings,  and  com- 
pelled to  pay  the  fines  of  their  erring  associates.     Yet  the  land 
was  full  of  disorder ;   outlaws  and  robbers  lurked  in  every  moor 
and  forest,  and  increasing  difficulty  was  found  in  making  the 
nobles  obey  the  king. 

12.  The  central  power  was  vested  in  the  king.     He  had  a  small 
revenue,  and,  until  Cnut's  house-carles,  no  standing  force  of  soldiers 
at  his  disposal.     Yet  if  he  were  a  strong  man  he  could 
generally  enforce  his  will.     If  he  were  weak,  every        1 
great  man  took  the  law  into  his  own  hands,  and  the  country  was 
plunged  into  confusion.      There  was  no  popular   council  of  the 
nation  to  correspond  with  the  local  moots.     But  a  gathering  of 
magnates  met  together  at  the  chief  festivals  of  the  Church,  and  gave 
the  king  their  advice.     This  body  was  called  the  Witenagemot — 
that  is  to  say,  the  Council  of  the  Wise  Men.     It  in- 
cluded all  the  earls,  archbishops,  bishops,   the   chief   agemoten" 
abbots,  and  sometimes  "Welsh  kings  and  other  subject 

princes.  Besides  these  the  JEthelings,  or  near  kinsmen  of  the  king, 
sat  in  it,  as  also  a  number  of  king's  thegns.  These  latter,  who 
were  more  dependent  on  the  king,  were  generally  numerous 
enough  to  outvote  the  official  leaders  of  Church  and  State.  The 
Witenagemot  assented  to  the  passing  of  new  laws,  ratified  royal 
grants  of  public  lands,  elected  the  kings,  and  discharged  the  general 
functions  of  a  great  council  of  the  nation.  We  have  no  evidence, 
however,  that  it  acted  as  a  real  check  on  the  monarch.  If  the  ruler 
were  strong,  he  could  have  his  own  way;  if  he  were  weak,  the 
different  members  each  took  their  own  course.  The  Witan  were 
useless  in  moments  of  trouble  to  the  kingdom. 

13.  The   Church  held  a  great  position,  but  after  the  days  of 

Dunstan  it  was  afflicted  with  the  same  deadness  that  had  gradually 

seized  upon  the  State.     The  bishops  were  very  great   _    „ 

3  _e_i  t.   j.  xi.  £  Tne  Church, 

and  powerful  personages ;  but  there  were  so  tew  men 

fit  for  high  rank  in  the  Church  that  the  custom  grew  up  of  giving 
more  than  one  bishopric  to  the  same  individual.  The  chief  ecclesi- 
astics of  the  eleventh  century  were  politicians  rather  than  teachers 


80     ENGLISH  LIFE  BEFORE  NORMAN  CONQUEST    [449- 

of  the  people.  They  advised  the  king  in  the  Witenagemot,  sat 
with  earl  and  sheriff  in  the  shire  moot,  and  took  a  leading  share 
in  the  government  of  the  country.  The  monasteries  became 
increasingly  stagnant.  Great  movements  profoundly  influenced 
the  Church  on  the  continent,  but  the  English  Church  was  quite 
indifferent  to  them.  Like  the  English  State,  it  stood  apart  from 
the  rest  of  the  world.  Though  the  pope  was  treated  with  great 
respect,  and  every  archbishop  went  to  Rome  to  receive  from  his 
hands  the  pallium,,  a*  stole  that  marked  the  dignity  of  the  archi- 
episcopal  office,  there  was  no  country  in  Europe  where  the  .Roman 
Church  had  less  real  power,  or  took  less  part  in  the  daily  life  of  the 
local  churches.  Thus  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church  corresponded  in  its 
sluggishness,  as  in  its  independence,  to  the  Anglq-  Saxon  State. 

14.  Language  and  literature  reflect  the  same  characteristics. 
Though  Latin  was  the  tongue  of  the  Church  and  of  most  learned 
Language  books,  the  old  English  language  had  a  greater  place 
and  litera-  in  letters  than  had  the  vernacular  speech  of  the 
continent.  We  have  seen  how  Alfred  busied  himself 
with  translating  books  from  Latin  into  English.  Th.9  English 
Chronicle,  which  the  same  great  king  began,  was  still  kept  up  in 
various  monasteries,  and  stands  quite  by  itself  as  a  contemporary 
history  written  in  the  speech  of  the  country.  The  noble  songs 
it  contains,  as,  for  example,  that  of  Brunanburh,  show  that  the 
poetic  spirit  had  not  yet  left  the  English  people.  But  the  great 
age  of  Anglo-Saxon  poetry  was  over.  Homilies,  translations  of 
Scripture,  lives  of  saints,  collections  of  medical  prescriptions  and 
lists  of  leading  plants,  now  formed  the  bulk  of  the  literary  output. 
Alfred  himself  complained  that  whereas  foreigners  had  of  old  come 
to  Britain  to  get  learning  from  the  English,  the  English  had  now 
to  get  their  knowledge  abroad,  if  knowledge  they  would  have  at  all. 
The  language  was  rapidly  changing.  Not  only  did  many  new  words 
come  in  with  the  Danes,  but  the  English  tongue  was  throwing  off 
its  old  inflections,  and  becoming  more  like  modern  English.  In 
letters,  as  in  so  many  other  ways,  Anglo-Saxon  England  had  worn 
itself  out.  The  new  blood  brought  in  by  the  Danes  did  not  do  very 
much  to  restore  it.  It  needed  the  stern  discipline  of  the  Norman 
conquest  to  restore  the  vitality  of  the  sluggish  race,  and  direct 
England  into  new  channels  of  progress. 

Books  Recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  Book  I 

For  Prehistoric  Britain,  W.  J?oyd    Dawkins'  Early  Man  in  Britain  and 
B.  C.  A.  Windle's  Remains  of  the  Prehistoric  Age  in  England.     For  Celtic 


-io66.]      ENGLISH  LIFE  BEFORE  NORMAN  CONQUEST    8 1 

Britain,  J.  Rhys'  Celtic  Britain,  and  J.  E.  Lloyd's  History  of  Wales,  vol.  i. ; 
for  the  Celtic  Church,  H.  Zimmer's  Celtic  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland, 
translated  by  A.  Meyer,  E.  J.  Newell's  History  of  the  Welsh  Church,  and 
J.  Dowden's  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland.  For  Roman  Britain,  Haverfield's 
Bomanisation  of  Boman  Britain,  aud  Military  Aspects  of  Soman  Wales. 
Mommsen's  Boman  History,  vol.  v.  ch.  v.,  translated  by  Dickson.  For 
Early  English  history  a  brilliant  but  somewhat  imaginative  account  is 
contained  in  J.  R.  Green's  Making  of  England  and  Conquest  of  England. 
For  institutions,  W.  Stubbs'  Constitutional  History  of  England,  vol.  i. 
chaps,  i.-ix.,  corrected  by  C.  Petit-Dutaillia,  Studies  Supplementary  to  Stubbs' 
Constitutional  History,  i.  i.-v.  (translated  from  the  French).  For  social  and 
economic  history,  Social  England,  by  various  writers,  vol.  i.,  especially 
the  illustrated  edition ;  and  W.  Cunningham's  Growth  of  English  Industry 
and  Commerce  during  the  Early  and  Middle  Ages,  pp.  1-128.  For  the  whole 
period,  the  Political  History  of  England,  edited  by  W.  Hunt  and  R.  L.  Poole, 
vol.  i.  (to  1066)  by  T.  Hodgkin.  For  historical  geography  see  maps  xv. 
(Roman  Britain)  and  xvi.  (England  before  the  Norman  Conquest)  in  the 
Oxford  Historical  Atlas,  and  for  all  periods  Gardiner's  School  Atlas  of 
English  History.  For  Scottish  history,  see  Skene's  Celtic  Scotland,  and 
P.  Hume  Brown's  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  the  latter  more  recent,  but  on 
a  much  smaller  scale. 


BOOK  II 

THE  NORMAN  AND  ANGEVIN    KINGS 

CHAPTER  I 
WILLIAM   I.  THE  CONQUEROR   (1066-1087) 

Chief  Dates : 

1066.  Accession  of  William  i. 

1067-1070.  English  revolts. 

1071.  Here  ward  subdued. 

1075.  Revolts  of  Earls  Ralph  and  Roger. 

1079.  Battle  of  Gerberoy. 

1086.  Domesday  Book. 

1087.  Death  of  William  i. 

1.  The  coronation  of  William  was  succeeded  by  a  few  months  of 
peace  so  profound  that  it  looked  as  if  England  had  been  completely 
Early  subdued,  and  that  the  king  would  have  no  more  trouble 

policy  of  with  his  new  subjects  than  Cnut  had  had.  William 
William  I.  gaVe  himself  out  as  the  lawful  successor  of  Edward 
the  Confessor.  Those  who-  had  fought  for  the  usurper  Harold 
were  traitors,  and  had  forfeited  their  lands  for  their  treason.  It 
was  natural  that  William  should  hand  over  their  estates  to  his 
Norman  followers.  But  Englishmen  who  had  not  been  in  arms 
Against  him  were  allowed  to  continue  in  their  possessions,  and  nearly 
all  the  old  officers  in  Church  and  State  were  kept  on.  Edwin  and 
Morcar  still  governed  the  midlands  and  north.  The  king  brought 
in  no  new  laws,  upheld  the  old  courts,  and  promised  to  rule  as 
Edgar  and  Cnut  had  governed. 

2.  Despite  William's  fair  words  and  acts,  the  English  soon 
found  that  he  had  very  different  ideas  as  to  how  a  king  should 
The  English  g"overu  his  country  from  those  of  any  of  his  pre- 
revolt  of  decessors.  In  particular,  he  was  not  likely  to  follow 
1067-  the  example  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  be  content 

with  a  nominal  superiority  over  earls  like  Edwin  and  Morcar. 
82 


io68.]  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  83 

Bitter  experience  in  Normandy  had  tanght  Mm  to  distrust  the  great 
nobles,  and  he  had  also  to  satisfy  the  swarm  of  Norman  adven- 
turers who  had  helped  him,  and  who  were  by  no  means  content 
with  the  small  reward  meted  out  to  them  after  Hastings.  Before 
long  nothing  but  the  fierce  will  of  the  king  kept  the  English  nobles 
from  rebelling,  or  his  Norman  followers  from  robbing  the  conquered 
people  of  their  lands  and  offices.  In  1067,  however,  William  was 
forced  to  revisit  Normandy.  He  left  the  government  in  the  hands 
of  his  brother,  Bishop  Odo  of  Bayeux,  and  of  William  Fitzosbern, 
a  great  Norman  noble.  These  men  began  to  oppress  the  English 
terribly,  and  encourage  the  greedy  Normans  to  seize  their  lands 
and  build  castles  upon  them.  Only  the  south  had  really  felt  the 
weight  of  the  Norman  power.  The  lands  north  of  the  Thames  had 
submitted,  and  had  not  been  conquered.  They  at  once  rose  in 
revolt  against  the  misdeeds  of  William's  regents.  The  king  came 
back  from  Normandy  and  discovered  that  his  conquest  of  England 
had  only  been  begun  at  Hastings.  For  the  next  five  years  he  was 
busily  engaged  in  putting  down  rebellions,  and  subduing  England 
piece  by  piece.     It  was  not  till  1071  that  the  process  was  completed. 

3.  All  through  these  years  the  English  were  constantly  in  revolt. 
They  fought  bravely;   but  their  leaders  were  incompetent,  and 
were  always  quarrelling  with  each  other.     Moreover,    The  corn- 
different  parts  of  the  country  did  not  work  together.    Pletion  of 
One  district  rebelled  and  was  subdued,  and  then  the   COnquest,' 
next  region  rose   in  rebellion.       It  was,   therefore,    1067-1071. 
possible  for  the   Normans  to   put   down  piecemeal  these  piece- 
meal rebellions.     Had  the  English  shown  as  much  union  as  their 
enemies,  they  might  well  have  avenged  the  death  of  Harold.    As 
it  was,  whenever  the  Normans  conquered  a  district,  they  erected 
in  it  a  castle,  whose  garrison  kept  down  the  English  in  obedience. 
Even  if  another  revolt  broke  out,  the  Normans  could  take  refuge 
behind  the  walls  of  the  castle  until  the  king  was  able  to  come  up 
and  release  them.     The  English,  unaccustomed  to  fortresses,  had 
few  means  of  capturing  these  new  strongholds.     Before  long  the 
whole  land  was  covered  with  Norman  castles. 

4.  The  extremities  of  the  country,  the  north  and  the  west,  were 
the  most  difficult  to  conquer.  The  men  of  the  south-western  shires 
rose  in  rebellion  in  1068,  and  called  in  the  sons  of  j^e  conquest 
Harold,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Ireland,  to  help  of  the  West 
them.  But  before  the  end  of  the  year  the  king  cap-  and  NoPth* 
tured  Exeter,  and  put  down  the  western  revolt  for  good.  William 
had  harder  work  in  the  north ;  but  even  here  the  divisions  of  the 


84  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  [1068- 

enemy  greatly  helped  his  progress.  Edwin  and  Morcar  more  than 
once  headed  a  revolt.  But  they  were  not  strong  or  resolute  enough  to 
prove  successful  leaders,  and  were  divided  between  4their  anxiety  not 
to  compromise  themselves  fatally  with  "William,  and  their  conviction 
that  "William's  supremacy  meant  the  loss  of  the  great  position  so 
long  enjoyed  by  the  house  of  Leofric.  After  a  half-hearted  attempt 
they  made  their  submission  to  "William,  who  treated  them  with 
remarkable  leniency.  Nor  was  the  north  country  more  fortunate 
when  Edgar  the  JEtheling  appeared  among  them,  and  they  chose 
him  as  their  king.  Edgar  had,  however,  one  powerful  backer  in 
his  brother-in-law,  Malcolm  Canmore  (or  Big  Head),  the  most 
powerful  king  the  Scots  had  yet  had ;  and  the  Northumbrians 
expected  much  from  him  in  their  struggles  against  "William. 
The  Danes,  however,  were  also  called  upon  to  help  them,  and 
Malcolm  was  so  jealous  of  the  Danes  that  he  gave  the  rebels  little 
help.  A  Danish  fleet  appeared  in  the  Humber,  and  lent  its 
powerful  aid  to  the  English.  The  Danes  joined  with  the  best  of 
the  northern  rebels,  "Waltheof,  earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  son  of 
Siward,  the  sometime  earl  of  Northumbria.  But  after  "William 
came  up,  the  Danes  withdrew  to  their  ships,  and  "Waltheof  made 
his  submission.  "William  treated  him  with  marked  favour,  and 
reinstated  him  in  his  earldom.  But  the  king  wreaked  a  terrible 
revenge  on  the  rebel  country.  He  laid  waste  the  whole  land 
from  the  Humber  to  the  Tees.  Many  years  afterwards  all  York- 
shire still  lay  desolate  and  untilled.  It  was  an  awful  example  of 
the  ruthlessness  of  "William,  and  effectually  stopped  future  re- 
bellion in  the  north  country. 

5.  In  1070  the  last  English  revolt  against  "William  broke  out 
in  the  district  bordering  on  the  "Wash.  Driven  out  of  the  open 
Hereward  country,  the  rebels  took  refuge  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  a 
subdued,         real  island  in  those  days,  and  surrounded  on  everv 

1071  • 

side  by  a  wilderness  of  fen  and  morass.  At  the 
head  of  this  gallant  band  was  a  Lincolnshire  thegn,  named 
Hereward,  whose  wonderful  deeds  of  daring  made  bim  the  hero 
of  the  English.  Among  others  who  joined  him  were  Edwin 
and  Morcar,  who  had  learned  too  late  that  their  hesitating  policy 
was  of  no  avail  against  the  power  of  "William.  For  long  the  Ely 
fugitives  defied  the  power  of  "William ;  but  at  last  the  king  made 
his  way  to  their  camp  of  refuge  by  building  a  hard  causeway  over 
his  fens,  so  that  his  soldiers  could  attack  Hereward's  position.  In 
1071  Ely  was  captured.  Hereward  reconciled  himself  to  "William, 
and  was  kindly  treated  by  him.    So  faithful  was  he  henceforth  that 


-io7i.]  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  85 

William  gave  him  a  high,  command  in  the  army,  with  which  two 
years  later  the  king  conquered  Maine.  Edwin  was  murdered  hy  his 
men  during  the  siege  of  Ely,  but  Morcar  submitted,  and  was  also 
pardoned.  Gentle  to  the  leaders,  William  was  inexorable  to  the 
common  rebels.  But  he  had  taught  the  English  their  lesson. 
Henceforth  neither  he  nor  his  sons  had  anything  to  fear  from  them. 
6.  During  the  years  of  conquest  nearly  all  the  leading  English 
lost  their  lands  and  offices.  Waltheof  was  the  only  English  earl 
now  left,  and  such  Englishmen  as  still  held  estates  The  estab- 
were,  as  a  rule,  poor  and  insignificant.  Their  sue-  lishment  of 
cessors  in  property  and  power  were  William's  Norman  teutiallsm' 
followers,  who  soon  formed  a  new  foreign  aristocracy  of  land- 
holders. They  did  not,  however,  hold  their  estates  in  the  same 
fashion  as  their  English  predecessors.  After  the  system  already 
prevalent  in  Normandy,  William  granted  lands  to  his  followers  on 
condition  of  their  serving  him  in  his  wars.  Already  before  the 
conquest  the  English  kings  had  looked  to  their  thegns,  or  personal 
followers,  for  help  in  fighting  their  battles.  But  what  was  pre- 
viously the  exception  now  became  the  general  rule.  The  result  was 
the  general  establishment  in  England  of  what  was  called  feudalism, 
or  the  feudal  system.  Under  it  William,  as  king,  was  lord  of  the 
whole  land,  and  his  followers  held  their  estates  of  him  as  his  vassals, 
or  subjects.  A  piece  of  land  was  called  a  fief,  and  the  person 
receiving  it  took  an  oath  to  be  faithful  to  his  lord,  called  the  oath 
of fealty,  or  fidelity.  Those  who  took  this  oath  also  did  homage — that 
is  to  say,  they  promised  to  become  the  men,  or  vassals,  of  their  lord. 
Ultimately  the  whole  country  was  divided  into  knight's  fees,  each 
knight's  fee  being  sufficient  land  to  support  the  knight,  or  heavily 
armed  horsemen,  on  whom,  after  Hastings,  the  strength  of  every 
army  depended.  Thus  there  grew  up  the  system  of  military 
tenures,  or  tenure  by  knight  service,  whereby  the  landholders  paid 
their  rent  to  the  king  by  equipping  and  paying  for  knights  to  fight 
for  him.  The  most  important  of  the  nobles  held  their  lands 
directly  of  the  king,  and  bound  themselves  to  supply  him  with  a 
large  number  of  knights.  They  were  called  the  king's  tenants  in 
chief,  or  tenants  in  capite,  and  were  about  fifteen  hundred  in 
number.  Often  they  were  called  barons,  from  a  word  which 
originally  meant  man,  but  which  soon  became  equivalent  to  land- 
holding  nobleman.  But  each  tenant  in  chief  granted  out  a  large 
part  of  his  land  to  vassals  of  his  own,  who  were  called  sub-tenants, 
or  mesne  (that  is,  mediate)  tenants.  These  were,  in  their  turn,  bound 
to  fight  for  their  immediate  lord,  and  it  was  only  with  their  help 


86  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  [107 1- 

that  the  tenants  in  chief  conld  fulfil  their  feudal  obligations  to  the 
king.  Sometimes  the  sub-tenants,  in  their  turn,  granted  out  their 
lands  to  minor  sub-tenants,  so  that  many  links  were  forged  in  the 
feudal  chain.  Though  some  of  the  lesser  landlords  continued  to  be 
English,  the  majority  of  those  to  whom  by  this  system  military 
power  was  entrusted  were  Normans.  The  mass  of  the  English  sank 
to  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale.  They  became  the  dependants  of 
the  Norman  barons,  and  lost  their  tradition  of  freedom  as  they 
grew  accustomed  to  serve  foreign  masters. 

7.  Soon  a  great  division  of  interests  began  to  show  itself  between 
William  and  the  Norman  barons.  William  and  his  nobles  were  at 
William  and  one  "*  bringing  in  *ne  feudal  system  of  land  tenure, 
the  Norman  But  the  barons  were  not  contented  with  this.  They 
barons.  wished  to  extend  into  England  the  system  which 
prevailed  in  Normandy,  whereby  each  feudal  landlord  was  like  a 
little  king  over  his  own  estate.  William  wished  to  be  a  strong 
monarch,  ruling  with  the  help  of  his  barons,  but  never  allowing 
them  to  set  up  their  will  against  his.  The  nobles,  on  the  other 
hand,  looked  with  great  alarm  on  the  establishment  of  a  royal 
despotism.  They  were  willing  to  acknowledge  the  king  as  their 
superior  lord,  provided  that  in  practice  he  delegated  all  his  power 
to  the  great  landlords.  They  cared  nothing  for  the  unity  of  the 
kingdom,  or  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  They  thought  of  nothing 
but  their  own  estates,  and  they  bitterly  resented  all  attempts  to 
restrain  their  liberty  of  ruling  their  vassals  after  their  own  fashion, 
even  when  the  attempt  came  from  the  king  himself. 

8.  William  did  all  that  he  could  to  prevent  the  Norman  barons 
from  becoming  too  powerful.  He  put  an  end  to  the  great  earldoms 
which,  since  the  days  of  Cnut,  had  threatened  to  revive  the  old 
kingdoms.  Even  the  earldoms  over  one  county  he  looked  upon 
with  suspicion,  and  took  care  that  only  the  most  faithful  of  his 

followers  should  be  advanced  to  these  dignities.  He 
earldoms.       was  anxi°us  to  prevent  the  growth  of  great  local 

powers,  and,  luckily  for  him,  he  found  that  the  chief 
Anglo-Saxon  landlords  had  held  widely  scattered  estates.  He  took 
care  that  the  estates  of  the  Norman  barons  should,  like  those  of  their 
predecessors,  be  distributed  over  different  parts  of  England.  A 
baron  who  held  lands  in  Cornwall,  Norfolk,  and  Yorkshire  was 
less  dangerous  than  one  whose  whole  estate  was  concentrated  in  one 
of  those  counties.  Few  exceptions  were  made  to  this  general  rule ; 
and  the  chief  of  these  were  in  the  border  districts,  where  military 
necessities  made  it  desirable  that  there  should  be  a  strong  local 


-I075-]  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  87 

earl,  able  to  protect  the  boundary  from  the  invasion  of  foreigners 
with  the  help  of  his  local  levies.  On  this  account  there  grew  up 
on  the  Welsh  and  Scottish  borders  powers  afterwards  known  as  the 
Palatine  Earldoms.  In  these  regions  the  great  feudal  landlord  was 
allowed  to  play  the  part  of  a  petty  king.  The  palatine  earl  raised 
the  taxes,  ruled  the  local  army,  made  laws,  set  up  law  courts,  and 
gave  judgments  in  them  according  to  his  own  pleasure.  Nothing 
bound  him  to  the  king  save  his  oath  of  fealty  and  act  of  homage  : 
for  most  purposes  he  was  an  independent  prince.  Earldoms  of 
this  sort  grew  up  on  the  Welsh  frontier,  at  Chester,  Shrewsbury, 
and  Hereford,  though  the  latter  two  were  of  brief  duration. 
Moreover,  on  the  Scottish  border,  the  bishop  of  Durham  was 
similarly  invested  with  such  great  power  over  his  extensive  estates 
that  his  bishopric  practically  became  a  palatine  earldom  like  those 
of  the  west.  If  such  powers  had  to  be  established,  they  were  less 
dangerous  in  the  hands  of  a  priest,  who  could  not  be  the  founder 
of  a  legal  family,  than  in  those  of  a  layman,  whose  children 
succeeded  to  him  by  hereditary  right.  This  process  of  reasoning 
accounts  also  for  the  establishment  of  Odo  of  Bayeux  as  earl  of 
Kent  with  hardly  less  authority  than  that  of  the  border  earls. 

9.  In  one  part  of  his  dominions  William's  power  was  particularly 
oppressive.    Like  all  his  race,  he  was  a  mighty  huntsman,  and  he 
set    apart    great  forests    all    over    England;   where 
husbandry  had  to  stand  aside  in  order  that  he  might 

chase  deer  freely.  "  He  made,"  says  the  English  chronicler, 
"  great  forests  for  the  deer,  and  passed  laws  for  them  that  whoso- 
ever killed  a  hart  or  a  hind  should  be  blinded.  As  he  forbade 
killing  deer,  so  also  did  he  forbid  slaying  boars  :  and  he  loved  the 
tall  deer,  as  if  he  had  been  their  father."  The  most  famous  of 
William's  forests  was  the  district  still  called  the  New  Forest  in 
Hampshire.  Henceforth  the  forests  were  treated  as  exempt  from 
the  ordinary  law.  In  them  the  king's  will  was  almost  unrestrained. 
For  generations  the  English  had  no  more  real  grievance  than  the 
cruel  forest  laws  of  the  Normans. 

10.  The  Norman  barons  watched  with  great  discontent  the  anti- 
feudal  policy  of  the  Conqueror.  Before  long  they  formed  schemes 
to  overthrow  him,  and  strove  to  make  common  cause  The  baronial 
with  the  few  English  nobles  that  were  still  left.  In  revolt  of 
1075  Bx>ger,  earl  of  Hereford,  associated  himself  with  1075* 
Ralph,  earl  of  Norfolk,  in  a  plot  against  the  king,  and  the  two 
invited  Waltheof  to  join  them.  Their  plan  was  to  dethrone  William, 
and  divide  England  into  three  parts,  ruled  severally  by  one  of 


88  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  [1075- 

themselves,  the  chief  of  whom  was  to  bear  the  title  of  king.  It  was 
practically  a  proposal  to  go  back  to  the  state  of  things  nnder 
Harold.  "Waltheof  was  now  earl  of  Northumberland  and  married 
to  the  Conqueror's  niece  Judith.  He  refused  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  conspiracy,  though  he  thought  himself  bound  in 
honour  not  to  reveal  to  the  king  what  the  two  earls  had  suggested 
to  him.  Before  long  earls  Ralph  and  Roger  rose  in  rebellion,  but 
were  easily  subdued.  Ralph  fled  to  the  continent,  and  Roger  lost 
his  earldom  and  was  imprisoned  for  life.  No  later  earls  of  Here- 
ford were  allowed  to  exercise  the  palatine  privileges  which  Roger 
had  enjoyed.  A  sterner  fate  was  meted  out  to  Waltheof,  whose 
wife  told  William  of  his  negotiations  with  the  rebels.  Waltheof 
confessed  that  he  knew  of  their  designs,  and  thereupon  William 
beheaded  him  as  a  traitor.  Thus  perished  the  last  of  the  Eng- 
lish earls.  Henceforth  the  Norman  traitors  could  not  obtain  even 
the  partial  support  of  men  of  native  birth.  Yet  for  the  next 
hundred  years  there  was  a  continued  struggle  between  the  Norman 
feudal  party  and  the  Norman  king.  Whenever  the  ruler  was 
weak  or  embarrassed,  there  was  sure  to  be  a  rising  like  that  of 
Ralph  and  Roger.  But  though  the  barons  sometimes  won  a 
temporary  triumph,  the  final  victory  was  with  the  king. 

11.  Very  soon  the  barons  had  another  chance  of  attacking  the 
monarchy.  William's  eldest  son,  Robert,  was  an  open-handed,  good- 
Rebellion  tempered  soldier,  eager  for  personal  distinction,  but 
of  Robert,       weak,  easily  led,  and  impolitic.     In  1077  Robert  rose  in 

revolt  against  his  father,  and  found  support  from 
many  of  the  barons,  both  in  Normandy  and  in  England.  The 
Conqueror's  strong  hand  prevented  any  fighting  in  England,  but 
in  Normandy  Robert  waged  war  against  his  father,  with  the  help 
of  the  French  king.  In  1079  William  besieged  his  son  in  Gerberoy, 
on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Normandy.  In  a  scuffle  that  ensued 
Robert  wounded  his  father  with  his  own  hand ;  but  William  loved 
his  children  fondly,  and  soon  forgave  him  and  restored  him  to 
favour. 

12.  The  disloyalty  of  the  Normans  led  William  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  rely  more  and  more  upon  the  English.  The  English 
wnii  a  S°°n  ^ounc*  *kat  ^ne  ^aroils  were  their  worst  oppressors, 
the  English.    "William,  though  terrible  when  opposed,  was  anxious 

that  those  who  obeyed  him  should  be  justly  governed 
and  live  in  peace.  No  such  thoughts  of  policy  or  prudence  checked 
the  rapacity  and  violence  of  the  Norman  barons.  Before  long  the 
English  began  to  look  up  to  their  foreign  king  for  protection 


-io86.J  WILLIAM  I.    THE  CONQUEROR  89 

against  the  nobles.  Thus  William  cleverly  played  off  the  two 
nations  against  each  other.  Without  the  Normans  he  could  never 
have  subdued  the  English.  When  they  were  put  down,  he  used 
the  English  to  keep  his  overpowerful  countrymen  in  check.  In 
the  same  way  he  claimed  every  right  of  the  old  English  kings,  and 
added  to  them  every  power  which  the  Norman  dukes  exercised  in 
their  own  country.  This  combination  of  the  national  position  of  the 
English  king,  and  the  feudal  status  of  the  Norman  duke,  gave 
William  a  position  of  very  great  authority;  the  more  so  as  the 
chief  checks  on  both  powers  were  no  longer  operative.  William  was 
the  first  English  king  who  was  strong  enough  to  control  the  whole 
of  the  land.  Though  his  power  destroyed  liberty,  it  made  order 
possible.  And  the  great  want  of  England  in  those  days  was  a 
strong  government,  keeping  good  peace.  Such  a  rule  William  pro- 
vided for  England,  but  the  country  had  to  pay  heavily  for  it.  He 
was  the  first  king  to  raise  much  money  by  direct  taxation,  and  his 
subjects  groaned  under  his  exactions.  "  The  king  and  his  chief 
men,"  wrote  the  English  chronicler,  "  loved  overmuch  to  amass 
gold  and  silver.  The  king  made  over  the  lands  to  him  who  offered 
most  and  cared  not  how  his  sheriffs  extorted  money  from  the 
miserable  people."  Yet  the  same  authority  recognized  the  benefits 
of  his  rule.  "  He  was  a  stern  and  wrathful  man,  and  none  durst 
do  anything  against  his  pleasure.  The  good  order  which  he 
established  is  not  to  be  forgotten.  He  was  a  very  wise  and  a 
very  great  man." 

13.  In  1085  William  ordered  an  inquiry  to  be  made  as  to  the 
wealth  and  resources  of  England.     His  object  was  to  find  out  how 
many  taxes  he  could  raise  from  his  subjects  without   The  j)omes. 
altogether    ruining    them.       "  He    sent,"    said    the   day  Book, 
chronicler,  "  his  men  into   every   shire,   and  caused  ' 

them  to  find  out  how  much  land  it  contained,  what  lands  the 
king  possessed  therein,  what  cattle  there  were,  and  how  much 
revenue  he  ought  to  receive.  So  narrowly  did  he  cause  the 
survey  to  be  made  that  there  was  not  a  single  rood  of  land,  nor 
was  there  an  ox  or  a  cow  or  a  pig  passed  by  that  was  not  set 
down  in  his  book."  In  1086  information  thus  collected  was  put 
together  in  the  famous  Domesday  Book.  Its  exactness  gave  much 
offence  to  the  tax-hating  Englishmen ;  but  William's  inquiries 
have  this  great  advantage  to  us,  that  they  enable  us  to  draw  a 
picture  of  the  England  of  his  day  such  as  we  can  form  of  no 
other  country  at  so  remote  a  period.  Even  after  fifteen  years 
of  peace  the  desolating  work  of  the  Conqueror's  early  years  still 


90  WILLIAM  I.    THE  CONQUEROR  [1086- 

left  its  mark.  Very  commonly  the  value  of  land  and  property 
was  less  than  in  King  Edward's  days.  In  some  districts,  notably 
in  Yorkshire,  great  tracts  still  remained  waste. 

14.  Soon  after  the  commissioners  had  done  their  work,  William 
summoned  a  great  moot,  or  council,  at  Salisbury.  "  There," 
The  oath  at  s&ys  ^6  chronicler,  "  there  came  to  him  all  the  land- 
Salisbury,  holders  in  England,  whose  soever  vassals  they  were, 
1086#  and  they  all  became  his  men,  and  swore  oaths  of 
loyalty  to  him  that  they  would  be  faithful  to  him  against  all 
other  men."  In  this  fashion  William  maintained  his  hold  over  the 
under-tenants,  who  held  their  land  of  the  great  barons.  There 
was  a  danger  lest  their  immediate  lord  should  usurp  such  authority 
over  them  that  they  would  be  expected  to  follow  him,  even  when 
he  waged  war  against  the  king.  The  Salisbury  oath  bound  all 
men  of  substance  to  put  their  duty  to  the  king  above  their  duty 
to  their  immediate  lords. 

15.  The  conquest  affected  the  Church  as  profoundly  as  the  State. 
Sent  to  England  with  the  pope's  blessing,  William  did  his  best  to 
Lanfpanc  carry  out  the  pope's  wishes  and  make  the  English 
and  the  Church  like  the  Church  on  the  continent.  He  de- 
Church,  prived  Stigand,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  of  his  office, 
and  appointed  as  his  successor  Lanfranc,  abbot  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Stephen's  at  Caen,  which  William  himself  had  founded. 
Lanfranc  was  an  Italian  lawyer  from  Pavia,  who  made  his  way  to 
Normandy  to  push  his  fortune.  Seized  with  a  sudden  religious 
impulse,  he  forsook  the  world  and  became  a  monk  at  a  new 
monastery  called  Bee.  The  fame  of  his  learning  and  piety  soon 
made  Bee  a  famous  place,  and  before  long  Lanfranc  was  made  its 
prior,  the  chief  officer  after  the  abbot.  He  became  William's 
friend,  and  was  called  away  by  him  to  Caen,  and  afterwards  to 
Canterbury.  William  and  Lanfranc  henceforth  worked  har- 
moniously together  for  the  reform  of  the  English  Church.  They 
gradually  filled  up  the  bishoprics  and  abbeys  with  Normans,  so 
that  in  Church  as  in  State  all  the  high  places  in  England  went 
to  the  foreigners.  Up  to  now  many  bishops  lived  in  the  country, 
far  away  from  such  towns  as  England  then  possessed.  The 
Norman  bishops  transferred  their  residences  to  the 'leading  towns 
of  their  dioceses,  as,  for  example,  the  bishops  of  Lichfield  went  to 
Chester,  the  bishops  of  Dorchester  in  Oxfordshire  removed  to 
Lincoln,  and  the  bishops  over  Northumbria  and  East  Anglia  took 
up  their  abodes  in  Durham  and  Norwich.  In  their  new  sees  they 
built  magnificent  cathedrals   after  the    Norman   pattern  which 


-1087.]  WILLIAM  I.    THE  CONQUEROR  91 

Edward  the  Confessor  had  first  introduced  into  England  at  West- 
minster. More  learned,  energetic,  and  vigorous  than  their 
English  predecessors,  the  Norman  prelates  did  much  to  reform  the 
English  Church.  They  made  the  clergy  more  hard  working,  better 
educated,  and  more  zealous. 

16.  The  Normans  brought  in  the  new  ideas  as  to  how  the  Church 
should  be  governed,  which  had  been  growing  up  on  the  continent, 
but  were  quite  unknown  in  England.     These  views, 

first  taught  by  the  monks  of  Cluny  in  Burgundy,  brandine 
were  now  upheld  by  the  famous  Hildebrand,  arch-  movement 
deacon  of  Rome,  who,  soon  after  William's  accession,  E^and 
became  pope  as  Gregory  vn.  Horrified  at  the  world- 
liness  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  power  which  lay  rulers  of  evil 
life  exercised  over  the  Church,  Hildebrand  wished  to  separate 
the  Church  as  strictly  as  he  could  from  the  State.  He  waged  war 
against  simony,  or  the  selling  of  benefices  for  money  or  corrupt 
consideration.  He  taught  that  the  clergy  should,  like  monks, 
refrain  from  marriage,  for  if  they  had  families  of  their  own  there 
was  danger  lest  they  should  be  too  much  mixed  up  in  worldly 
affairs,  and  should  aim  at  advancing  their  children  and  handing  on 
their  benefices  to  them  rather  than  devote  themselves  to  advancing 
the  cause  of  the  Church.  He  saw  everywhere  cruel  kings  and 
princes  dominating  the  Church  and  oppressing  the  clergy,  and 
thought  that  the  best  remedy  for  this  was  to  claim  for  the  Church  as 
complete  a  freedom  as  was  possible  from  the  secular  power.  With 
that  object  he  prohibited  secular  rulers  from  continuing  the  old 
custom  of  investing  or  conferring  on  bishops  and  abbots  a  ring 
and  staff,  which  were  looked  upon  as  the  symbols  of  their  ecclesi- 
astical office.  In  carrying  out  this  object  he  fell  into  a  fierce 
conflict  with  the  emperor,  Henry  iv.,  who  refused  to  surrender  his 
ancient  rights.  This  struggle,  called  the  Investiture  Contest,  lasted 
nearly  fifty  years,  and  filled  all  Germany  and  Italy  with  confusion. 
It  was  soon  clear  that  Hildebrand,  in  trying  to  reform  the  Church, 
was  likely  to  set  up  an  ecclesiastical  despotism  which  in  the  long 
run  was  more  dangerous  than  even  the  despotism  of  kings  and 
emperors.  But  the  full  results  of  this  were  not  yet  seen,  and  most 
of  the  more  high-minded  and  enthusiastic  reformers  were  on  the 
side  of  the  pope. 

17.  William  and  Lanfranc  were  quite  in  agreement  with 
Hildebrand.  To  keep  the  Church  apart  from  the  world,  William 
passed  a  new  law  separating  the  courts  of  the  Church  from  the 
courts  of    the    nation,  and   enacting  that   every  bishop  should 


Q2  WILLIAM  I.    THE   CONQUEROR  [1072- 

henceforth  try  his  clergy  in  his  own  ecclesiastical  court,  and  not 
in  the  hundred  or  shire  court.  Lanfranc  held  a  series  of  councils, 
in  which  he  introduced  into  England  the  pope's  laws 
tionofPara  against  simony,  and  for  the  first  time  ordered  that 
Church  and  no  clergyman  should  marry.  From  all  this  it  resulted 
State.  .^at  the  Church  and  State  in  England  were  separated 

clearly  from  each  other ;  the  courts  and  law  of  the  Church  were 
strengthened,  and  the  pope's  power  over  England  was  greatly 
increased.  All  these  changes  made  the  Church  stronger,  though 
it  also  became  less  national.  William,  as  the  ally  of  the  Church, 
profited  by  its  strength,  and  his  close  friendship  with  Lanfranc 
and  the  reformers  did  much  to  increase  the  royal  power.  Gregory 
was  so  well  satisfied  with  William  that  he  took  no  steps  to 
prevent  him  from  investing  his  bishops  in  the  fashion  that  was 
not  allowed  to  the  emperor.  For  the  moment  the  friendship  of 
William  and  Lanfranc  united  the  Church  with  the  State. 

18.  There  was  danger,  however,  in  the  background.  The  clergy 
were  constantly   claiming   more   and  more   authority,   and   some 

of  them  spoke  as  if  kings  and  princes  only  existed  in 
posed  on  ec-  order  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  popes  and  prelates, 
clesiastical     William  himself  was  alive  to  the  danger  of  clerical 

usurpations,  and  sought  to  strengthen  himself  against 
them  by  keeping  up  the  traditions  of  English  independence.  He 
ordered  that  no  pope  should  be  obeyed  in  England  until  the  king 
had  recognized  him.  He  would  not  allow  Church  councils  to 
meet  or  pass  canons,  or  Church  laws,  without  his  sanction.  He 
prohibited  the  introduction  of  papal  bulls,  or  letters,  into  England 
unless  he  approved  of  them.  When  Gregory  vn.  requested 
William  to  do  homage  to  the  Roman  Church,  he  refused  to  obey 
him,  on  the  ground  that  no  previous  English  king  had  ever  per- 
formed such  an  act.  Thus  in  the  Church  as  in  the  State, 
William  strove  to  limit  the  action  of  the  forces  that  he  himself  had 
brought  into  the  country.  The  pope,  like  the  barons,  was  useful 
to  the  king  in  establishing  his  hold  over  England ;  but  both  were 
dangerous  if  not  kept  within  strict  bounds.  The  reign  of  William's 
sons  showed  the  wisdom  of  the  Conqueror  in  watching  narrowly 
the  power  of  the  Church. 

19.  Master  of  England,  William  strove  to  revive  the  English 
William  as  overlordship  over  the  rest  of  Britain  which  Edgar 
overlord  of     and  Cnut  had  exercised.     Malcolm  Canmore's  support 

of  Edgar  the  iEtheling  gave  the  English  king  a  good 
excuse  for    attacking    Scotland.      In   1072   William   crossed  the 


-1087.]  WILLIAM  I.    THE  CONQUEROR  93 

border,  and  advanced  to  Abernethy,  on  the  Tay.  There  Malcolm, 
despairing  of  resistance,  went  to  meet  him,  and  did  homage  to  him 
as  his  lord.  The  Welsh  were  also  brought  under  William's  power. 
Defeated  and  divided  since  Harold's  days,  they  were  kept  in  check 
by  the  border  earldoms,  and  could  offer  no  effective  resistance. 
William  accordingly  pushed  Harold's  conquests  still  further  west- 
wards. He  went  on  pilgrimage  to  St.  David's,  and  built  a  castle  at 
Cardiff.  Like  Edgar,  he  established  relations  with  some  of  the 
Danish  princes  in  eastern  Ireland,  and  thought  of  crossing  over 
St.  George's  Channel  and  conquering  that  land.  Never  had  an 
English  king  exercised  wider  power.  Like  Cnut,  he  was  lord  of 
all  Britain,  and  also  governed  great  continental  possessions. 

20.  The  union  of  England  and  Normandy  under  one  ruler 
made  foreign  policy  more  important  than  ever  it  had  been  before. 
William  had  plenty  of  feuds  with  his  French  neighbours  William's 
and  many  designs  to  extend  his  Norman  dominions,  foreign 
He  was  glad  to  get  the  help  of  the  English  to  carry  out  P°licy* 
these  enterprises,  and  within  a  few  years  of  the  completion  of  the 
conquest  we  find  Englishmen  loyally  fighting  William's  battles  in 
France.  To  the  south-west  of  Normandy  was  the  county  of  Maine, 
whose  capital  is  the  city  of  Le  Mans.  It  had  long  been  an  object 
of  Norman  ambition  to  conquer  this  district.  In  1073  William 
succeeded  in  effecting  this  purpose.  The  army  which  conquered 
Maine  was  largely  composed  of  Englishmen,  among  them  being  the 
gallant  Hereward.  William  was  often  on  unfriendly  terms  with 
his  overlord,  King  Philip  1.  of  France,  who  was  jealous  of  his  over- 
mighty  vassal's  power.  Philip  gladly  intrigued  with  his  barons 
against  William,  and  gave  help  to  Robert  in  the  days  of  his 
rebellion.  At  last,  in  1087,  there  was  open  war  between  the  two 
kings.  The  English  king  headed  a  raid  from  Normandy  up  the 
Seine  valley,  and  took  possession  of  the  town  of  Mantes.  He  set 
the  town  on  fire,  and  rode  out  on  horseback  to  witness  the  ruin 
that  he  was  working.  His  horse  stumbled  and  threw  him  from  the 
saddle.  He  was  now  an  old  man  and  very  stout,  so  that  the  heavy 
fall  caused  him  a  fatal  injury.  Borne  by  his  followers  to  Rouen, 
he  died  on  September  9,  and  was  buried  in  his  own  favourite 
foundatipn  of  St.  Stephen's  at  Caen.  Stern  and  cruel  though  he 
had  shown  himself,  he  was,  after  his  own  lights,  a  just  and  religious 
man.  With  all  his  faults,  he  did  much  good  to  England.  His 
reforms  changed  the  whole  course  of  our  history. 


CHAPTER   II 
WILLIAM   II.,   RUFUS   (1087-1100) 

Chief  dates : 

1087.  Accession  of  William  n. 

1088.  Revolt  of  the  Norman  barons. 

1089.  Death  of  Lanfranc. 

1093.  Anselm  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1095.  The  First  Crusade. 

1097.  The  exile  of  Anselm. 

1100.  Death  of  William  u. 

1.  By  his  wife,  Matilda  of  Flanders,  William  the  Conqueror  left 
three  sons,  Robert,  William,  and  Henry.  As  the  firstborn, 
The  sons  of  Robert  was  his  father's  natural  snccessor.  But  he  had 
William  the  forfeited  William's  favour  by  his  rebellion,  and  the  old 
Conqueror,  ting  feared  lest,  under  Robert's  weak  and  sluggish 
rule,  the  feudal  barons  should  upset  all  his  plans  for  the  continuance 
of  a  strong  monarchy.  Normandy  was  a  strictly  hereditary  fief, 
and  the  Conqueror  neither  could  nor  would  prevent  Robert  from 
succeeding  to  it.  But  England  was  the  conquest  of  his  own  hand, 
and  just  as  he  had  claimed  its  throne  as  the  nominee  of  the 
Confessor,  so  he  professed  to  have  some  right  of  disposing  of 
the  succession.  On  his  death-bed  he  had  expressed  a  wish  that  his 
second  son,  William,  should  become  the  next  king  of  England,  and 
sent  him  to  England  with  a  letter  to  Lanfranc.  The  archbishop, 
faithful  as  ever  to  his  master's  policy,  used  all  his  great  influence 
to  carry  out  the  dead  ruler's  wishes.  The  young  prince  strove 
to  purchase  the  people's  good-will  by  releasing  some  of  his 
father's  captives,  among  them  being  Morcar,  the  sometime  earl  of 
Northumbria,  and  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  whom  he  restored  to  his 
earldom  of  Kent.  All  turned  out  as  the  Conqueror  had  wished. 
No  opposition  was  raised  to  William's  accession,  and  on  September 
26,  1087,  Lanfranc  crowned  him  king  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

2.  In  person  the  new  king  was  stout  and  strong,  with  red  hair 
and  a  ruddy  complexion.     On  this  account  men  called  him  Rufus, 
or  the  Bed  King.     In  character  he  was  a  coarse  copy  of  his  father. 
94 


-I095-]  WILLIAM  II.,  RUFUS  95 

He  had  the  strong  will,  the  high  courage,  the  shrewd  percep- 
tion of  his  own  interest,  and  the  fierce  resolution  to  rule  England 
after  his  own  fashion  that  distinguished  the   Con-    character 
queror.      He  was  a  faithful  son,   a   gallant  soldier,    of  William 
and  a  bountiful  master  to  his  servants.     But  he  had   Rurus* 
none  of  his  father's  higher  qualities,  such  as  piety,  sense  of  duty, 
and  love  of  justice.     His  life  was  foul,  his  passions  unbridled,  his 
cruelty  and  avarice  unchecked  by  pity  or  fear.     One  of  the  wickedest 
men  who  have  ever  filled  the  throne,  he  was  nevertheless  a  strong  and 
capable  king.     Under  Lanfranc's  influence  he  began  to  reign  well. 
3.  It  was  at  once  clear  that  William  would  be  an  active  king, 
and  the  barons  soon  began  to  regret  that  they  had  lost  their 
chance  of  being  ruled  by  a  weakling  like  his  brother.  The' baronial 
In   1088  they  rose  in  revolt  in  favour  of  Robert,  revolt 
Though  Robert  sluggishly  stayed  in  Normandy,  and       1088« 
gave  them  no  help,  their  rebellion  was  a  formidable  one.     Odo  of 
Bayeux,  regardless  of  his  nephew's  recent  mercy,  put  himself  at 
their  head,   and  all  over  the   country  the  barons  plundered  the 
king's  subjects  and  laid  waste  their  lands.     In  his  distress  William 
turned  to  the  English.     He  promised  them  better  laws  than  they 
had   ever  had  before,   and  declared  that  he  would  not  tax  them 
unjustly  or  carry  out  the  forest  laws  oppressively.     A  great  force 
of   Englishmen  then  flocked  to  the  king's  banners,   and  drove 
Bishop   Odo  to  take   refuge  in  his  strong   castle  of  Rochester. 
After  a  long  siege  Rochester  was  subdued,  and  Odo  was  deprived 
of  his  earldom  and  banished  from  England  for  good.     Thanks  to 
English  help,  William  put  down  the  rebellion,  and  some  of  the 
greatest  barons  in  England  shared  Odo's  fate.     Those  who  still 
retained  their  estates  soon  found  that  the  tyranny  of  Rufus  bore 
more  hardly  upon  them  than  even  the  strong  rule  of  his  father. 
But  they  were  powerless  to  resist  him  to  any  good  purpose.     Once 
in   1095   Robert  Mowbray,   earl  of  Northumberland,    R      ..    f 
plucked  up  courage  to  take  up  arms  against  the  king.    Robert 
William  hurried  to    the    north,    and    shut    up    his   Mowbray, 
rebellious  vassal  in  his  castle  at  Bamburgh.     As  he 
could  not  reduce  the  stronghold,  William  built  a  castle  over  against 
it,  which  he  called  Malvoisin,  or  Evil  Neighbour,  and  went  back  to 
the  south.     Mowbray  soon  ventured  to  leave  his  castle,  whereupon 
the   garrison  of  Malvoisin  fell  upon  him  and  took  him  prisoner. 
Mowbray  forfeited  his  immense  estates  and  was  imprisoned  for 
life.     The  feudal  party,  thoroughly  cowed,  remained  quiet  for  the 
rest  of  Rufus's  reign. 


96  WILLIAM  II.,   RUFUS  [1089- 

4.  As  long  as  Lanfranc  lived,  Rufus  was  restrained  from  his 
evil  courses  by  his  old  friend's  wise  advice.  But  Lanfranc  died  in 
1089,  and  henceforth  the  king  chose  counsellors  of  a  very  different 

stamp.  His  favourite  minister  was  now  Ranulf  Flam- 
p,anuif  .  bard — that  is,  the  Torch — a  sharp-witted  and  un- 
scrupulous Norman  clerk,  who  rose  from  a  low  station 
by  his  readiness  to  suggest  clever  ways  of  filling  the  king's 
treasury.  Finally,  Ranulf  was  appointed  to  the  rich  bishopric  of 
Durham.  He  was  called  the  king's  Justiciar,  and  in  his  hands  the 
office  so  named  became  a  permanent  post.  William  1.  had  appointed 
regents  to  govern  during  his  absences  abroad,  and  had  called  them 
justiciars.  But  henceforth  the  justiciar  acted  in  the  king's 
presence  as  well  as  when  he  was  beyond  sea.  From  Flambard's 
time  the  justiciar  was  the  prime  minister  and  chief  helper  of  the 
Norman  sovereigns. 

5.  Flambard  showed  great  ingenuity  in  using  the  king's  feudal 
rights  over  his  vassals  as  pretexts  for  extortion.     Thus  when  a 

tenant  in  chief  died  the  king  as  Ms  lord  had  the  right 
extortions      °^  exac^m8"  a  Telief,  or  money  payment,  from  the  heir 

before  he  handed  over  to  him  his  father's  estate.  In 
the  same  way  the  king  had  the  right  of  levying  aids,  also  money 
payments,  from  his  vassals  when  he  had  any  special  occasion.  He 
also  was  in  the  habit  of  acting  as  guardian  over  tenants  who  were 
not  of  full  age,  and  of  demanding  a  sum  of  money  from  tenants 
who  wished  to  marry,  and  had  to  obtain  their  lord's  consent  before 
they  ventured  to  do  so.  All  these  feudal  dues,  as  they  were  called, 
had  been  levied  by  the  Conqueror  in  a  moderate  and  reasonable 
spirit.  Flambard  and  William  crushed  the  barons  by  exacting 
outrageous  sums  as  reliefs  or  aids.  They  wasted  the  estates  of 
minors,  cut  down  their  woods,  and  handed  over  to  them  lands  so 
pillaged  and  tenants  so  impoverished  that  their  property  was  a 
burden  rather  than  a  benefit.  The  penniless  and  disreputable 
courtiers  of  the  king  were  enriched  by  being  married  to  unwilling 
heiresses.  The  heavy  hand  of  Flambard  lay  upon  every  baron  in 
England.  Though  they  chafed  under  the  burden,  they  dared  not 
throw  it  off.  Nor  were  the  English  much  better  situated.  The 
weight  of  taxation  was  far  more  oppressive  than  under  the  Con- 
queror, and  Rufus,  though  protecting  the  people  from  the  barons, 
was  intolerably  capricious  in  all  his  dealings  with  them. 

6.  Rufus  was  even  more  shameless  in  maltreating  the  ecclesi- 
astics than  in  robbing  the  lay  barons.  He  scoffed  at  religion,  and 
delighted  to  oppress  its  ministers.    A  bishopric  or  an  abbey  seemed 


-I093-]  WILLIAM  II.,   RUFUS  97 

to  him  to  be  just  like  a  lay  fief,  except  that  the  defenceless  cha- 
racter of  the  clergyman  who  held  it  made  it  easier  to  rob  him  with 
impunity.  One  of  the  royal  rights  which  William 
most  abused  was  called  the  regale,  by  which  the  king  ^  Church 
had  the  custody  of  the  lands  of  all  vacant  bishoprics. 
The  idea  was  that  the  king  would  protect  the  estate  from  violence, 
and  hand  it  over  in  good  condition  to  the  new  bishop  when  he  was 
appointed.  William  resolved  to  keep  rich  bishoprics  vacant  as  long 
as  possible,  so  that  he  might  keep  the  rents  of  the  lands  of  the  see 
for  as  long  a  period  as  possible.  Accordingly,  when  Lanfranc  died, 
the  king  prevented  the  appointment  of  a  new  archbishop  for  four 
years,  during  which  period  he  plundered  and  mismanaged  the 
archbishop's  estates  so  as  to  get  all  he  could  out  of  them.  So  long 
as  William  was  healthy  and  well,  he  persisted  in  his  evil  courses ; 
but  in  1093  he  was  prostrated  by  a  violent  fever,  and  feared  that  he 
was  going  to  die.  He  was  then  smitten  with  repentance  for  all  the 
evil  that  he  had  done,  and  in  particular  for  his  oppressions  of  the 
Church.  He  resolved,  by  way  of  atonement,  to  fill  up  at  once  the 
archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  and  he  chose  the  best  possible  priest 
available  to  occupy  the  great  office. 

7.  At  that  time  Lanf  ranc's  old  monastery  of  Bee  was  ruled  over 

by  the  abbot  Anselm  of  Aosta.     The  son  of  a  nobleman  in  the 

Alpine  valley  of  Aosta,  Anselm's  outward  history  was   Anseim 

curiously  similar  to  that  of  Lanfranc.     Like  Lanfranc,    archbishop 

he  crossed  the  Alps  and  sought  a  career  in  Normandy,   ?*  Canter- 
,  ,  -ii   jv  XT.XJT-  bury,  1093. 

where  he   was  impelled  by  an  outburst  oi  religious 

zeal  to  forsake  the  world  to  become  a  monk  at  Bee.  There  he  won 
by  his  writings  a  reputation  which  far  exceeded  the  literary 
fame  of  Lanfranc,  and  was  venerated  for  a  sanctity  to  which  the 
hard  and  lawyer-like  friend  of  the  Conqueror  had  but  few  pre- 
tensions. In  an  age  of  brutal  violence  and  cunning  self-seeking, 
the  gentle,  compassionate,  and  kindly  nature  of  Anselm  was  the 
more  beautiful  because  of  its  rarity.  He  was  now  becoming  an  old 
man,  and  heard  with  alarm  that  the  repentant  king  was  wishing  to 
raise  him  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  He  was,  he  said,  a  weak  old 
sheep,  who  should  not  be  yoked  to  a  fierce  young  bull  like  the 
English  king.  But  Anselm,  who  happened  to  be  in  England  at 
the  time,  was  forced  to  appear  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  king,  and 
literally  compelled  to  accept  the  perilous  preferment. 

8.  Anselm.  had  not  wished  to  be  archbishop ;  but  having  re. 
ceived  the  office,  he  was  resolved  to  discharge  all  its  duties  to  the 
utmost  of  his  capacity.    Very  soon  William  recovered,  and  fell 


98  WILLIAM  II.,   RUFUS  [1093- 

back  on  his  old  courses  of  extortion,  profanity,  and  profligacy. 
Anselm  was  horrified  at  the  wickedness  that  went  on  unrestrained 
Quarrel  of  a*  cour*>  ano^  wished  to  summon  a  council  of  bishops 
Anselm  and  to  devise  means  for  reforming1  the  morals  of  the 
Rufus.  king  and  his  friends.     At  the   same  time  he  strove 

to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal  caused  by  the  prolonged  vacancies  of 
bishoprics  and  abbeys.  Rufus  was  moved  to  extreme  anger.  He 
refused  to  allow  the  reforming  council  to  meet,  and  bitterly  re- 
pented that  he  had  weakly  raised  Anselm  to  the  primacy.  "  What 
are  the  abbeys  to  you  ?  "  he  cried.  "  Are  they  not  mine  ?  "  "  The 
abbeys  are  yours,"  replied  Anselm,  "  to  protect,  and  not  to  destroy. 
They  belong  to  God,  and  their  revenues  are  intended  to  maintain 
God's  ministers,  not  to  support  your  wars."  Meek  and  gentle 
though  he  was,  Anselm  was  strong  enough  to  withstand  William 
to  his  face,  and  a  complete  breach  between  them  soon  followed. 

9.  At  this  time  there  were  two  rival  popes  in  Christendom. 
Urban  11.  was  generally  acknowledged  by  the  Church,  but  the 
The  Council  investiture  contest  was  still  raging  between  Papacy  and 
of  Rocking-    Empire,   and  the  emperor  had  set  up  as  a  rival  to 

am,  .     TJrban  a  partisan  of  his  own  named  Clement.     Anselm 

asked  leave  of  William  to  go  to  Rome  to  receive  the  pallium x  from 
Urban.  William  answered  that  he  did  not  recognize  either  Urban 
or  Clement  as  pope,  and  refused  Anselm  permission  to  leave  the 
country.  In  1095  a  great  council  met  in  the  royal  castle  of 
Rockingham  in  Northamptonshire  to  discuss  the  rival  claims  of 
pope  and  king  on  the  allegiance  of  the  archbishop.  William 
declared  that  he  would  deprive  Anselm  of  his  archbishopric  if  he 
persisted  in  obeying  the  pope,  whom  the  king  had  not  acknow- 
ledged. The  majority  of  the  bishops  were  on  the  king's  side,  and 
advised  Anselm  to  submit.  The  lay  nobles  were  friendly  to  Anselm, 
and  the  king  dared  not  carry  out  his  threat.  The  council  broke  up 
without  coming  to  any  conclusion,  but  the  resolution  of  the  primate 
had  won  a  moral  victory  over  the  time-serving  of  the  bishops  and 
the  impotent  violence  of  the  king. 

10.  During  the  next  two  years  the  relations  of  king  and  arch- 
bishop became  worse  and  worse.  The  original  cause  of  dispute 
was  ended  when  Rufus  suddenly  acknowledged  Urban,  and,  though 
not  permitting  Anselm  to  go  to  Rome  for  his  pallium,  allowed  him 
to  receive  it  from  a  papal  legate  who  brought  it  from  Rome.  But 
fresh  difficulties  arose :  Anselm  would  not  pay  the  large  sums  of 

1  For  the  pallium,  see  page  80. 


-I097-J  WILLIAM  II.,  RUFUS  99 

• 

money  which.  William  required  him  to  contribute  to  the  expenses 
of  his  campaigns.  He  irritated  William  by  sending  to  a  Welsh  war 
a  contingent  of  soldiers  which  the  king  thought  too  Anselm 
small  in  numbers,  and  too  ill-equipped  for  the  work,  driven  into 
When  the  king  appealed  to  his  own  court  to  settle  exile»  1097« 
this  dispute,  Anselm  declared  that  the  matter  must  be  referred  to 
the  pope.  In  1097,  upon  this  appeal,  he  withdrew  to  Rome,  and 
William  at  once  laid  violent  hands  upon  his  estates.  The  arch- 
bishop remained  in  exile  for  the  rest  of  the  reign.  Alone  of  the 
king's  subjects,  he  had  dared  to  resist  his  will. 

11.  The  dispute  between  Church  and  State  did  little  to  check 
the  prosperous  course  of  the  king's  affairs.  Master  of  England, 
Rufus  threatened  the  independence  of  Scotland  and  _  _ 
Wales  even  more  signally  than  his  father  had  done.  Cumberland 
In  1092  he  conquered  Cumberland,  which  had  hitherto  and  death  of 
been  an  independent  state,  tracing  back  its  origin  to  the  canm0Fe. 
old  kingdom  of  the  Strathclyde  Welsh.     Cumberland 

was  made  a  new  English  county,  and  Carlisle,  now  an  English 
city,  became  in  the  next  reign  the  seat  of  a  new  bishopric.  In 
1093  there  was  war  between  William  and  Malcolm  Canmore.  Mal- 
colm invaded  England,  but  lost  his  life  at  Alnwick.  His  reign 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  Scottish  history.  The  rude  High- 
land chieftain  had  been  tamed  into  civilized  ways  by  his  saintly 
wife  Margaret,  the  sister  of  Edgar  the  iEtheling.  Through 
Margaret's  influence  English  fashions  of  life  were  spread  through* 
out  the  Celtic  kingdom.  Her  influence  lived  on  during  the  reigns 
of  her  sons,  and  as  Scotland  became  more  English,  it  was  inclined 
to  be  more  friendly  with  the  English  kings. 

12.  Even  more  notable  was  the  advance  of  the  English  power  in 
Wales,  though  here  it  was  brought  about  after  a  different  fashion. 
The  Welsh  princes  remained  as  fiercely  Celtic  as  The  Norman 
before,  and  William  himself  did  not  manage  to  subdue  conquest  of 
the  stronger  of  them  in  any  real  fashion.  But  many  South  Wales. 
Norman  adventurers,  debarred  by  Rufus's  strong  hand  from  ruling 
England  as  they  wished,  swarmed  over  the  boundary-line,  and, 
fighting  for  their  own  hands,  carved  out  with  their  swords  new 
lordships  for  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  Welsh.  Soon  all 
eastern  and  southern  Wales  was  overrun  by  Norman  barons,  who 
set  up  castles  to  hold  the  lands  they  had  conquered.  Thus  arose 
what  was  afterwards  called  the  lordships  marcher,  or  border  lord- 
ships of  Wales.  These  were  small  feudal  states,  ruled  almost 
independently  by  great  Norman  families,  and  owing  little  but  bare 


100  WILLIAM  II,   RUFUS  [1095- 

allegiance  to  the  English  king,  who  permitted  their  establishment 
because  it  was  a  cheap  way  of  occupying  his  restless  barons  and 
keeping  the  Welsh  in  check.  Prominent  among  these  feudal  states 
were  the  palatine  earldom  of  Pembroke,  the  lordships  of  Glamorgan, 
Brecon,  and  Montgomery.  Only  amidst  the  hills  of  Snowdon  did 
the  Welsh  succeed  in  maintaining  their  independence. 

13.  The  separation  of  England  and  Normandy  hardly  lessened 
William's  importance  in  continental  affairs.     Robert's  weakness 

made  his  government  of  Normandy  a  sorry  failure. 
Rums  and       jje  wag  soon  jn  gu^  djre  distress  for  money  that  he 

sold  the  Cotentin  and  the  Avranchin,  the  western 
districts  round  the  towns  of  Coutances  and  Avranches,  to  Henry, 
the  youngest  and  wisest  of  the  Conqueror's  sons.  When  William 
in  his  turn  invaded  Normandy,  Robert  bought  off  his  hostility  by 
yielding  to  him  also  a  large  tract  of  territory  in  the  east.  Maine 
revolted  from  Robert,  and  once  more  was  ruled  by  her  own  line  of 
counts.  Sometimes  William  and  Robert  acted  together.  They 
grew  jealous  of  Henry's  power  in  the  Cotentin,  and  united  for  a 
moment  to  drive  him  out.  Before  long,  however,  the  prudent 
Henry  found  his  way  back  again. 

14.  In  1095  Urban  11.  urged  all  Europe  to  join  in  a  holy  war 
to  rescue  the  sepulchre  of  Christ  and  the  other  holy  places  in 
The  First  Palestine  from  the  yoke  of  the  Mohammedans. 
Crusade,         Palestine  had  been  ruled  by  the  Mohammedans  for 

many  centuries,  but  so  long  as  its  masters  were  the 
Arabs,  Christian  pilgrims  were  still  permitted  to  visit  the  spots 
consecrated  by  Christ's  presence.  Recently,  however,  the  Turks, 
a  fierce  race  of  barbarians  from  central  Asia,  had  made  them- 
selves the  greatest  power  in  the  Mohammedan  world,  and  had 
taken  possession  of  Syria.  Their  fanaticism  put  all  sorts  of  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  the  pilgrims,  and  their  complaints  at  last 
moved  the  pope  to  take  up  their  cause.  He  promised  the  favour 
of  the  Church  and  all  sorts  of  spiritual  privileges  to  all  who  would 
join  in  the  holy  war.  Those  who  agreed  to  go  wore  a  cross  sewn 
upon  their  garments,  and  the  holy  war  was  called  a  Crusade.  It 
was  just  the  sort  of  enterprise  to  appeal  to  a  time  when  the  warrior 
and  the  monk  represented  the  two  types  of  life  that  were  most 
generally  esteemed.  All  Europe  sent  its  chivalry  to  fight  against 
the  infidel  at  the  command  of  the  pope.  The  First  Crusade, 
as  it  was  called,  was  a  wonderful  success.  The  Turks  were 
expelled  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  Godfrey  of  Boulogne  was 
established  in  1099  as  Christian  king  in  Jerusalem. 


-I  IOO.] 


WILLIAM  II.,   RUFUS 


IOI 


15.  Robert  of  Normandy  was  anxious  to  go  on  crusade,  but  be 
bad  no  money  to  equip  himself  or  his  followers  f  qr  the  expedition. 
In  1095  William  advanced  him  a  sufficient  sum,  and   Wjjjjam 
Robert  handed  over  to  him  Normandy  as  a  pledge   gains  Nor- 
that  he  would  repay  it.     This  prudent  bargain  allowed   njandy  and 
Robert  to  win  glory  in  Palestine  while  William  ruled 
Normandy.     Among  Robert's  companions  in  the  holy  war  was 
Edgar  the   iEtheling.     Meanwhile  William's  stern  government 
soon  restored  order  in  Normandy.     He  won  back  Le  Mans,  and 
went  to  war  against  France.     His  success  enhanced  his  reputation, 
and,  to  the  alarm  of  the  French  king, 
Duke  William  of  Aquitaine,  anxious, 
like  Robert,  to  go  on  crusade,  offered 
to    pledge  his   great    duchy  to  him 
in   return    for  the  necessary  funds. 
Visions  of    a  power  in   France   ex- 
tending   from    the   Channel    to   the 
Pyrenees    floated    before    William's 
eyes ;  but  before  he  could  take  any 
steps  to  realize  his  dreams   he  was 
suddenly  cut  off.   On  August  2,  1100, 
he  went  to  hunt  in  the  New  Forest. 
There  an  arrow  drawn  by  an  unknown 
hand  pierced  him  to  the  heart.     The 
courtiers    scattered,    and    next    day 

some  foresters  bore  the  corpse  to  Winchester  on  a  cart,  and  it  was 
laid,  without  service  or  ceremony,  in  a  tomb  in  the  minster.  A 
stone,  called  Rufus's  stone,  marks  the  place  where  the  tyrant  was 
traditionally  said  to  have  met  his  death.  William,  says  the  English 
chronicler,  "  was  loathsome  to  all  his  people  and  abominable  to 
God,  as  bis  end  shewed,  for  he  departed  in  the  midst  of  his 
unrighteousness  without  repentance  or  atonement." 


W»lker4Cockfreli.c 


THE   NEW    FOREST 


CHAPTER   III 
HENRY   I.  (IIOO-H35) 

Chief  dates : 

1 100.    Accession  of  Henry  r. 
1 102.     Fall  of  Robert  of  Belleme. 

1 106.  Battle  of  Tinchebray. 

1107.  Reconciliation  of  Henry  and  Anselm. 
1120.     Loss  of  the  White  Ship. 

1135.    Death  of  Henry  1. 

1.  Henry,  the  dead  king's  younger  brother,  was  a  member  of  the 
hunting  party  in  which  Rufus  met  his  fate.  Without  a  moment's 
delay,  he  hurried  to  Winchester,  secured  the  royal 
and  early  treasure,  and  procured  his  election  as  king  by  the 
measures  of  handful  of  magnates  who  happened  to  be  there. 
?fooy  Thence  he  hastened  with  all  speed  to  London,  where, 

on  August  5,  the  fourth  day  after  the  New  Forest 
tragedy,  he  was  crowned  as  king. 

2.  Immediately  after  his  coronation,  Henry  issued  a  Charter  of 
Liberties,  wherein  he  sought  to  win  the  favour  of  every  class  by 
Henry's  promising  to  reign   after   a  better  fashion  than  his 

Charter  of  brother.  To  the  Church,  suffering  from  Rufus's 
Liberties.  constant  encroachments  on  her  liberties,  he  promised 
freedom  of  election  to  all  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  and  declared 
that  henceforth  he  would  not  sell  or  favour  the  revenues  of  vacant 
sees.  To  the  barons  he  announced  that  he  would  not  insist  on 
the  unreasonable  reliefs,  excessive  marriage  fines,  oppressive  ward- 
ships, and  other  exactions  of  his  brother's  days.  To  the  nation  at 
large  he  offered  the  abrogation  of  "all  the  evil  customs  whereby 
the  realm  has  unjustly  been  oppressed,"  and  the  renewed  enjoy- 
ment of  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  He  stipulated  that  he 
would  take  care  that  his  barons  gave  the  same  concessions  to 
their  tenants  as  he  himself  had  given  to  his  tenants  in  chief.  Only 
in  respect  to  the  forests  would  Henry  yield  nothing.  Besides 
issuing  this  charter,  Henry  imprisoned  Ranulf  Flambard  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  wrote  at  once  to  Anselm  to  urge  him  to  return 


uo2.]  HENRY  I.  I03 

to  England,  and  married  Edith,  daughter  of  Malcolm  Canmore  and 
St.  Margaret,  and  sister  to  Edgar,  the  reigning  king  of  Scots. 
In  all  these  acts  Henry  posed  as  the  friend  of  the  English  and  the 
foe  of  the  feudal  baronage.  His  marriage  with  a  descendant  of' 
the  West  Saxon  kings  was  particularly  popular,  though  to  please 
the  Normans  he  changed  the  lady's  name  to  Matilda,  or  Maud,  the 
name  of  his  mother.  She  soon  became  loved  as  the  good  Queen 
Maud.  But  the  Normans  sneered  at  Henry's  affectation  of  Eng- 
lish ways,  and  derided  him  and  his  wife  by  nicknaming  them 
Grodric  and  G-odiva. 

3.  Within  a  few  weeks  of  his  brother's  accession,  Robert  of 
Normandy  came  back  from  the  Holy  Land,  having  won  great  glory 
by  his    exploits    as  a  crusader.      He    resumed    the   _  ..         f 
government  of  Normandy,  which  again  fell  into  the   Robert's 
disorder  which  it  needed  a  strong  hand  like  that  of   VJJ.°li* 
Henry  to  check.     Ranulf  Flambard  escaped  from  the 

Tower,  and  told  Robert  that  the  Norman  barons  were  eager  to  put 
him  on  the  English  throne  in  place  of  Henry.  Accordingly,  in 
1101,  Robert  collected  an  army  and  landed  at  Portsmouth  in  quest 
of  his  brother's  crown.  But  the  English  rallied  around  their  king, 
and  Ansehn,  now  back  in  England,  marshalled  all  the  forces  of 
the  Church  on  the  same  side.  Robert  saw  that  the  good  will  of  the 
barons  availed  him  nothing  against  such  odds.  He  was  the  last 
man  in  the  world  to  persevere  in  a  hopeless  enterprise.  He  gladly 
accepted  Henry's  proposal  to  hold  a  personal  interview.  When 
they  met  the  brothers  made  friends.  Robert  agreed  to  yield  up  his 
claim  on  England  on  consideration  of  Henry  giving  him  a  pension, 
and  surrendering  to.  him  his  lands  in  the  Cotentin. 

4.  Abandoned  by  Robert,  the  Norman  barons  in  England  were 

now  exposed  to  the  wrath  of  King  Henry.     The  fiercest,  strongest, 

cruellest  of  them  was  Robert  of  Belleme,  who  added   _     -..    - 

to  vast   dominions  in  Normandy  the    lordships   of   Robert  of 

Arundel  and  Chichester  in  Sussex,  and  the  palatine    Belleme, 

1 102 
earldom  of   Shrewsbury  on  the  Welsh  border.    A 

mighty  warrior,  Robert  had  been  one  of  the  foremost  of  the 
Norman  conquerors  of  Wales,  and  nearly  all  Mid  Wales  and  much 
of  South  Wales  was  ruled  by  him  and  his  brothers.  In  1102 
Henry  picked  a  quarrel  with  him,  and  Robert  had  to  defend  him- 
self. But  his  tyranny  had  made  him  odious  to  all ;  the  Welsh  and 
English  refused  to  fight  for  him,  and  the  weak  Duke  Robert  was 
easily  persuaded  by  Henry  to- attack  his  possessions  beyond  sea. 
The  king  made  himself  master  of  Arundel  and  other  castles  of  his 


104  HENRY  I.  [1102- 

enemy.  Robert  of  Belleme  strove  to  defend  himself  in  his  Shrop- 
shire estates.  Bnt  Henry  besieged  the  mighty  new  castle  which 
Robert  had  erected  at  Bridgnorth,  on  the  Severn,  and  the  townsmen 
compelled  the  garrison  to  surrender.  Driven  to  a  last  refuge  at 
Shrewsbury,  the  lord  of  Belleme  was  forced  to  make  his  submission. 
He  was  allowed  to  leave  England  for  Normandy,  but  all  his 
English  lands  were  forfeited  to  the  crown.  Henry  put  an  end 
to  the  palatine  earldom  of  Shrewsbury,  as  the  Conqueror  had  put 
an  end  to  the  palatine  earldom  of  Hereford.  The  English  were 
overjoyed  at  the  fall  of  the  tyrant.  "  Rejoice,  King  Henry,"  ran 
a  popular  song  that  they  sung,  "  and  give  thanks  to  the  Lord  God, 
for  thou  hast  begun  to  reign  freely  now  that  thou  hast  conquered 
Robert  of  Belleme,  and  hast  driven  him  from  the  boundaries 
of  thy  kingdom."  Henceforth  the  feudal  nobles  were  cowed,  and 
Henry,  having  had  good  reason  to  distrust  them,  now  gave  his 
confidence  to  knights  and  clerks  of  lower  birth,  but  of  greater 
fidelity.     Some  of  his  ministers  were  even  men  of  English  origin. 

5.  Henry  was  soon  able  to  turn  the  tables  on  his  brother. 
Robert  found  Normandy  was  gradually  slipping  away  from  him. 
Battle  of  Robert  of  Belleme,  now  limited  to  his  Norman  estates, 
Tinchebray,    deprived  him  of  many  great  tracts  of  territory.     In 

two  successive  expeditions  Henry  conquered  much  of 
Normandy  for  himself.  At  last,  in  1106,  Henry  made  a  final  in- 
vasion of  such  of  his  brother's  inheritance  as  still  remained  faithful 
to  him.  The  decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Tinchebray,  where  Robert 
lost  both  his  dominions  and  his  liberty.  For  the  rest  of  his  life  he 
was  kept  in  kindly  custody  in  his  brother's  English  castles,  and 
died  at  Cardiff  nearly  thirty  years  later.  His  comrade  on  the 
crusade,  Edgar  the  iEtheling,  and  Robert  of  Belleme,  were  also 
taken  prisoners  at  Tinchebray.  Henry  released  them  both  from 
custody ;  but  while  Edgar  lived  for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  obscurity 
in  England,  Belleme  plunged  into  fresh  revolts  that  involved  him 
in  lifelong  captivity.  Henceforth  Henry  ruled  Normandy  as  well 
as  England,  and  the  duchy,  like  the  kingdom,  was  reduced  to 
good  order. 

6.  Anselm  had  loyally  helped  Henry  against  the  barons,  yet 
from  the  moment  of  his  return  a  grave  question  of  principle  in- 
The  Invest!-  v°lve^  a  lono  dispute  between  the  king  and  the  arch- 
ture  Contest  bishop.     During    his  exile,   Anselm    had    taken    an 

lio3-f  iot!'     active  part  "*  the  famous  Investiture  Contest  which 

was  still  raging  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor. 

He  had  attended  a  council  in  which  prelates  had  been  forbidden. 


-no;.]  HENRY  I.  105 

to  receive  investiture  from  laymen,  or  even  to  perform  homage  to 
them.  Hitherto  English  bishops,  including  Anselm  himself,  had 
received  investiture  from  the  king  and  done  homage  to  him  without 
a  scruple.  Now  Anselm  refused  to  renew  his  homage  to  the  new 
king,  and  declared  that  he  could  not  countenance  any  bishops 
following  the  ancient  custom.  The  dispute  was  carried  on  in  a 
good-tempered  way,  and,  though  Henry  and  Anselm  were  quite 
firm  on  the  matter  of  principle,  neither  party  lost  his  respect  for 
the  other.  At  last,  in  1103,  Anselm  withdrew  from  England  to 
lay  his  difficulties  before  Pope  Paschal  11.,  at  Rome.  The  arch- 
bishop remained  in  exile  until  1107.  Then  a  satisfactory  com- 
promise was  arranged,  by  which  he  was  allowed  to  return.  Henry 
yielded  one  of  the  points  at  issue,  but  Anselm  surrendered  on  the 
other.  The  king  utterly  renounced  lay  investitures,  while  the 
archbishop  withdrew  his  objection  to  clerks  performing  homage  to 
the  king.  Henry's  change  of  front  was  intelligible,  since  lay 
investitures  were  hard  to  defend  upon  the  principles  which  all  men 
then  accepted,  for  the  ring  and  the  staff  were  admittedly  symbols 
of  spiritual  dignity,  and  no  lay  prince  had  any  authority  to  confer 
spiritual  jurisdiction.  But  Henry  regarded  investiture  as  the 
means  by  which  he  asserted  his  authority  as  king  over  the  prelates 
of  his  realm.  Anselm,  by  giving  up  his  point  about  homage, 
enabled  the  king  to  maintain  his  hold  over  the  higher  clergy  in  a 
way  less  offensive  to  their  scruples.  Henceforth,  in  return  for  the 
abandonment  of  investitures,  it  was  arranged  that  no  bishop  was  to 
be  consecrated  or  abbot  enthroned  until  he  had  rendered  homage  to 
the  king  for  his  temporal  possessions.  Seemingly,  the  compromise 
was  in  favour  of  the  Church,  for  Henry  had  given  up  lay  investi- 
tures. But  Henry  might  well  maintain  that  he  had  surrendered 
the  shadow  and  retained  the  substance.  How  far  the  compromise 
would  work  depended  upon  the  good  sense  and  forbearance  of  future 
kings  and  prelates.  But  it  gave  peace  for  the  time,  and  was  so  far 
looked  upon  as  satisfactory  that,  more  than  fifteen  years  later,  the 
original  conflict  between  pope  and  emperor  was  ended  upon  the 
lines  of  the  agreement  of  Henry  and  Anselm  by  the  Concordat  of 
Worms.  But  the  dispute,  which  in  England  was  amicably  settled 
after  five  years  of  negotiations,  had  plunged  all  Germany  and  Italy 
into  confusion  for  nearly  fifty  years. 

7.  Master  of  Church  and  State  alike,  absolute  lord  of  England 
and  Normandy,  Henry's  power  exceeded  that  of  his  brother 
and  father.  Scotland,  ruled  by  the  queen's  brothers  and  nephew, 
was  friendly  and   submissive,  and  so  close  were  the  relations  of 


106  HENRY  I  [1107- 

the  two  courts  that  pushing  Norman  adventurers  began  to  in- 
sinuate themselves  into  the  good  -will  of  the  Scottish  kings,  and  to 
receive  so  many  lands  and  favours  from  them  that 
of  Vonoan  the  Scottish  nobility  became  ultimately  almost  as 
influence        Norman  as  the  baronage  of   England.      After  1124 

Pnd  SCOt        *he  king"  of  Scots  was  I)avid'  Matilda's  brother,  who 

had  passed  his  youth  at  his  sister's  court,  and  as  the 
husband  of  Waltheof 's  heiress,  received  Waltheof 's  old  earldom  of 
Huntingdon.  David  was  even  more  thoroughly  normanized  than 
his  father,  Malcolm,  had  been  anglicized.  He  had  no  scruple  in 
frequently  attending  King  Henry's  court,  or  in  performing  homage 
to  him.  Norman  ideals  of  warfare,  law,  government,  and  social  life 
spread  from  his  example  over  all  northern  Britain.  In  this  in- 
direct way  a  sort  of  Norman  conquest  of  Scotland  was  gradually 
brought  about ;  but  it  was  due,  not  to  violence,  but  to  the  peaceful 
permeation  of  Norman  influence. 

8.  During  the  same  years  the  more  forcible  Norman  conquest 
of  Wales  which  began  under  Rufus  was  completed,  save  that  the 

Welsh  princes  of  G-wynedd,  or  North  Wales — they  no 
of  the  longer  were  called  kings — held  their  own  amidst  the 

Norman  hills  of  Snowdon,  where  Henry  was  powerless  to  dis- 

SouthWates  ^dg"6  "them.     In  the  conquests  of  the  marchers,  Henry 

had  little  interest,  for  after  the  fall  of  Robert  of 
Belleme  none  of  them  were  strong  enough  to  threaten  his  power. 
Tet  it  was  with  his  good  will  that  Flemings  were  settled  in  the 
earldom  of  Pembroke,  where  their  successors  became  so  numerous 
that  they  drove  out  the  Welsh  speech  from  southern  Pembroke- 
shire, and,  adopting  the  English  tongue,  made  that  district  the 
'•Little  England  beyond  Wales,"  which  it  still  remains.  More- 
over, a  prudent  marriage  secured  to  Henry's  own  family  some  of  the 
chief  spoils  of  conquest.  The  king  married  his  favourite  illegitimate 
son,  whose  name  was  Robert,  to  the  daughter  of  Robert  Fitzhamon, 
Robert  of  ^ord  °^  Gloucester  and  conqueror  of  Glamorgan. 
Gloucester  Robert  inherited  his  father-in-law's  possessions  which 
*nd  were  erected  by  Henry  into  the  earldom  of  Gloucester. 

This  earldom  of  Gloucester,  always  including  the  great 
marcher  lordship  of  Glamorgan,  was  henceforth  one  of  the  greatest 
of  English  dignities.  Robert  himself  was  a  famous  warrior  and 
man  of  ability.  He  loved  literature,  and  particularly  history,  and 
showed  such  sympathy  for  the  legends  of  his  Welsh  subjects,  that 
it  was  at  his  direction  that  a  Welsh  clerk,  named  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth,  wrote  his  History  of  Britain.     This  book  made  famous 


-1 124-1  HENRY  1.  I07 

all  over  Europe  the  picturesque  romance  which  Geoffrey  palmed 
off  as  true  history. 

9.  After  the  conquest  of  Normandy,  Henry  had  constant 
trouble  with  France,  now  ruled  by  Louis  vi.,  a  much  more  capable 
and  powerful  king  than  his   predecessor,   Philip  1. 

Duke  Robert's  son  William  sought  to  drive  his  uncle  LouisVl  *" 
out  of  Normandy,  and  was  supported  by  Louis,  who 
was  jealous  of  Henry's  power.     There  was  a  good  deal  of  fighting, 
in  which  Henry  was  generally  successful.     At  last  the  chief  source 
of  danger  was  removed  by  the  death  of  William. 

10.  In  England  Henry  ruled  as  an  absolute  king,  after  the 
fashion  of  his  father.  He  chose  as  his  justiciar,  or  prime  minister, 
a  Norman  priest  named  Roger,  who  became  bishop 

of  Salisbury.  Roger  was  as  devoted  to  the  king's  in-  Salisbury 
terests  as  Plambard  had  been,  but  he  was  no  mere  and  the 
extortioner,  but  an  orderly-minded,  careful,  and  tivTsy'stem 
prudent  statesman  with  a  genius  for  administration 
and  organization.  He  set  up  a  body  of  well-trained  clerks  and 
lawyers,  whose  help  and  advice  enabled  the  king  to  govern 
his  dominions  better  than  they  had  ever  been  ruled  before.  Two 
great  courts  arose,  each  with  its  staff  of  trained  officials,  which 
divided  between  them  the  chief  business  of  the  crown.  One  of  these, 
the  Curia  Regis,  or  King's  Court,  was  mainly  a  judicial  body.  It 
sat  in  judgment  on  cases  where  the  tenants  in  chief  were  concerned, 
and  on  other  cases  which  were  transferred  to  it  from  the  courts  of 
the  barons,  or  from  the  shire  moots.  It  sent  its  judges,  called 
justices,  all  over  the  country,  to  hold  periodical  circuits  and  try 
locally  cases  that  it  was  not  convenient  to  bring  before  the  king's 
presence.  It  soon  became  a  privilege  to  have  a  cause  tried  by  the 
king's  judges  rather  than  in  the  local  courts,  and  henceforth  the 
Curia  Regis  proved  a  formidable  rival  to  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon 
moots  as  well  as  the  private  courts  of  the  nobles.  Side  by  side 
with  this  body  was  the  Exchequer,  served  by  officials  called  barons 
of  the  Exchequer.  This  assembly  collected  and  controlled  the  vast 
revenue  which  Henry  exacted,  and  in  return  for  which  the  people 
got  peace  and  sound  rule.  Despite  the  heavy  price  they  paid  for  it, 
the  people  gained  by  the  process.  The  land  became  prosperous, 
and  such  good  justice  was  done  between  man  and  man  that  the 
English  called  Henry  the  "  Lion  of  Righteousness." 

11.  Misfortunes  clouded  Henry's  later  days.  His  queen, 
Matilda,  died,  leaving  him  a  son  named  William  and  a  daughter 
named  Matilda.     The  latter  was  married  when  a  young  girl  to 


108  HENRY  I.  [1120- 

the  Emperor  Henry  v.,  the  same  prince  who  concluded  with  the 
pope  the  Concordat  of  Worms.  William  was  drowned  in  1120, 
The  loss  of  ^nen  returning  from  Normandy  to  England.  The 
the  White  king's  son  sailed  in  a  vessel  called  the  White  Ship.  He 
Ship,  1 1 20.  g.ave  the  sailors  so  much  wine  that  they  became  care- 
less, and  kept  a  bad  watch.  Then  the  ship  struck  on  a  reef  of  rocks, 
and  soon  began  to  sink.  A  boat  was  got  out,  and  William  and  others 
embarked  in  it  and  rowed  away  from  the  wreck.  But  then  he 
found  that  one  of  his  sisters  had  been  left  behind,  and  returned  to 
save  her.  When  the  boat  came  alongside,  a  rush  of  the  panic- 
stricken  crew  swamped  it  and  drowned  the  heir  to  the  throne. 
The  blow  was  a  cruel  one  to  Henry,  and  it  is  said  that  he  never 
smiled  again. 

12.  Henry  married  a  second  wife  named  Adelaide  of  Louvain, 
but  she  brought  him  no  children.     In  1125  the  Emperor  Henry  v. 

died,  and  his  childless  widow,  Matilda,  came  back  to 
dA,8"  i  y  England.  Henry  had  resolved  to  make  his  daughter 
his  heir.  It  was  an  unheard-of  thing  in  those  days 
for  a  woman  to  rule  a  race  of  warriors  like  the  Normans,  and 
Henry's  barons  were  disgusted  at  the  proposal.  But  they  dared 
not  withstand  the  king's  will,  and  bit  by  bit  they  were  cajoled  or 
dragooned  into  taking  oaths  to  recogiiize  Matilda  as  Henry's 
successor.  She  found  another  husband  in  Geoffrey,  count  of 
Anjou,  called  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  because  he  wore  a  sprig  of 
bloom,  or  planta  genista,  in  his  helmet  as  his  cognizance.  The 
county  of  Anjou  was  but  a  small  district  situated  on  the  lower 
Loire,  with  Angers  and  Tours  as  its  chief  towns,  and  divided  from 
Normandy  by  the  county  of  Maine.  Yet  the  race  of  counts  that 
ruled  this  little  territory  was  so  fierce,  enterprising,  and  able  that 
Anjou  was  a  much  more  important  state  than  most  lands  of  its 
size.  Anjou  and  Normandy  had  long  been  rivals,  and  the  Nor- 
mans hated  its  people,  who  were  called  the  Angevins,  while  the 
Angevins  grudged  the  Normans  the  possession  of  Maine,  which 
they  thought  ought  to  be  theirs.  Henry  married  Matilda  to 
Geoffrey,  hoping  that  the  match  would  end  the  long  feud  between 
the  two  lands,  and  would  ultimately  unite  the  two  countries. 
He  was  delighted  when  the  young  couple  had  children,  and  fore- 
saw the  time  when  his  grandson  Henry  would  be  lord  of  England, 
Normandy,  and  Anjou. 

13.  Henry  died  in  1135,  his  end  being  hastened*  by  an  over- 
hearty  meal  of  lampreys,  which  he  ate  contrary  to  the  orders  of 
his  physician.     He  was  buried  in  Reading  Abbey,  a  monastery  of 


-II25-] 


HENRY  I. 


109 


his  own  foundation.     He  was  a  good  king,  though  personally  he 
was  as  hard  and  selfish  as  ever  Rufus  had  been.     But  he  was  wise 


Lothian 


ENGLAND  &  WALES 
during  the  Norman  Period 


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Independent  Wales 

about  1135 


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enough  to  see  that  his  interests  required  that  his  dominions  should 
enjoy  peace  and  prosperity,  if  only  because  he  could  raise  heavier 


IIO  HENRY  I.  [1 135. 

taxes  from  prosperous  than  from  impoverished  subjects.  Unlike 
Rufus,  he  kept  his  fierce  passions  in  such  check  that  he  never  did 
Death  and  cruel  deeds  save  with  a  politic  object.  His  subjects 
character  of  respected  him  even  thongh  they  feared  him.  The 
Henry  I.  English  chronicler  thus  writes  about  him  :  "  He  was 

a  good  man,  and  there  was  great  awe  of  him.  No  man  durst  misdo 
another  in  his  time.  He  made  good  peace  for  man  and  beast. 
Whosoever  bore  his  burden  of  gold  or  silver,  no  man  durst  say- 
ought  to  him  but  good."  Under  him  the  full  effect  of  the  Con- 
queror's policy  was  worked  out,  and  England  became  a  peaceable, 
orderly  state,  ruled  by  a  strong  but  wise  despot. 


CHAPTER   IV 

STEPHEN  OF  BLOIS 

Chief  dates: 

"35- 

Accession  of  Stephen. 

1138. 

Battle  of  the  Standard. 

1 141. 

Battle  of  Lincoln. 

"S3- 

Treaty  of  Wallingford. 

"54. 

Death  of  Stephen. 

1.  Among  the  kinsfolk  to  whom  Henry  1.  had  given  lands  and 
power  was  lis  nephew,  Stephen  of  Blois,  a  younger  son  of  the 
powerful  count  of  Blois,  who  ruled  over  the  Loire  Accession  of 
country  between  Anjou  and  the  domains  directly  Stephen  of 
governed  by  the  French  king.  Stephen's  mother  was  Blois>  1135. 
Adela,  a  daughter  of  William  the  Conqueror.  Henry  1.  had  shown 
marked  favour  to  his  sister's  sons.  He  had  procured  Stephen's 
marriage  to  Matilda,  heiress  of  the  rich  county  of  Boulogne,  and 
had  obtained  the  important  bishopric  of  Winchester  for  his  younger 
brother  Henry.  During  his  lifetime  Stephen  had  been  unswervingly 
faithful  to  his  uncle,  and  had  joined  with  the  other  barons  in  taking 
oaths  to  acknowledge  his  cousin,  the  Empress  Matilda,  as  Henry's 
successor.  But  he  knew  how  unpopular  among  the  barons  was  the 
prospect  of  being  ruled  by  a  woman  and  an  Angevin,  and  on 
Henry  r.'s  death  made  a  bold  and  successful  attempt  upon  his  crown. 
He  hurried  to  England,  and  was  welcomed  by  most  of  the  barons. 
The  wealthy  citizens  of  London  showed  him  marked  good  will,  and 
bis  brother,  Bishop  Henry  of  Winchester,  used  his  powerful  interest 
in  his  favour.  Even  the  justiciar,  Roger  of  Salisbury,  forgot  his 
pledges  to  his  old  master  and  declared  for  Stephen,  and  his  action 
brought  all  the  justices  and  officials  of  the  old  king  to  take  the  same 
side.  Accordingly  Stephen  was  chosen  king,  and  crowned  by  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  William  of  Corbeil.  Like  Henry  1.,  he 
issued  a  charter,  and  tried  to  win  to  his  side  all  sorts  of  supporters. 
His  first  charter  was  a  hasty  affair,  and  couched  in  vague  lan- 
guage.   He  soon  supplemented  it  by  a  fuller  one,  in  which  he  set 


112  STEPHEN  OF  B LOIS  [1135- 

f  orth  in  detail  the  many  liberties  which  he  was  willing  to  give  to 
the  Church.  He  promised  to  root  out  all  injustice  and  extortion, 
Stephen's  an<^  pledged  himself  to  uphold  the  good  old  laws  and 
Charters  of  customs  of  the  realm.  Though  keeping  for  his  use 
Liberties.  ^e  forests  as  they  were  under  the  two  Williams,  he 
offered  to  relinquish  the  new  ones  created  by  Henry  1. 

2.  At  first  Stephen  seemed  to  have  won  complete  recognition 
as  king.  The  barons  of  Normandy,  hating  the  rule  of  the  Angevin 
and  his  wife,  recognized  him  as  their  duke.  It  was  to  no  purpose 
that  some  of  the  English  baronage,  seeing  that  he  was  carrying 
on  the  same  policy  as  that  of  Henry  1.,  rose  in  revolt  against  him. 
He  was  equally  successful  in  dealing  with  David,  King  of  Scots, 
who  in  1138  invaded  the  northern  counties  as  the  champion  of 
Matilda.  Thurstan,  the  old  archbishop  of  York,  stung  to  indignation 
at  the  merciless  raiding  of  the  Scots,  summoned  the  levies  of  the 
north  to  repel  them.  The  English  met  the  Scots  at  Northallerton. 
Battle  of  the  ^-n  ^ne  middle  of  their  ranks  was  a  cart,  on  which  were 
Standard,  placed  the  standard  of  the  king  and  the  banners  of 
1 138#  the  three  most  famous  Yorkshire  saints.  The  English 
fought  on  foot  after  the  old  fashion,  but  they  broke  the  charge 
of  King  David's  knights,  and  drove  the  Scots  in  disorder  from  the 
field.     The  fight  was  called  the  Battle  of  the  Standard. 

3.  Stephen  was  a  man  of  very  different  mould  from  Henry  T. 
Like  Robert  of  Normandy,  he  was  a  gallant  soldier  and  a  kind, 
Stephen's  open-hearted,  chivalrous  gentleman.  Yet  a  worse  man 
quarrel  with  of  greater  firmness  and  policy  would  have  proved  a 
Roger  of         better  king.      If   Stephen's   earlier  years  remained 

peaceful,  the  merit  was  due  not  to  the  sovereign,  but  to 
Roger  of  Salisbury  and  the  tried  ministers  of  Henry  1.  Unluckily, 
Stephen  grew  to  mistrust  the  justiciar,  and  became  jealous  of  the 
great  power  which  he  and  his  kinsfolk  were  wielding.  Besides 
Roger's  own  high  offices  in  Church  and  State,  his  son  was  chan- 
cellor and  two  of  his  nephews  were  bishops  of  Ely  and  Lincoln. 
Fearing  lest  so  mighty  a  family  should  encroach  still  further  on  the 
royal  dignity,  Stephen  in  1138  called  upon  Roger  and  his  nephews 
to  surrender  their  castles.  The  result  was  a  complete  breach 
between  the  king  and  the  powerful  official  class.  Roger  was 
driven  from  office,  and  no  competent  successor  to  him  was  found. 
Gradually  the  administrative  system  set  up  so  laboriously  under 
Henry  began  to  grow  weaker,  and  henceforth  nothing  prospered 
with  Stephen. 

4.  Robert,  earl  of  Gloucester,  was  a  partisan  of  Matilda,  but  he 


-u  33.]  STEPHEN  OF  £  LOIS  113 

had  been  compelled  to   acknowledge   Stephen  after  his  father's 
death.     Within  a  few  weeks  of  Roger's  disgrace  he    Beginnings 
landed  in  England,  accompanied  by  the  empress,  who   of  civil 
now  demanded  Stephen's  throne.     Civil  war  at  once   war' 
broke   out,  and  went  on  with  hardly  a  break  for  the  rest  of 
Stephen's  reign. 

5.  Stephen  strove  to  withstand  Matilda  with  the  help  of  Flemish 
mercenaries,  hired  with  Henry  i.'s  gold.  He  never  threw  himself 
vipon  the  poople  as  Henry  1.  had  done,  and  never  xne  PjValry 
obtained  much  support  from  them.  Matilda  was  of  Stephen 
almost  as  badly  off.  Her  only  competent  adviser  was  and  Matilda- 
Robert  of  Gloucester,  for  the  barons  who  professed  to  uphold  her 
cause  fought  in  reality  for  their  own  hands.  Whichever  side  they 
championed,  the  barons  had  no  wish  for  either  Stephen  or  Matilda 
to  win  outright,  but  preferred  that  the  civil  war  should  go  on  as 
long  as  possible,  so  that  they  should  make  their  profit  from  the  weak- 
ness of  both  rivals.  The  result  was  that  neither  party  was  strong 
enough  to  defeat  the  other,  and  neither  was  able  to  control  its 
followers  or  govern  the  territory  which  it  held.  The  barons  took 
advantage  of  the  dispute  to  win  for  themselves  the  independent 
position  which  the  first  three  Norman  kings  had  denied  them. 
England  was  plunged  into  indescribable  anarchy  and  confusion, 
and  the  wretched  peasantry  suffered  unspeakable  misery. 

6.  The  English  chronicler,  who  finally  laid  down  his  pen  at  the 
end  of  this  reign,  gives  us  a  moving  picture  of  the  desolation  of 
the   country.     "  Every  nobleman  built  a  castle  and  >. 
held  it  against  the  king  ;  and  they  filled  the  land  with   Jfe|ng£°nd 
castles.     When  the  castles  were  made,  they  filled  them 

with  devils  and  evil  men.  Then  they  took  all  who  had  any 
property  and  put  them  in  prison  and  tortured  them  to  get  their 
gold  and  silver.  They  taxed  the  villages,  and  when  the  wretched 
countrymen  had  no  more  to  give  them  they  burnt  their  villages. 
Then  was  corn  dear,  and  meat  and  cheese,  for  there  was  none 
in  the  land.  Men  starved  for  hunger,  and  some  that  were  once 
rich  men  went  about  begging  their  bread.  They  robbed  churches 
and  churchmen,  and  though  the  bishops  and  clergy  were  ever 
cursing  them,  they  cared  nothing  for  their  curses.  The  land  was 
all  undone  with  their  deeds,  and  men  said  that  Christ  and  his 
saints  slept."  Another  writer  says  that  "  there  were  as  many 
kings,  or  rather  tyrants,  as  there  were  lords  of  estates." 

7.  A  few  greedy  nobles  profited  by  the  necessities  of  the  rival 
claimants  to   make  their   own   profit  out  of  both.     Conspicuous 

1 


114  STEPHEN  OF  BLOIS  [1141- 

among  these  was  Geoffrey  of  Mandeville,  a  cunning,  strong,  and 
crnel  self-seeker,  who,  by  joining  first  one  side  and  then  the  other, 

obtained  from  both  grants  of  enormous  estates  and 
Geoffrey  of     ^fe  recognition  as  earl  of  Essex.   At  last  he  overreached 

himself,  and  provoked  Stephen  to  make  a  mighty 
effort  to  crush  him.  Geoffrey  fled  to  the  fens,  the  region  once 
famed  for  the  daring  deeds  of  Hereward.  He  held  his  own  there 
until  he  was  slain  in  a  chance  skirmish.  His  power  perished  with 
him,  but  there  were  plenty  of  others  to  take  his  place,  though 
none  could  play  his  daring  game  so  cleverly  or  so  successfully. 

8.  The  course  of  the  war  between  Stephen  and  Matilda  had 
little  effect  on  the  country  at  large.  Stephen's  strongest  partisans 
were  the  Londoners  and  the  rich  and  populous  shires  of  the  south- 
east and  south.  Matilda's  chief  strongholds  were  Bristol  and 
Gloucester,  the  main  centres  of  the  power  of  her  brother,  Earl 
Robert.  The  greater  barons  were  largely  on  her  side,  among  them 
The  Battle  being  Robert's  son-in-law,  Randolph,  earl  of  Chester, 
of  Lincoln,  In  1141  Robert  and  Randolph  strove  to  relieve 
114  *  Lincoln,  which  Stephen  was  besieging.     In  a  battle 

fought  outside  the  town  Stephen's  army  was  overwhelmed  and  he 
himself  taken  prisoner.  Many  of  the  king's  partisans  fell  away 
from  him  now  that  he  was  helpless.  His  own  brother,  Henry 
of  Winchester,  deserted  him  and  declared  to  a  council  of  barons, 
gathered  in  his  cathedral  city,  that  by  the  defeat  of  Lincoln 
God's  judgment  had  been  clearly  shown  to  be  against  Stephen's 
claim  to  the  throne.     The  barons  then  chose  Matilda  as  their 

queen,  and  she  went  to  London  to  be  crowned.  But 
faHureaS        ^er   co^  an(*    haughty  manner  disgusted    her  best 

friends,  and  the  Londoners,  who  always  wished  well 
to  Stephen,  rose  in  revolt  and  drove  her  from  their  city.  A  strong 
reaction  in  favour  of  Stephen  broke  out.  Henry  of  Winchester 
again  changed  sides,  and  in  a  battle  fought  at  Winchester,  Robert 
of  Gloucester  was  taken  prisoner  in  his  turn.  Matilda  now  had  to 
lead  her  own  side  as  best  she  could,  while  Stephen's  cause  was  ably 
upheld  by  his  heroic  wife  Matilda  of  Boulogne.  Before  long,  how- 
ever, the  two  Matildas  agreed  to  exchange  Stephen  and  Robert 
for  each  other,  and  so  the  war  went  on  as  before.  But  the 
empress  had  lost  her  best  chance,  and  in  1148  the  death  of  her 
wise  and  strenuous  brother  ruined  her  last  hopes.  In  despair 
she  quitted  England  for  Normandy,  and  Stephen  henceforth  reigned 
nominally  as  sole  king.  But  the  land  remained  in  horrible  con- 
fusion, and  the  broken-spirited  monarch  was  far  too  weak  to  restore 


-U54-]  STEPHEN  OF  B LOIS  115 

order.  Only  in  the  northern  counties,  where  David,  king  of  Scots, 
was  in  possession,  was  there  any  approach  to  good  government. 
The  Welsh  profited  by  England's  anarchy  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
the  marcher  lords. 

9.  In  1153  Matilda's  eldest  son,  Henry,  landed  in  England  to 
claim  his  mother's  heritage.  Though  only  twenty  years  old,  he 
had  made  himself  duke  of  Normandy.  On  his  father's  The  Treaty 
death  he  had  succeeded  to  Anjou,  and  a  prudent  ofWalling- 
marriage  with  Eleanor,  heiress  of  Poitou  and  Aqui-  <>rd' 1153- 
taine,  the  divorced  wife  of  Louis  vn.  of  Prance,  had  secured  him 
the  overlordship  of  all  France  from  the  Loire  to  the  Pyrenees. 
Carefully  trained  in  war  and  statecraft  by  his  uncles  Robert  and 
David,  he  proved  himself  a  much  more  formidable  enemy  to 
Stephen  than  ever  his  mother  had  been.  The  king  had  no  heart 
to  struggle  against  his  young  rival,  and  the  deaths  of  his  high- 
souled  queen  and  of  his  eldest  son  Eustace  made  him  anxious  to 
end  his  days  in  peace.  Accordingly,  he  yielded  to  the  advice  of 
his  wisest  counsellors,  and  made  terms  with  Henry  by  the  treaty 
of  Wallingf  ord.  By  this  it  was  arranged  that  Stephen  was  to  go 
on  reigning  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  but  that  Henry  was  to  succeed 
him  to  all  his  dominions.  Henry  remained  in  England  for  a  time, 
and  did  his  best  to  help  his  rival  to  pacify  the  kingdom. 

•  10.  Soon  after  Henry's  return  to  Normandy,  Stephen  died. 
His  reign  is  only  important  because  it  showed  what  the  rule  of  the 
barons  really  meant.     The  cruelties  of  the  Conqueror   Death  of 
and  his  sons  pale  into  nothingness  as  compared  with    Stephen, 
the  horrors  wrought  in  the  name  of  this  well-meaning    i154' 
king.     Stephen's  failure  showed  how  vital  to  England's  prosperity 
was  that  strong  and  ruthless  despotism  which  the  Norman  kings 
had  set  up.     The  power  of  the  crown  was  proved  to  be  necessary, 
since  it  was  the  only  way  of  saving  England  from  anarchy. 


CHAPTER  V 
HENRY  II.   OF  ANJOU   (1154-1189) 


:Ief  dates 

"54- 

Accession  of  Henry  II. 

"59- 

War  of  Toulouse. 

1 164. 

Constitutions  of  Clarendon. 

1 166. 

Assize  of  Clarendon. 

1 170. 

Murder  of  St.  Thomas. 

1171. 

Norman  conquest  of  Ireland. 

"74- 

Feudal  revolt  suppressed. 

1181. 

Assize  of  Arms. 

1 184. 

Assize  of  the  Forest. 

1189. 

Death  of  Henry  n. 

1.  Ox  Stephen's  death  Henry  of  Anjou  became  Henry  11.  according 
to  the  treaty  of  Wallingf  ord.  Under  him  the  honses  of  Normandy 
and  Anjou.  hitherto  rivals  and  enemies,  became  united. 
andficharac-  Moreover,  through  his  grandmother,  Matilda,  queen 
ter  of  of  Henry  I.,  Henry  was  descended  from  the  old  English 

1 154^  ^ne  °^  kmgs-     He  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  all  our 

monarchs,  and  no  ruler  has  left  a  deeper  impress  on 
our  history.  He  was  a  strong,  restless  man,  who  worked  so  hard 
that  he  would  never  sit  down  except '  at  meals  and  at  council 
meetings.  He  had  little  respect  for  tradition,  and  was  fond  of 
making  experiments  in  government.  A  mighty  warrior,  he  showed 
even  more  ability  as  a  statesman  and  a  lawyer.  He  was  well  edu- 
cated, and  amused  himself  with  reading  as  well  as  with  hunting.  He 
took  no  pains  to  win  popularity,  and  was  indifferent  to  royal  pomp. 
Generally  shrewd  and  prudent,  he  was  at  times  swayed  by  fierce 
bursts  of  passion  which  made  him  the  terror  of  all  around  him. 

2.  Henry's  first  business  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  disorders  of 
The  restora-  Stephen's  reign  and  bring  back  England  to  the  con- 
tion  of  dition  in  which  it  was  when  Henry  1.  died.     He  sent 

Stephen's  Flemish  mercenaries  back  to  their  work- 
shops.     He  annulled  his  predecessor's  lavish  grants  of  land,  and 
called  upon  the  barons  who  had  built  castles  without  the  king's 
116 


1162.]  HENRY  II.   OF  ANJOU  \\f 

permission  to  destroy  them  at  once.  These  strongholds  were  called 
adulterine  castles,  and  the  barons  bitterly  resented  their  destruction. 
Some  tried  to  resist  by  force,  but  Henry  easily  put  down  their 
rebellions.  He  compelled  Malcolm  iv.,  king'  of  Scots,  who  had 
recently  succeeded  his  father  David,  to  surrender  the  northern 
counties  and  pay  him  homage.  He  led  an  expedition  against 
Wales,  and  though  his  troops  fled  from  the  Welsh  in  disgraceful 
panic,  the  Welsh  prince  Owen  found  it  prudent  to  make  peace 
with  him.  But  Owen's  success  secured  the  freedom  of  Gwynedd, 
even  though,  with  Henry's  help,  the  lords  marcher  regained  their 
power  in  the  east  and  south  of  Wales. 

3.  After  a  few  years  the  administrative  system  of  Henry  I.  was 
fully  restored.  The  Curia  Regis  and  Exchequer  were  again  hard  at 
work ;  justice  was  executed,  and  the  reign  of  law 
upheld.  In  carrying  out  these  changes,  Henry's  chief  IggJ^S 
helpers  were  Richard  of  Lucy  and  Robert,  earl  of 
Leicester,  who  divided  between  them  the  office  of  justiciar. 
Nigel,  bishop  of  Ely,  Roger  of  Salisbury's  nephew,  became  treasurer. 
Perhaps  the  king's  most  trusted  officer  was  Thomas  of  London,  the 
chancellor,  called  in  later  times  Thomas  Becket.  Thomas  was  the 
son  of  a  London  merchant,  and  first  became  important  as  arch- 
deacon of  Canterbury.  He  was  as  indefatigable  a  worker  as  Henry 
himself.  Though  an  ecclesiastic,  he  seemed  wholly  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  king.  So  convinced  was  Henry  of  his  loyalty  that 
in  1162  he  procured  his  appointment  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Henry's  wish  in  raising  him  to  this  office  was  to  nave  an  arch- 
bishop of  his  own  way  of  thinking.  He  was  jealous  of  the  growing 
claims  of  the  Church,  and  thought  that  the  privileges  claimed  by 
ecclesiastics  stood  in  the  way  of  the  extension  of  the  royal  power. 
He  thought  the  best  way  to  make  his  reforms  acceptable  to  church- 
men was  to  have  an  archbishop  by  his  side  with  whom  he  could 
work  as  cordially  as  William  I.  had  worked  with  Lanfranc. 
Thomas  took  a  very  different  view  of  his  new  office.  He  hesitated 
to  accept  the  post  because,  as  he  said,  he  knew  that  Henry's 
ecclesiastical  policy  would  differ  from  that  which  as  archbishop  it 
would  be  his  duty  to  uphold.  Much  to  Henry's  disgust  he  resigned 
the  office  of  chancellor.  As  chancellor  he  had  been  the  most 
zealous  of  servants  of  the  king,  but  as  archbishop  he  became  a 
strenuous  upholder  of  ecclesiastical  privileges.  He  gave  up  his 
pompous  and  magnificent  manner  of  life,  and  lived  as  strictly  and 
austerely  as  a  monk.  He  took  Anselm  as  his  model,  and  resolved 
"to  maintain  strenuously  all  the  rights  of   the   Church.    It  was 


IlS  HENRY  II.   OF  ANJOU  [1162- 

iuevitable,  under  these  circumstances,  that  Henry  and  Thomas 
should  soon  quarrel.  Disputes  at  once  arose  upon  various  grounds. 
Thomas  complained  that  the  king1  had  appropriated  some  of  the 
property  of  the  archbishopric,  and  opposed  a  plan  of  Henry's  for 
changing"  the  method  of  levying  some  taxes.  Soon  these  quarrels 
sank  into  insignificance  as  compared  with  the  question  of  the  trial 
of  criminous  clerks. 

4.  From  early  times  the  Church  had  had  courts  of  its  own 
under  the  control  of  the  bishops.  Ever  since  William  the  Con- 
queror's law  separating  the  bishop's  court  from  that 
and  the  °^  ^e  hundred,  these  ecclesiastical  courts  had  been 

question  of  steadily  increasing  in  importance.  They  administered 
criminous  a  gpggjaj  iaW  0f  their  own  called  Canon  Law,  whose 
chief  source  was  the  decrees  of  the  popes.  The  anarchy 
of  Stephen's  reign  had  immensely  increased  the  importance  of  the 
Church  courts,  for  they  continued  their  regular  meetings  when 
civil  war  had  made  irregular  the  sessions  of  the  king's  courts  of 
justice.  By  this  time  the  courts  of  the  Church  had  become  rivals 
to  the  courts  of  the  State.  They  claimed  to  try  not  only  all 
ecclesiastical  suits,  but  all  cases  in  which  clergymen  were  concerned. 
It  was  thought  to  be  against  the  privileges  of  the  Church  for  a  clerk 
to  be  brought  before  one  of  the  king's  courts.  This  claim  was  the 
more  dangerous  from  the  wide  sense  in  which  the  word  "  clerk  "  was 
used.  Not  only  persons  in  holy  orders,  bishops,  priests,  deacons, 
and  sub-deacons,  were  clerks ;  the  term  included  a  multitude  of 
persons  in  minor  orders,  and  a  still  larger  number  who  had  merely 
been  set  apart  to  the  service  of  the  Church  by  receiving  the  tonsure. 
In  short,  nearly  every  man  who  could  read  was  called  a  clerk,  and 
claimed  as  such  the  privilege  of  being  tried  in  the  Church  court 
only.  Things  were  made  worse  because  the  ecclesiastical  judges 
were  lenient  to  brother  clergymen,  and  because  they  could  inflict 
no  harsher  punishment  than  imprisonment.  In  those  days  death, 
mutilation,  and  torture  were  regarded  as  the  appropriate  penalties 
for  more  heinous  crimes. 

o.  To  an  order-loving  king  like  Henry,  the  exemption  of  the 

clergy  from  the'  jurisdiction  of  his  courts  was  most  unpalatable. 

The  dispute     ^e  *ia^  kroueht  several  clerks  before  his  own  judges, 

between  and  was  bitterly  indignant  when  Thomas  denounced 

Sny,fnd      his  action  as  a  breacn  of  the  liberties  of  the  Church. 
Thomas.  T  .    _. 

In  great  disgust,  Henry  summoned  the  bishops  to 
meet  at  "Westminster,  and  asked  them  whether  in  the  future  they 
were  willing  to  accept  the  old  customs  of  the  realm  as  they  existed 


-1164.]  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  119 

in  the  days  of  his  grandfather.  The  bishops  agreed  to  this  "  saving" 
the  rights  of  their  order."  Thereupon,  Henry  drew  up  in  writing 
a  list  of  these  ancient  customs  which  in  January,  1164,  was  laid 
before  a  great  council  held  at  the  king's  hunting-lodge  of  Clarendon, 
near  Salisbury.  For  this  reason  it  was  called  the  Constitutions  of 
Clarendon. 

6.  The  sixteen  articles  of  the  constitutions  covered  the  whole 
ground  of  the  relations  of  Church  and  State.     They  provided  that 
clerks  accused  of  crimes  should  be  brought  before  the   _,.     „      .. 
king's  justices.     If  they  could  prove  that  they  were   tutlons  of 
clergymen  they  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Church  courts   Clarendon, 
to  be  tried ;  if  convicted,  the  ecclesiastical  court  was 

to  degrade  them  from  their  orders,  and  then  they  were  to  be 
brought  back  to  the  king's  court  and  to  receive,  as  laymen,  a  lay- 
man's punishment.  The  Church  courts  were  to  be  carefully 
watched,  and  their  jurisdiction  limited  to  strictly  ecclesiastical 
matters.  Moreover,  the  rules  which  William  the  Conqueror  had 
drawn  up  to  determine  doubtful  points  between  Church  and  State 
were  to  be  reasserted.  The  compromise  arranged  between  Henry  1. 
and  Anselm  was  reaffirmed,  and  bishops  were  to  hold  their  lands 
like  other  barons.  Appeals  to  Rome  were  not  to  be  made  without 
the  king's  consent,  and  prelates  were  to  be  elected  in  the  king's 
chapel  under  the  king's  eye. 

7.  After  a  momentary  acquiescence,  Thomas  refused  to  accept 
the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  declaring  them  to  be  against  the 
liberties  of  the  Church.  Henry  was  moved  to  deep  Thomas 
indignation,  and  resolved  to  ruin  him.  Courtiers  leaves 
were  encouraged  to  bring  lawsuits  against  him,  and  EnSland« 
Henry  called  upon  him  to  give  an  account  of  the  money  which  he 
had  received  when  he  was  chancellor.  The  king's  violence  gave 
Thomas  a  better  argument  than  he  had  previously  had  for  rejecting 
the  constitutions.  If  the  king's  courts  could  be  made  the  instru- 
ment for  ruining  the  king's  enemies,  it  was  not  unreasonable  that 
the  Church  should  strive  to  protect  her  clergy  from  such  unright- 
eous bodies.  As  in  the  days  of  Anselm,  most  of  the  bishops  were 
on  the  king's  side,  and  begged  Thomas  to  submit.  In  the  Council 
of  Northampton,  October,  1164,  the  archbishop  met  Henry  face  to 
face  and  refused  to  surrender.  The  justiciar  declared  Thomas 
a  traitor,  whereupon  the  archbishop  appealed  to  the  pope  and 
withdrew.  A  few  days  later  he  sailed  in  disguise  to  France.  The 
angry  king  banished  all  his  kinsfolk  from  England. 

8.  For  six  vears   Thomas  remained   abroad  and  carried    011 


120  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  [1164- 

a  violent  controversy  with  the  king.     He  was  disgusted  to  find 
that  the  pope,  Alexander  in.,  gave  him  only  a  lukewarm  support. 

Alexander  himself  was  engaged  at  the  moment  in 
return  to  a  great  quarrel  with  the  powerful  Emperor  Frederick 
England,         Barbarossa,  who  had  driven  him  from  Italy  to  France. 

In  his  distress  the  pope  was  anxious  not  to  break 
utterly  with  so  mighty  a  prince  as  Henry,  and  did  what  he  could 
to  smooth  matters  over.  Henry,  on  his  part,  was  desirous  of  avoiding 
a  breach  with  the  pope.  Gradually  he  became  more  reasonable, 
and  after  years  of  exile  even  Thomas  was  less  stiff  in  his  attitude. 
At  last,  in  1170,  a  vague  agreement  was  patched  up.  Henry  and 
Thomas  met  in  France ;  they  said  not  a  word  about  the  Constitutions 
of  Clarendon,  but  the  king  promised  to  restore  the  archbishop  and 
his  friends,  and  to  be  guided  by  his  counsel  in  future.  On  Decem- 
ber 1,  1170,  Thomas  returned  to  England  and  took  up  his  abode 
at  Canterbury.  During  the  negotiations  for  his  restitution  fresh 
causes  of  difiiculty  had  arisen.  The  king's  eldest  son,  Henry,  was 
now  a  young  man,  and  the  king,  following  a  custom  usual  in  France, 
resolved  to  have  him  crowned  during  his  own  lifetime,  so  that  the 
prince  might  learn  the  business  of  kingcraft  under  his  father's 
eye,  and  share  with  him  the  heavy  task  of  governing  his  vast 
dominions.  The  younger  Henry's  coronation  took  place  on  Whit 
Sunday,  1170.  To  crown  the  king  was  one  of  the  most  cherished 
rights  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but,  as  Thomas  was  still 
abroad,  Roger,  archbishop  of  York,  a  close  supporter  of  the  king, 
had  performed  the  ceremony.  Thomas  bitterly  complained  of  this 
as  a  violation  of  the  privileges  of  Canterbury,  and  excommunicated 
Archbishop  Roger  and  all  the  bishops  who  took  part  in  the  cere- 
mony. Matters  stood  thus  when  Thomas  returned  to  England. 
It  is  strange  that  Henry  should  have  omitted  to  make  terms  with 
Thomas  in  this  matter,  but  he  probably  thought  that  their  agree- 
ment to  let  bygones  be  bygones  included  the  question  of  the  corona- 
tion as  well  as  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  He  was  at  once 
disappointed  in  this  hope.  No  sooner  was  Thomas  established  at 
Canterbury  than  he  renewed  the  excommunication  of  the  offending 
prelates. 

9.  Henry  was  moved  to  a  characteristic  outburst  of  temper 
Murder  of  when  he  learned  that  the  archbishop's  return  meant 
Thomas,  a   new  quarrel.     "What  fools   and  dastards  have  I 

nourished  in  my  house,"  he  cried,  "that  not  one 
of  them  will  avenge  me  on  one  upstart  clerk  ?  "  Four  knights 
took  Henry  at  his   word,  and  rode  straightway  to  Canterbury, 


-ii7o.] 


HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU 


121 


which  they  reached  on  December  29.  They  made  their  way 
to  the  archbishop's  chamber  and  bade  him  forthwith  obey  the 
king's  order  and  absolve  the  excommunicated  bishops.  Thomas 
declared  that  he  was  only  obeying 
the  pope,  and  gave  the  knights 
no  satisfaction.  They  left  him 
in  a  rage,  and  the  archbishop 
went  into  the  cathedral,  where 
the  terrified  monks  were  singing 
vespers.  Meanwhile  the  knights 
put  on  their  armour  and,  accom- 
panied by  a  band  of  soldiers,  fol- 
lowed Thomas  into  the  church. 
The  archbishop's  attendants 
would  have  closed  the  door  which 
led  from  the  cloister  into  the 
north  transept.  Thomas  forbade 
them  to  do  this,  and  moved 
slowly  up  the  steps  into  the 
choir,  as  the  four  knights  burst 
into  the  building.  They  cried, 
"  Where  is  the  traitor  ?  " 
Thomas  then  returned  to  the 
transept,  crying,  "  Here  am  I ; 
not  traitor,  but  archbishop  and 
priest  of  God."  A  fierce  alter- 
cation followed,  but  soon  the 
knights  drew  their  swords  and 
slew  him  as  he  stood.  His  last 
words  were,  "  For  the  Name  of  Jesus  and  in  defence  of  the 
Church,  I  am  ready  to  embrace  death." 

10.  The  cruel  murderers  of  Thomas  had  done  the  worst  service 
they  could  to  their  master.     Against  the  living  archbishop  Henry 
had  been  able  to  contend  on  equal  terms,  but  he  was   c         . 
powerless  to    hold    his    own    against    the    outburst   tion  of  St. 
of  popular  indignation  which  attended    their    deed   Thomas  of 
of   blood.      Men    forgot  that  the    cause  for  which     an  er  upy" 
Thomas  had  died  was  not  the  cause  of  the  Church,  but  the  cause 
of  the  see  of  Canterbury  over  its  rival  York.      They  hailed  the 
dead  archbishop  as  a  martyr  who  had  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
sake  of  justice.     Stories  were  spread  of  his  sanctity  and  devout- 
ness.     It  was  believed  that  miracles  were  wrought  by  his  mangled 


X  Place  where  St.  Thomas  was  slain. 

PLAN  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH,  CANTER- 
BURY. 

(The  buildings  are  mainly  of  later  date 
than  1170.) 


122  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  [1166- 

remains.      Pilgrims  flocked  from  all  Christendom  to  do  honour 

to  the  martyr's  tomb  in  Canterbury  Cathedral.   Alexander  111.,  who 

had  neglected  him  in  his  life,  declared  him  a  saint  after  his  death. 

All  went    ill    with    Henry    until    he    solemnly    renounced    the 

Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  bought  off  the  threatened  censures  of 

the  pope  by  an  unconditional  submission,  and  purged  himself  of 

complicity  in  Thomas's  death.     As  the  last  sign  of  his  penitence 

Henry  himself  went  on  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas, 

and  was  scourged  with  rods  as  a  penance  for  his  hasty  words.     In 

the  broader  question  of  the  treatment  of  criminous    clerks  the 

martyred  archbishop  secured  a  substantial  victory.       From  that 

time  till  the  Reformation  the  ecclesiastical  courts  remained  the  sole 

tribunals  in  which  a  clerk  could  be  condemned.     All  that  Henry 

gained  was  that  henceforth  all  persons  accused  of  crimes  were  in 

the  first  instance  brought  before  the  king's  tribunals ;  but  any 

criminal  who  could  prove  that  he  was  a  clergyman,  was  allowed 

what  was  called  benefit  of  clergy,  and  the  king's  courts  had  no  more 

to  say  to  him.     It  shows  how  widespread  was  clerical  privilege  that 

the  proof  of  clergy  required  was  ability  to  read  Latin.     Despite 

all  Henry's  power  the  Church  remained  a  state  within  the  State, 

and  the  strongest  of  his  successors  was  warned  by  the  great  king's 

failure  to  respect  those  inordinate  privileges  of  the  clergy  for  which 

Thomas  thought  he  had  laid  down  his  life. 

11.  The  long  struggle  with  Archbishop  Thomas  quickened  rather 

than  slackened  Henry's  zeal  to  improve  the  government  of  his 

Henry's  dominions.      Hitherto  he  had  been  content  to  restore 

reign  as  a       the  system  of  Henry  1.     Now  that  he  had  accomplished 

period  of        that,  he  began  to  devise  new  laws.of  his  own.   Henry  1. 

H.111R  1  fir&.ms.'* 

tion  between  na<^  done   a  great  work,  but  in  his  scheme  the  old 

Normans        popular  institutions  of  Anglo-Saxon  times  and  the  new 

ng  s  .  monarcnjca2  institutions  of  the  Norman   kings  had 

not  been   completely  welded  into   a  single  scheme.     It  was  the 

special  work  of  Henry  11.  to  put  an  end  to  this  double  system.    His 

reign  has  been  called  a  period  of  amalgamation,  because  he  joined 

together  what  was  best  in  old  and  new  alike.     Before  he  died  the 

old  local   courts  of  the  shire   and  hundred  were   closely  bound 

together  with  the  new  royal  court*  administered  by  the  king's 

officials.      Not  only  was  there  an  amalgamation  of  English  and 

Norman  institutions ;  the  English  and  Norman  races,  which  had 

hitherto   stood  apart  from  each  other,  were  similarly  united  by 

community  of  interests  and  frequent  intermarriages.   "We  have  the 

testimony  of  one  of  Henry's  ministers  that  the  two  peoples  were 


-H76.]  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  123 

already  so  indistinguishable  that  no  one  knew  who  was  a  Norman 
or  who  was  an  Englishman  by  race.  The  higher  classes  still  spoke 
French,  and  French  Christian  names  alone  were  popular.  But 
these  French-speaking  Englishmen  were  becoming  English  in  feel- 
ing, and  as  the  old  Norman  families  died  out,  new  ones  arose  who 
had  neither  estates  nor  kinsmen  in  Normandy,  and  were  sometimes 
purely  English  in  blood. 

12.  Henry  11.  was  one  of  the  greatest  legislators  in  English 
history.  The  most  important  of  his  laws  are  called  Assizes,  and 
the  first  of  these  was  the  Assize  of  Clarendon,  drawn  up  jjje  Assize  of 
in  that  same  Wiltshire  hunting-lodge  that  had  witnessed  Clarendon, 
the  beginning  of  Henry's  struggle  with  Becket.  The  1166« 
Assize  of  Clarendon  completed  the  constitution  of  the  new  judicial 
system,  towards  which  things  had  been  drifting  since  the  reign  of 
Henry  1.  By  it  the  king's  justices  were  directed  to  go  on  circuit 
throughout  the  country,  and  visit  every  shire  in  turn  and  try 
criminals.  At  their  coming  each  county  court  was  to  choose  a 
committee  of  landholders,  which  was  to  bring  before  it  all  persons 
suspected  of  criminal  offences  within  the  shire.  This  body  was 
called  a  jury  because  its  members  were  sworn  (jurati)  to  accuse 
truly.  It  was  called  a  jury  of  presentment  because  it  presented 
criminals  for  trial  before  the  justice.  The  justice  represented  the 
new  jurisdiction  of  the  crown,  the  jury  the  old  popular  court  of  the 
shire.  Their  combination  in  this  judicial  system  proved  permanent. 
The  modern  Grand  Jury  still  continues  to  discharge  the  work  of 
Henry's  juries  of  presentment,  and  to  this  daythe  king's  j^q  Assize  of 
judges  go  on  circuit  to  each  shire  after  the  fashion  Northamp- 
systematized  by  the  Assize  of  Clarendon.  Ten  years  ton'  1176* 
later  the  Assize  of  Clarendon  was  reissued  in  the  Assize  of  North- 
ampton, which  imposed  severer  penalties  on  offenders. 

13.  Another  law  of  Henry's,  the  Grand  Assize  of  uncertain  date, 
extended  the  jury  system  from  criminal  to  civil  cases.     Since  the 
Norman  conquest,  the  ordinary  way  of  deciding  dis- 
putes about  land  was  by  trial  by  battle.     The  idea  was   Isi  e8- 
that  the  two  claimants  should  fight  out  their  claims 

with  each  other,  and  that  God  would  woik  a  miracle  by  giving  the 
victory  not  to  the  better  warrior,  but  to  the  man  with  the  better 
claim.  So  crude  a  system  now  seemed  impious  to  the  clergy  and 
foolish  to  the  lawyer.  The  Grand  Assize  gave  claimants  to  estates 
the  opportunity  of  referring  their  claim  to  the  decision  of  a  jury,  as 
an  alternative  to  the  barbaric  custom  of  trial  by  battle.  This  was 
welcomed  as  an  especial  boon  to  the  weak  and  feeble. 


124  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  [1166- 

14.  Another  famous  law  of  Henry's  was  the  Assize  of  Arm»  of 

1181,  by  which  the  old  English  national  militia  of  the  fyrd  was 

The  Assize       revised  and  organized.     By  it  every  freeman  was  re- 

of  Arms,         quired  to  provide  himself  with  arms  of  a  kind  suitable 

1  * 81  •  to  his  estate,  so  that  he  might  when  called  upon  defend 

the  country  from  invasion  or  assist  in  putting  down  rebellion.    This 

assize  made  the  feudal  service  of  the  barons  less  important.     Long 

before  this  the  kings  had  established  the  custom  of  levying  taxes 

called  scutaqe,  or  shield-money,  from  the  military 
Scutage 

tenants,  whereby  they  paid  to  the  crown  sums  of  money 

instead  of  serving  personally.     With  this  money  the  king  was  able 

to  hire  professional  soldiers,  who  fought  better  than  the  barons. 

But  the  mercenaries  were  expensive  and  unpopular,  and  after  the 

Assize  of  Arms  Henry  employed  them  for  foreign  service  only, 

and  depended  chiefly  on  the  fyrd    for  home    service.      Despot 

though  he  was,   he  was  popular  enough  to  be  able  to  trust  the 

English  people  to  bear  arms,  even  though  those  arms  might  be  used 

against  him. 

15.  In  1184  Henry  issued  the  Assize  of  Woodstock,  or  the  Assize 
of  the  Forest.  He  was  an  indefatigable  hunter,  and  his  chief  object 
The  Assize  of  was  ^°  protect  the  game  which  he  preserved  for  his 
Woodstock,     sport.   Moreover,  like  his  predecessors,  Henry  regarded 

the  forests  as  the  districts  specially  subject  to  his 
arbitrary  control.  This  assize  accordingly  was  very  severe,  and  shows 
Henry's  government  at  its  worst.  It  was  the  first  formal  code  of 
regulations  drawn  up  for  the  forests,  and  something  was  gained 
when  even  a  severe  law  was  set  up  in  place  of  the  royal  caprice 
which  had  hitherto  alone  regulated  them.  A  system  of  forest 
courts  was  established  analogous  to  those  of  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Even  in  the  forests  Henry  found  scope  for  his  favourite  system  of 
juries. 

16.  Henry  11.  won  back  the  authority  over  Britain  as  a  whole 
which  his  grandfather  had  exercised.  The  lords  marcher  in  Wales 
Henry  II. 's  regained  the  position  which  had  been  threatened  under 
relations  to  Stephen  ;  but  the  princes  of  Gwynedd,  though  acknow- 
ScoUandld      led^ing'  Henry  as  their  overlord,  were  able  in  practice 

to  keep  him  at  arm's  length.  Thrice  Henry  led  ex- 
peditions to  the  wilds  of  Snowdon,  but  not  one  of  them  was  really 
successful.  The  result  of  this  was  that  North  Wales  remained  a 
strong  and  nearly  independent  national  Welsh  state ;  but  Welsh 
and  marcher  lords  alike  looked  up  to  Henry  as  supreme.  Under 
him  the  Welsh  bishops  finally  accepted  the  claims  of  the  archbishop 


-n88.]  HENRY  II.   OF  ANJOU  1 25 

of  Canterbury  to  be  their  metropolitan.  In  1188  Archbishop 
Baldwin  traversed  Wales  from  end  to  end  to  preach  a  new 
crusade.  Scotland,  even  more  than  Wales,  felt  the  weight  of 
Henry's  arm.  We  have  seen  how  he  compelled  Malcolm  rv.  to 
surrender  the  advantages  won  -by  David  under  Stephen.  Mal- 
colm's brother  and  successor,  William  the  Lion,  was  a  warlike  and 
powerful  king.  In  1173  he  united  with  Henry's  foreign  and 
#  baronial  enemies  in  a  great  attack  on  his  power.  Taken  prisoner 
at  Alnwick,  he  was  forced,  as  the  price  of  his  release,  to  sign  the 
ignominious  treaty  of  Ealaise ;  by  this  he  fully  accepted  Henry  as 
liege  lord  of  Scotland,  and  admitted  English  garrisons  into  Edin- 
burgh and  other  chief  towns  of  his  realm. 

17.  Henry  n.'s  reign  is  remarkable  for  the  extension  of  the 
Norman  power  to-  Ireland.  Ireland,  which  in  the  days  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  barbarism  had  been  the  most  civilized  country   ThQ  last 

in  western  Europe,  had  now  fallen  far  away  from  its    period  of 
ancient   glory.     The  land  was  divided  among  many   IplsJj inde" 
petty  kings,  who  were  always  waging  war  against  each 
other.     Though  one  of  these  claimed  to  be  overlord  of  the  whole 
land,  he  had  little  real  power.     The  old  Celtic  system,  by  which 
the  chief  of  each  tribe  really  ruled  over  his  clansmen,  still  prevailed, 
and  kept  back  the  political  development  of  the  island.     Danish 
chieftains  bore  rule  over  coast  towns,  such  as  Dublin,  Cork,  and 
Limerick,  and  added  a  new  element  to  the  general  confusion.    The 
Church  was  as  disorganized  as  the  State. 

18.  The  quarrels  of  the  Irish  with  each  other  first  gave  the 
Normans  a  pretext  for  establishing  themselves  in  Ireland.  The 
heroes  of  the  Norman  conquest  of  Ireland  were  the  Tne  Norman 
Norman  marchers  of  South  Wales,  who  extended  their  conquest  of 
power  over  the  island  by  the  same  devices  that  had  IpeIand- 
secured  for  their  grandfathers  the  richer  parts  of  South  Wales. 
Dermot,  king  of  Leinster,  was  driven  in  1166  from  his  dominions, 
and  rashly  invited  some  of  the  Norman  lords  of  South  Wales  to 
help  him  to  win  them  back.  At  their  head  was  Richard  of  Clare, 
surnamed  Strongbow,  lord  of  Chepstow  and  palatine  earl  of 
Pembroke.  He  restored  Dermot  to  his  kingdom,  married  his 
daughter,  and  seized  upon  his  dominions  after  his  death.  Other 
Norman  adventurers  followed  his  example,  and  added  to  the  con- 
fusion of  Ireland  by  setting  up  small  feudal  lordships  in  the  districts 
which  they  had  won  by  their  swords.  Henry  11.  had  no  part  in 
their  conquests,  but  he  became  alarmed  lest  they  should  establish 
a  power  dangerous  to  himself.     In  1171  he  betook  himself  to 


126  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  [1159- 

Ireland,  in  order  to  establish  his  authority  over  Irish,  Dane,  and 
Norman  alike.  None  dared  resist  him.  The  native  Irish  welcomed 
him  as  their  protector  against  the  new-comers  from  Wales,  and  the 
Normans  submitted  because  they  had  not  sufficient  strength  to 
withstand  him.  In  these  circumstances  it  was  easy  for  Henry 
to  obtain  acknowledgments  of  his  supremacy  from  all  the  chief 
powers  in  Ireland.  He  added  to  his  titles  that  of  lord  of  Ireland, 
and  set  up  an  English  government  in  Dublin.  He  introduced 
Norman  ecclesiastics,  who  strove  to  reorganize  the  Irish  Church 
after  the  Roman  pattern.  English  traders  established  themselves 
in  the  towns,  and  strong  castles  kept  the  fertile  plains  in  subjection. 
But  the  Irish  clans  held  their  own  amidst  the  mountains  and  bogs, 
and  everywhere  Henry's  influence  was  very  superficial.  In  this 
fashion  Henry  carried  out  in  a  way  the  dreams  of  Edgar  and 
William  1.  He  was  the  first  English  king  who  was  in  any  sense 
lord  of  all  the  British  islands. 

19.  By  inheritance  and  marriage  Henry  was  suzerain  over  all 
western  France.     From  his  father   came  the   county  of  Anjou 

and  Touraine ;  Normandy  and  Maine  he  inherited 
EmDiref     "  ^rom  ^s  mother;   his  marriage  made  him  duke  of 

Aquitaine.  His  wife,  Eleanor,  was  the  heiress  of  the 
old  line  of  the  dukes  of  Aquitaine,  whose  authority  extended  over 
all  south-western  France,  from  the  river  Loire  to  the  Pyrenees,  and 
from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  to  the  mountains  of  Auvergne  and  the 
Cevennes.  The  northern  part  of  this  region  was  the  county  of 
Poitou,  whose  capital  was  Poitiers.  More  to  the  south  lay  Guienne 
and  Gascony,  of  which  the  chief  towns  were  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne. 
Over  the  whole  of  this  region  the  French  kings  had  never  exercised 
any  substantial  authority,  and  even  the  dukes  of  Aquitaine  were  little 
more  than  its  overlords.  Real  power  belonged  to  the  turbulent 
feudal  nobles,  whose  constant  feuds  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
towns,  kept  the  whole  land  full  of  violence  and  bloodshed.  Never- 
theless it  was  a  rich  and  vigorous  region,  differing  so  widely  from 
northern  France  that  its  inhabitants  looked  upon  both  king  of 
Paris  and  dukes  of  Rouen  as  foreigners.  South  of  the  Dordogne 
the  people  spoke  the  Gascon  or  Provencal  tongue,  which  was  a 
different  language  from  the  French  of  the  north.  They  cherished 
dearly  their  local  independence,  and  even  a  strong  ruler  like  Henry 
was  not  able  to  subject  them  to  the  severe  discipline  which  had 
made  England  peaceable  and  law-abiding. 

20.  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine  was  a  woman  of  vigorous  character  and 
unruly  disposition.     She  had  married  Henry  because  she  had  been 


-u 74-]  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  \2J 

at  variance  with  her  first  husband,  Louis  vrr.  of  France,  who  had 
wedded  her  for  the  sake  of  her  dominions.  Before  long  she  quar- 
relled with  Henry  also,  and  inspired  her  sons  to  join  Henry  II. 
with  her  former  husband  in  attempts  to  overthrow  and  his 
their  father.  It  was  easier  for  her  to  do  this,  since  raml,y« 
Henry  was  an  affectionate  father,  and  anxious  to  share  with  his  sons 
the  government  of  his  dominions.  We  have  seen  how  he  crowned 
his  eldest  son  Henry  king  in  1170,  and  proposed  to  make  him  his 
partner  in  power.  He  wished  to  establish  the  younger  sons  also 
in  the  government  of  some  outlying  portion  of  his  dominions. 
Richard,  the  second  son,  was  made  duke  of  Aquitaine,  and  showed 
great  valour  and  energy  in  his  efforts  to  reduce  his  mother's  in- 
heritance to  some  sort  of  order.  Geoffrey,  his  third  son,  married 
the  heiress  of  Brittany,  and  the  lands  under  Henry's  overlordship 
were  still  further  extended  when  Geoffrey  became  reigning  count  of 
Brittany  under  his  father's  supremacy.  John,  the  youngest  and 
best  beloved  of  Henry's  sons,  was  married  to  the  heiress  of  the 
great  Gloucester  earldom,  and  sent  to  rule  Ireland.  But  none  of 
Henry's  sons  were  worthy  of  their  father's  generosity ;  their  con- 
stant intrigues  and  rebellions  embittered  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

21.  Neighbouring  princes  were  extremely  jealous  of  Henry's 
great  position,  and  did  their  best  to  undermine  his  power.    Among 
his  chief  enemies  was  the  count  of  Toulouse,  the  here-    Henry's 
ditary  rival  of  the  duke  of  Aquitaine,  and  against  him   foreign 
Henry  waged,  in  1159,  a  war  called  the  war  of  Toulouse ;    P°licy« 
later  on  he  compelled  the  count  of  Toulouse  to  do  homage  to  him. 
The  count  of  Toulouse  was  only  saved  from  destruction  by  the  help 
afforded  him  by  Louis  vn.  of  France,  against  whom   j^e  wap  0f 
Henry  had  scruples  in  waging  war  because  Louis  was   Toulouse, 
his  overlord.  In  the  hope  of  keeping  up  friendly  relations   1159* 
with  France,  Henry  married  his  eldest  son  to  Louis's  daughter ; 
but  Louis  was  as  treacherous  as  Henry's  own  children.    During  the 
period  when  the  outcry  against  Henry  as  the  cause  of  St.  Thomas's 
death  had  turned  public   opinion   against  him,   Louis  made   an 
alliance  with  the  young  king  and  his  brothers  Richard  and  Geoffrey. 
This  grew  into  a  great  confederation  of  all  the  English  king's 
enemies.     William  of  Scotland,  as  we  have  seen,  joined  the  league, 
and  the  feudal  barons,  both  in  England  and  Normandy,    The  waps  0f 
though  afraid  to  attack  Henry  so  long  as  he  was  at  peace,    1 1 73  arid 
eagerly  availed  themselves  of  his  difficulties  with  his    1174' 
children  and  foreign  neighbours  to  unfurl  once  more  the  banner 
of  baronial  independence.     In  1173  and  1174  the  great  struggle 


128 


HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU 


li  1 74- 


William  I's  Posessions  in  France- 

County  of  Anjou... 

Continental  Lands  of  Stephen 

Inheritance  of  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine.. 

County  of  Brittany L_J 

French  King's  Domain  in  1185. 
Boundary  of  French  Monarchy. 


Emery  Walker  s 
FRANCE    IN   THE    ELEVENTH    AND    TWELFTH    CENTURIES,    SHOWING    THE 
CONTINENTAL   DOMINIONS   OF  THE   NORMAN   AND   ANGEVIN   KINGS. 


-1 189.]  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJOU  1 29 

between  Henry  and  his  enemies  extended  from  the  Tweed  to  the 
Pyrenees.  Henry  was  everywhere  victorious.  We  have  seen  how 
he  crushed  William  of  Scotland  and  forced  him  to  sign  the 
humiliating  treaty  of  Falaise.  Louis  of  France  failed  in  his 
invasion  of  Normandy,  and  the  fleet  with  which  the  younger  Henry 
set  out  to  invade  England  was  scattered  by  a  storm.  The  fidelity  of 
the  official  class,  and  the  loyalty  of  the  English  people,  made  it  an 
easy  matter  for  Henry  to  suppress  the  baronial  rebellion.  Over 
his  nobles  his  triumph  was  a  permanent  one ;  the  rising  of  1173 
and  1174  was  the  last  of  the  many  feudal  revolts  against  the 
national  monarchy  which  had  begun  a  hundred  years  earlier  with 
the  rebellions  of  earls  Ralph  and  Roger  against  William  1. 

22.  For  the  next  few  years  Henry  ruled  in  peace.  With  wonder- 
ful magnanimity  he  forgave  his  rebellious  children,  and  restored 
them  to  their  governments.  He  was  now  one  of  the  Henry's 
greatest  kings  in  Christendom,  and  foreign  princes  foreign 
eagerly  sought  his  alliance.  He  married  his  daughters  alnanees- 
to  the  kings  of  Castile  and.  Sicily,  the  count  of  Toulouse,  and  to 
Henry  the  Lion,  the  greatest  of  the  German  dukes  and  the  rival 
of  the  mighty  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa.  By  these  alliances, 
and  by  other  means,  Henry  obtained  powerful  support  against  his 
natural  enemy  the  king  of  France.  He  established  friendship 
which  long  outlasted  his  life  with  Castile,  the  chief  Spanish  king- 
dom, with  Germany,  and  with  Flanders.  For  the  rest  of  the  Middle 
Ages  there  was  a  traditional  friendship  between  England  and  these 
three  lands,  just  as  there  was  a  traditional  enmity  with  France. 
Thus  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Angevin  king  coloured  the  foreign 
policy  of  England  for  several  centuries. 

23.  The  folly 'and  wickedness  of  his  children  cast  a  gloom  over 
the  last  years  of  Henry's  life.     The  young  King  Henry  went  to 
war  with  his  brother  Richard,  and  forced  the  old  king   The  peDej_ 
to  take  up  arms  on  behalf  of  the  latter.     In  the  course    lions  of 

of  the  struggle  the  young  king  expired  in  1183.  Henry's 
Geoffrey  of  Brittany  died  two  years  later,  in  1185 ; 
but  Richard  still  gave  him  plenty  of  trouble.  In  1189  Richard 
once  more  rose  in  revolt,  and  made  a  close  alliance  with  the  son  of 
Louis  vii.,  Philip  11.,  called  Augustus,  who  became  king  of  France 
in  1180.  It  was  a  grievous  disappointment  to  Henry  that  his 
youngest  son,  John,  who  had  hitherto  remained  faithful,  joined  his 
brother  in  this  rebellion.  After  this  Henry  had  no  heart  to  fight 
against  his  treacherous  sons.  Smitten  with  a  mortal  illness,  he 
■threw  himself  on  his  bed,  and  cried,  "  Let  things  go  as  they  will ; 

K 


I30  HENRY  II.    OF  ANJQU  [1189. 

I  care  no  more  for  myself  or  for  anything  else  in  the  world."  A 
few  days  later  he  died,  on  July  7,  murmuring,  "  Shame,  shame  on 

a  conquered  king."  Here  Henry  was  unjust  to  him- 
death'  ^189    se^  '  ^s  wor^  was  ^ar  from  being  undone,  even  by  the 

treachery  of  his  own  sons.  He  had  established  the 
unity  of  England  on  so  firm  a  basis  that  it  could  not  be  shaken 
even  by  the  incompetence  of  those  who  came  after  liim. 


CHAPTER  VI 
RICHARD   I.   CCEUR  DE   LION   (1189-1199) 

Chief  dates : 

1 189.  Accession  of  Richard  i. 

1189-1192.  Richard  on  Crusade. 

1194.  Richard's  release  and  second  visit  to  England. 

1 199.  Death  of  Richard  i. 

1.  Richard  or  Aquitaine  succeeded  without  difficulty  to  all  his 
father's  dominions.  Despite  his  treachery  to  his  father,  he  was 
not  without  noble  qualities,  and  shed  bitter  tears 
when  he  heard  of  Henry's  miserable  end.  Brought  R^ardT^ 
up  amidst  the  constant  tumults  of  his  mother's  in- 
heritance, he  became  a  consummate  warrior  and  a  famous  knight. 
He  was  tall  and  handsome,  with  fair  hair  and  blue  eyes.  Well 
educated,  he  could,  it  was  said,  talk  Latin  better  than  an  arch- 
bishop. He  loved  poetry,  and  was  himself  a  poet,  while  among 
his  friends  was  Bertrand  de  Born,  the  greatest  of  the  troubadours, 
or  poets,  of  southern  France.  He  had  ability  enough  to  make  him 
a  good  ruler  ;  but  he  cared  little  for  extending  his  power  over  his 
dominions,  and  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the  quest  of  personal 
adventures.  He  was  the  least  English  of  our  kings,  and  during 
his  reign  of  ten  years  only  paid  two  short  visits  to  England. 
During  those  years  his  exploits  as  a  warrior  made  him  the  hero  of 
all  Christendom,  and  gained  him  his  surname  of  Richard  the  Lion 
Heart.  But  the  personal  adventures  of  the  king  go  on  quite 
different  lines  from  the  history  of  his  kingdom. 

2.  "When  Richard  became  king,  all  Europe  rang  with  the  preach- 
ing of  a  new  crusade.     The  Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  estab- 
lished by  the  First  Crusade,  had  long  fallen  into  evil   R  jenap(«  a  d 
days.     The   energy  of  the   western    lords    of    Syria   the  Third 
withered  away  amidst  a  tropical  climate  and  oriental    Crusade, 
surroundings.     For  a  time  the  Crusaders  held  their 
own  because  of  the  divisions  of  their  Mohammedan  enemies.    At  last 
a  great  Mohammedan  state  grew  up  in  Syria,  whose  head  was  the 

131 


132 


RICHARD  I.    CCEUR  DE  LION 


["87- 


Sultan  Saladin.  In  1187  Saladin  won  a  great  victory  over  the 
Christians,  and  wrested  from  them  Jerusalem  itself.  The  crusading 
kingdom  was  reduced  to  a  few  seaport  towns,  and  would  clearly  be 
destroyed  altogether  unless  Christendom  united  in  a  great  crusade 
to  restore  it.  The  new  expedition,  called  the  Third  Crusade,  was 
preached  with  energy  and  success.  Frederick  Barbarossa,  the  old 
emperor,  and  Philip  Augustus,  the  young  king  of  France,  both  took 
the  cross.     To  Richard  the  crusade  offered  the  chance  of  personal 


The  Crusade  of  Richard  I. 

Outward  route  shown  thus;-...   >    . 


adventure  and  military  distinction  such  as  he  loved.  He  went  to 
England,  was  crowned  king,  and  used  every  means  to  raise  money 
to  equip  himself  and  his  followers  on  the  crusade.  He  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder  the  chief  offices  of  Church  and  State  in  England. 
William  Longchamp,  bishop  of  Ely,  a  foreigner  by  birth,  bought 
the  offices  of  chancellor  and  justiciar.  He  allowed  William  of  Scot- 
land to  renounce  the  hard  conditions  of  the  treaty  of  Falaise  in 
return  for  a  money  payment.  So  eager  was  he  to  amass  treasure 
that  he  declared  that  he  would  have  sold  London  could  he  have 
found  a  purchaser.  Then  he  started  for  Palestine,  and  England  saw 
no  more  of  him  for  five  years.  Richard  travelled  to  the  Holy  Land 
by  way  of  France.  At  Marseilles  he  took  ship  for  the  East,  but 
tarried  on  his  way  in  Sicily  and  Cyprus,  where  he  married  his  wife 
Berengaria  of  Navarre.     In  1191  he  landed  near  Acre,  the  chief 


-U94-]  RICHARD  I.    CCEUR  DE  LION  1 33 

port  of  the  crusading  kingdom,  which  had  recently  fallen  into 
Saladin's  hands.  Philip  Augustus  had  arrived  there  before  him, 
and  the  two  kings  soon  forced  Acre  to  surrender.  From  Acre 
Richard  marched  towards  Jerusalem,  and  arrived  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  holy  city ;  but  bad  weather  prevented  further  progress, 
especially  as  the  French  and  English  elements  in  the  army  were 
quarrelling  bitterly  with  each  other.  Philip  Augustus  was  already 
jealous  of  his  old  ally,  and  hurried  back  to  Europe  to  profit  by  his 
absence.  In  these  circumstances  all  Richard's  personal  heroism 
could  not  procure  complete  success  for  his  cause.  In  1192  he  made 
a  truce  by  wliich  the  Christians  were  consoled  in  some  measure  for 
the  loss  of  Jerusalem  by  the  condition  that  pilgrims  were  allowed 
free  access  to  the  holy  places. 

3.  Richard  then  started  to  return  to  Europe  ;  news  reached  him 
that  Philip  Augustus  was  so  hostile  that  the  direct  route  back 
through  France  was  unsafe.  Richard  therefore  Richard's 
determined  to  travel  by  way  of  Germany.  To  avoid  captivity  in 
attention  he  went  in  disguise,  accompanied  by  only  a  Gepmany' 
few  followers ;  but  he  soon  attracted  notice,  and  near  Vienna  was 
arrested  by  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  an  old  crusader  with  whom 
he  had  quarrelled  in  the  Holy  Land.  The  supreme  ruler  of  Ger- 
many was  now  the  Emperor  Henry  vi.,  son  of  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
who  had  died  on  the  crusade.  Henry  vi.  hated  Richard  because 
he  had  given  a  refuge  to  his  brother-in-law;  Henry  the  Lion, 
whom  Frederick  Barbarossa  had  expelled  from  Germany.  He 
welcomed  the  accident  which  had  brought  Richard  within  Leopold's 
power,  and  soon  the  Austrian  duke  handed  Richard  over  to  the 
emperor's  direct  custody.  Henry  kept  Richard  in  prison  until  he 
agreed  to  pay  the  enormous  ransom  of  £100,000 — a  sum  almost 
amounting  to  two  years  of  the  royal  revenue,  at  a  time  when  the 
people  were  taxed  to  the  uttermost.  Besides  this,  Richard  was 
forced  to  surrender  his  kingdom  to  the  Emperor,  and  receive 
it  back  as  a  fief  of  the  empire.  In  compensation  for  this  humi- 
liation Henry  granted  Richard  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  or 
Aries — a  grant  which  meant  nothing  at  all,  as  Henry  had  little 
power  over  that  district.  Meanwhile  strenuous  efforts  were  made 
to  raise  the  king's  ransom.  Every  landholder  was  called  upon  to 
pay  a  fourth  of  his  income,  and  the  very  chalices  in  the  churches 
were  melted  down  to  make  up  the  sum.  By  1194  the  money  was 
paid,  and  Richard  was  free  to  go  home. 

4.  During  the  five  years  of  Richard's  absence  there  had  been 
much  confusion  and  some  civil  war  in  England.     Yet  it  was  a 


134  RICHARD  I.    CCEUR  DE  LION  [un- 

remarkable  testimony  to    the    abiding    strength  of  Henry  ii.'g 
administrative  system  that  the  machinery  of  government  continued 
to  work  even  in  the  absence  of  the  sovereign.     Bishop 
durin  g  Longchamp,  the  justiciar, was  not  a  successful  minister. 

Richard's  He  offended  the  barons  by  his  pride  and  his  foreign 
?  ?89  -  M  94.  ways> an^  'they  called  on  Earl  John,  the  king's  younger 
brother,  to  help  them  to  drive  him  from  power. 
Longchamp  could  not  resist  the  force  they  brought  against  him, 
and  was  forced  in  1191  to  quit  the  realm.  At  that  moment 
Walter  of  Coutances,  archbishop  of  Rouen,  came  back  from 
crusade  with  a  letter  from  Richard,  nominating  him  as  justiciar. 
The  barons  accepted  the  king's  candidate,  and  the  archbishop 
ruled  England  peaceably  for  two  years.  But  when  Richard's 
captivity  was  known,  Philip  of  Prance  invaded  Normandy,  and 
tried  to  capture  Rouen.  John  allied  himself  with  the  French 
king,  and  rose  in  revolt  against  Richard.  It  is  good  evidence 
that  the  archbishop  of  Rouen  was  a  wise  minister,  that  he  drove 
Philip  out  of  Normandy,  put  down  John's  revolt,  and  raised  the 
king's  ransom. 

5.  In  1194  Richard  again  appeared  in  England.  His  second 
visit  was  almost  as  short  as  his  first,  and,  as  before,  he  devoted 
England  most  of  his  enei-gy  to  raising  money.     He  generously 

from  1194  forgave  his  treacherous  brother,  but  was  eager  to  have 
to  1199.  revenge  on  the  French  king,  who  had  striven  to  rob 

him  of  his  dominions  when  he  was  the  emperor's  captive.  Leav- 
ing his  comrade  on  the  crusade,  Hubert  Walter,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  as  justiciar,  Richard  soon  left  England,  and  was  never 
seen  there  again.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  waging  war 
against  the  French  king,  and  left  the  whole  administration  of 
England  in  the  hands  of  the  justiciar.  Hubert  Walter  was  a 
nephew  of  Ranulf  Glanville,  justiciar  of  Henry  n.,  and  had  been 
well  trained  in  the  work  of  administration.  He  was  powerful 
enough  to  make  several  improvements  in  the  administrative 
system,  and  was  ingenious  in  devising  expedients  to  supply  Richard 
with  money  for  fighting  his  battles.  In  1198  he  imposed  such 
burdens  upon  the  people  that  they  could  bear  them  no  longer. 
When  called  upon  to  furnish  knights  to  fight  for  Richard  in  France, 
the  barons  resisted.  Hugh  of  Avalon,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  a  saintly 
man  who  had  once  been  a  hermit,  made  himself  the  spokesman 
of  the  opposition.  He  declared  that  he  would  rather  go  back  to 
his  old  hermit's  life  than  lay  fresh  burdens  on  the  tenants  of  his 
bishopric.     Hubert  was  forced  to  withdraw  the  proposal,  and  soon 


-H99-] 


RICHARD  I.   C(EUR  DE  LION 


135 


after  resigned  office.     His  successor  was  a  layman,  Geoffrey  Fitz 
Peter,  earl  of  Essex. 

6.  During  all  these  years  Richard  was  doing  his  best  to  break 
down  the  power  of  Philip  of  France,  and  achieved  a  fair  measure  of 
success.     To  protect  Rouen  and  Normandy  from  in-   t>jcv.apH. 
vasion  he  built  a  new  castle  on  a  chalk  cliff  dominat-    last  wars 
ing  the  Seine,  near  the  town  of  Les  Andelys.     It  was   and  death, 
a  large  and  well-planned  structure,  and  it  was  built 
within  twelve  months.    Proud  of  hie  skill  as  an  engineer,  Richard 
cried, "  Is  not  this  a  fine  saucy  baby  of  mine,  this  child  of  a  year  old  P  " 
From    this     jest     Richard's 
castle  took  its  name  of  Cha- 
teau Gaillard — that  is,  Saucy 
Castle.  Gallant  soldier  though 
he  was,  Richard's  campaigns 
were     somewhat     unfruitful. 
His  energies  were  consumed 
in  petty  wars  which  had  no 
real  influence  on  events.     In 
one  of  these  he  met  his  death 
in  1199.  A  vassal  of  Richard's, 
lord  of  Chalus,  near  Limoges, 
discovered  a  treasure  buried 
in  the  earth.   Richard  claimed 
the  find  for  himself,  on  the 
ground  that,  as  treasure-trove, 
it  belonged  to  him  as  over- 
lord.    His  vassal  resisted,  and 
Richard  went  in  person  to  be- 
siege the    castle  of    Chalus, 
which  the  rebel  held  against 
him.     One  day,  as  the  king 

was  watching  the  progress  of  the  siege,  he  was  struck  in  the  breast 
by  the  bolt  of  a  crossbow.  The  wound  was  treated  by  so  unskilful 
a  surgeon  that  the  flesh  mortified.  As  Richard  lay  dying  the 
castle  was  taken,  and  the  soldier  who  had  shot  him  was  brought 
captive  before  him.  "  What  have  I  done  to  thee,"  said  the  dying 
king,  "  that  thou  shouldst  slay  me  ?  "  "  Thou  hast  slain,"  answered 
the  archer,  "  my  father  and  two  of  my  brothers ;  torture  me  as  thou 
wilt,  I  shall  die  gladly  since  I  have  slain  thee."  Richard  ordered 
the  man  to  be  set  free.  He  then  gathered  his  barons  round  him, 
and  urged  them  to  accept  John  as  his  successor.     He  died  on 


A.  Outwork 

B.  Outer  Wa.„ 

C.  Inner  Ward  ^4^ 
D.Keep  IpP 
"E.Outuiorhs  leadingim 

to  River  Seine 


Emery  U^lktt 
PLAN   OF   CHATEAU   GAILLAKD. 


I36  RICHARD    I.     CCEUR    DE    LION  [1199. 

April  6,  1199,  and,  in  spite  of  Lis  commands,  the  crossbowman 
was  cruelly  put  to  death.  Though  he  had  done  so  little  for 
England,  Richard's  reputation  as  a  warrior  long  kept  his  memory 
green.  Apart  from  his  personal  exploits,  the  importance  of  his 
reign  rests  in  the  fact  that  it  proved  that  the  foundations  of  the 
system  of  Henry  n.  had  been  so  carefully  laid  that  the  ministers 
were  able  to  rule  England  in  peace,  despite  Richard's  absence  and 
neglect. 


CHAPTER  VII 
JOHN    LACKLAND   (1199-1216) 

Chief  dates : 

1199.  Accession  of  John. 

1204.  Loss  of  Normandy. 

1208.  England  put  under  Interdict. 

1213.  John's  submission  to  Innocent  in. 

1215.  The  Great  Charter. 

1216.  Death  of  John. 

1.  On  Richard's  death  John  hurried  to  England,  and  easily  got  him- 
self accepted  as  king.  He  was  not  the  nearest  heir  by  birth,  for 
his  elder  brother,  Geoffrey  of  Brittany,  had  left  a  son 
named  Arthur.  Many  who  distrusted  John  wished  y e? essf?qo0* 
that  Arthur  should  succeed  Richard.  But  Arthur  was 
a  boy,  and  it  was  quite  in  accordance  with  old  English  precedent 
that  his  uncle,  who  was  a  grown  man,  should  be  preferred  to  him. 
Philip  of  France,  ever  anxious  to  make  mischief  in  the  Angevin 
dominions,  supported  Arthur's  cause ;  but  Queen  Eleanor,  though 
now  very  old,  used  all  her  influence  against  her  grandson,  and  in 
favour  of  her  youngest  son.  On  May  27  John  was  crowned  in 
Westminster  Abbey  by  Hubert  Walter. 

2.  John's  previous  career  was  ominous  for  the  future.     When 
sent  as  a  young  man  to  rule  Ireland,  his  petulance  and  folly  had 
so  disgusted  the  Irish  chieftains  that  Henry  n.  was 
compelled  to  withdraw  from  him  the  government  of    PaCtera" 
the  island.     We  have  seen  already  his  treachery  and 
ingratitude  to  his  father   and  elder  brother.     Able,  like  all  the 
Angevins,  and  capable,  on  occasion,  of  energetic  action,  both  as  a 
warrior  and  statesman,  he  wrecked  his  whole  career  by  the  narrow 
selfishness  which  sacrificed  all  his  highest  interests  to  gratify  the 
caprice  of  the  moment.    His  life  was  foul ;  he  was  cruel,  treacherous, 
and  deceitful  j  he  could  be  bound  by  no  promise,  and  kept  stead- 
fast in  no  course  of  action.     The  history  of  William  Rufus  had 
shown  that  a  bad  man  might  be  a  competent  king.   As  a  man,  John 

137 


I38  JOHN  LACKLAND  [1199- 

was  not  much  worse  than  Ruf us ;  as  a  king,  lie  was  utterly  lacking 
in  that  intelligent  sense  of  self-interest  which  gave  purpose  to 
Rufus's  wickedest  acts  of  tyranny.  From  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
he  was  only  saved  from  disaster  by  the  restraining  influence  ex- 
ercised over  him  by  three  wise  advisers.  His  mother,  Eleanor, 
secured  his  succession  to  the  whole  of  the  Angevin  Empire. 
Hubert  "Walter,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  kept  up  some  sort 
of  terms  between  him  and  the  Church.  The  justiciar,  Geoffrey  Fitz 
Peter,  managed,  despite  many  obstacles,  to  carry  on  the  internal 
government  of  England  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Henry  11.  As 
time  went  on  the  removal  of  these  three  faithful  friends  left  John 
free  to  follow  his  own  caprice,  and  in  each  case  his  personal  action 
involved  brm  in  humiliation  and  disaster.  The  death  of  Eleanor 
was  quickly  followed  by  the  loss  of  Normandy.  The  death  of 
Hubert  Walter  soon  led  to  a  mortal  quarrel  with  the  Church. 
When  Fitz  Peter  died  John  blundered  into  a  quarrel  with  his 
English  subjects  which  cost  him  his  greatest  and  last  humiliation. 
Round  these  three  great  calamities  the  history  of  his  reign  centred. 
The  Angevin  Empire,  which  had  survived  the  neglect  of  Richard, 
was  destroyed  by  the  active  tyranny  of  John. 

3.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Eleanor  had  succeeded  in 
winning  over  all  the  Angevin  dominions  in  France  to  John's  side. 
John  and  ^he  was  helped  by  the  treachery  of  Philip  n.,  who 
Arthur  of  took  up  arms  on  Arthur's  behalf,  but  kept  all  the  con- 
r  ttany.  quests  he  made  for  himself.  This  annoyed  Arthur's 
friends  so  much  that  they  made  terms  with  John,  and  finally, 
in  1200,  Philip  himself  recognized  his  rival  as  his  brother's  heir. 
"Within  a  few  months  of  this  recognition  John's  folly  and  greed 
compelled  him  to  fight  once  more  for  his  dominions.  He  repudiated 
his  rich  wife  Isabella  of  Gloucester,  and  married  Isabella  of 
Angouleme,  the  heiress  of  the  county  of  that  name.  Isabella  was 
betrothed  to  Hugh  of  Lusignan,  count  of  La  Marche,  the  most 
powerful  of  the  lords  of  Poitou,  who  was  bitterly  incensed  at  losing 
both  the  lady  and  her  possessions.  He  called  upon  the  barons  of 
Poitou  to  help  him ;  many  of  these  had  grievances  of  their  own 
against  their  capricious  sovereign,  and  they  willingly  appealed  to 
Philip  11.  as  overlord  to  protect  them  from  the  lawless  acts  of  their 
immediate  lord.  After  long  delays  Philip  accepted  their  appeal, 
and  in  1202  summoned  John  to  Paris  to  answer  the  complaints 
brought  against  him.  John  refused  to  appear,  and  the  court  of  the 
French  king  condemned  him  to  lose  all  his  lands  in  France.  Philip 
at  once  invaded  Normandy,  in  the  hope  of  enforcing  the  sentence 


12 14.]  JOHN  LACKLAND  1 39 

in  person.  He  recognized  Arthnr  of  Brittany  as  lord  of  Aquitaine 
and  Anjou,  and  invited  him  to  conquer  his  inheritance.  Arthnr, 
though  only  fifteen  years  old,  showed  gallantry  and  resolution.  He 
invaded  Poitou,  and  took  possession  of  Mirebeau,  one  of  its  chief 
strongholds.  His  grandmother,  Eleanor,  who  was  in  the  town,  was 
forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  castle,  where  she  was  strictly  blockaded 
by  her  grandson.  John  himself  came  to  his  mother's  rescue, 
defeated  Arthur's  troops,  and  took  his  nephew  prisoner.  Arthur 
was  imprisoned  at  Rouen,  and  was  murdered  in  1203  by  his  uncle's 
orders.  Next  year  old  Queen  Eleanor  died,  and  John's  cause 
speedily  collapsed. 

4.  Philip  n.  threw  all  his  energies  into  the  conquest  of 
Normandy.  John  remained  inactive  at  Rouen,  and  seemed  un- 
moved by  his  rival's  successes.  "  Let  Philip  go  on,"  j^q  joss  0f 
he  said ;  "  whatever  he  takes,  I  shall  retake  it  in  a  Normandy 
single  day."  At  last  Philip  besieged  Chateau  Gaillard.  and  AnJou' 
Richard's  favourite  castle  held  out  gallantly  for  eight  months,  and 
its  reduction  was  one  of  the  greatest  feats  of  military  engineering  of 
the  time.  John  made  but  feeble  efforts  to  succour  the  garrison,  and 
in  April,  1204,  Philip  captured  the  place  by  assault.  Normandy  was 
now  open  to  attack,  and  many  of  its  barons,  disgusted  with  John's 
slackness,  made  common  cause  with  the  French  king.  With  the 
surrender  of  Rouen  in  June,  the  whole  of  the  duchy  passed  into 
Philip's  hands.  Next  year  Philip  established  his  power  over  the 
greater  part  of  Poitou.  Anjou  was  overrun  with  equal  ease,  and 
by  1206  John's  authority  over  France  was  limited  to  the  lands 
south  of  the  Charente. 

5.  For  the  rest  of  his  reign  John  made  half-hearted  and  gene- 
rally unsuccessful  attempts  to  reconquer  his  father's  lands,  and  the 
levity  and  instability  of  the  Poitevin  barons  gave  him 

many  chances  of  turning  the  tables  on  Philip.     His    La  Roche  au 
most   serious   attempt  was  made   in   1213,  when  he   Moine  and 
managed  to  win  back  much  of  the  ground  lost  in    jo?4  n6S' 
Poitou  and  Anjou.     His  nephew   Otto,   son   of  his 
sister  and  Henry  the  Lion,  who  had  been  brought  up  at  his  court, 
was  now  Roman  emperor,  through  the  support  of   Pope  Inno- 
cent in.     Otto,  however,  soon  quarrelled  with  the  pope,  and  as 
John  was  also  on  bad  terms  with  Rome,  uncle  and  nephew  worked 
closely  together.     As  Philip  of  France  was  the  close  ally  of  Inno- 
cent, Otto  and  John  formed  a  great  league  of  excommunicated 
princes  against  him.     In  1214,  while  Otto  carried  on  the  war  in  the 
northern  frontier  of  France,  John  went  to  Anjou  and  besieged  the 


I40  JOHN"  LACKLAND  .  [1205- 

castle  of  La  Roche  au  Moine,  on  the  Loire.  Louis,  Philip  11. 's 
eldest  son,  led  an  army  to  its  relief,  and  a  battle  seemed  imminent, 
but  at  the  last  moment  John  shirked  an  engagement,  and  fled  to 
the  south.  In  the  same  year  Otto  was  defeated  by  Philip  in  a 
great  battle  at  Bouvines,  near  Tournai.  This  double  disaster  broke 
up  the  coalition.  It  secured  the  establishment  of  Philip's  power 
in  Anjou  and  Poitou,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  domestic  concerns 
occupied  John  too  fully  to  allow  him  to  contend  any  longer  against 
his  adversary.  Henceforth  the  northern  parts  of  the  Angevin 
empire  were  permanently  annexed  to  France.  Though  the  circum- 
stances of  their  loss  was  very  disgraceful  to  John,  yet  the  separa- 
tion of  England  and  Normandy  proved,  in  the  long  run,  a  good 
thing  for  France  and  England.  The  two  countries  were  bound  to 
remain  separate  and  independent  nations,  and  it  was  best  for  both 
that  they  should  be  so.  Philip's  conquests  so  immensely  increased 
the  strength  of  France  that  henceforward  the  French  monarchy, 
so  feeble  under  the  early  Capetians,  became  one  of  the  greatest 
states  of  Europe.  It  was  also  a  gain  to  England  that  Normandy 
should  no  longer  be  under  the  rule  of  the  English  king.  Up  to 
then  many  English  barons  had  had  estates  in  both  countries,  and 
the  consequent  division  of  their  interests  made  it  hard  for  them  to 
become  good  Englishmen.  They  had  now  to  choose  between 
France  and  England.  Those  who  had  their  main  estates  in 
England  lost  their  Norman  possessions,  so  that  their  sole  interests 
were  for  the  future  on  this  side  of  the  channel.  Thus  the  separa- 
tion of  the  kingdom  and  the  duchy  was  another  step  forward  in  the 
growth  of  English  unity  and  English  national  feeling.  The 
Norman  aristocracy  of  England  had  no  longer  any  reason  for  acting 
otherwise  than  as  Englishmen. 

6.  In  1205  Hubert  Walter,  the  wise  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
died.  His  death  removed  a  powerful  check  from  the  king,  and  a 
The  disputed  ^sPu^e  about  the  succession  soon  led  John  into  a 
election  at  fierce  conflict  with  the  Church.  The  right  of  electing 
1205erbUry'  any  bishop  rested  with  the  chapter  of  his  cathedral, 
and  the  Benedictine  monks  of  the  cathedral  of  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury,  had  an  undoubted  legal  claim  to  choose  the 
new  archbishop.  But  the  monks  were  apt  to  take  a  narrow  view 
of  their  duty,  and  to  forget  that  the  selection  of  the  head  of  the 
English  Church  was  a  business  that  concerned  the  whole  country. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  king  had  always  a  large  share  in  deciding 
who  was  to  be  archbishop,  and  the  tendency  was  to  reduce  what 
was  called  the  canonical  election  by  the  chapter  to  the  mere  form 


-1207-]  JOHN  LACKLAND  141 

of  the  monks  accepting  the  king's  nominee.  On  this  occasion, 
however,  the  monks  of  Christ  Church  could  not  agree  among  each 
other  or  with  the  king.  The  younger  brethren,  thinking  of  the 
interests  of  their  monastery,  rather  than  the  interests  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  elected  as  archbishop  their  sub-prior  Reginald, 
a  boastful  and  commonplace  monk,  with  no  claim  to  so  distin- 
guished an  office.  They  did  not  ask  John's  permission  to  proceed 
to  election,  and  made  their  choice  in  the  utmost  secrecy.  They 
sent  Reginald  to  Rome  to  get  the  pallium  from  the  pope,  and  told  him 
to  say  nothing  about  their  action.  Reginald,  however,  was  so  pleased 
with  his  new  dignity  that'  he  could  not  keep  it  to  himself.  News  of 
the  monks'  hasty  choice  soon  reached  John,  who  in  great  anger 
ordered  the  chapter  to  choose  one  of  his  ministers,  John  de  Grey, 
bishop  of  Norwich,  who  was  a  mere  politician.  Some  of  the  monks 
consented  to  do  this  from  fear  of  the  king,  and  soon  Grey  also  was 
urging  the  pope  to  give  him  the  pallium  as  the  rightly  elected 
archbishop. 

7.  As  supreme  head  of  the  Church  the  popes  had  long  claimed 
a  voice  in  the  appointment  of  the  chief  ecclesiastical  dignitaries. 
A  disputed  election  such  as  this  always  gave  them  a 

special  opportunity  of  interfering  with  effect.     The    procures 
Roman  see  was  now  held  by  Innocent  in.,  who  was    Langton's 
perhaps  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  popes  of  the   nSnt  1207 
Middle  Ages.     He  was  eager  to  extend  his  influence  in 
every  direction,  and  being  a  high-minded  and  honourable  man, 
was  anxious  that  the  best  possible  person  should  become  archbishop 
of  Canterbury.      He  soon  convinced  himself  that  both  Reginald 
and  John  were  unfit  for  so  great  a  burden.     He  summoned  repre- 
sentatives of  the  chapter  to  Rome,  and  advised  them  to  pass  over 
both  candidates  and  make  a  fresh  election.     He  recommended  them 
to  choose  Stephen  Langton,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  a  famous 
theologian,  who  was  then  living  at  Rome  as  a  cardinal  of  the 
Roman   Church.      The  monks  could  not  resist  papal  pressure, 
and  elected  Langton.     Thereupon  Innocent  gave  him  the  pallium, 
and  consecrated  him  bishop  with  his  own  hands. 

8.  Langton  was  likely  to  be  a  much  better  archbishop  than  the 
foolish  monk  and  the  greedy  worldling  respectively  favoured  by 
ehapter  and  king.  But  however  wise  Innocent's  appoint-  Quarrel  of 
ment  was,  it  was  a  dangerous  thing  that  the  head  of  John  and 
the  English  Church  should  be  forced  upon  the  country  Innocent  m- 
by  the  pope,  and  wiser  kings  than  John  might  well  have  hesitated 
to  accept  the  nomination  from  Rome.    There  is  no  need,  however,  to 


142  JOHN  LACKLAND  [1208* 

suppose  that  deep  motives  of  policy  and  a  high-minded  desire  to 
resist  papal  aggression  moved  John  to  resist  Innocent's  nominee. 
John's  sole  wish  was  to  get  as  archbishop  a  dependant  who  would 
help  him  to  plunder  and  oppress  the  Church.  But,  whatever  his 
motives,  he  would  not  give  way  to  the  pope,  and  as  Innocent  was 
equally  unbending,  a  fierce  conflict  broke  out  between  them.  Mean- 
while the  church  of  Canterbury  remained  vacant,  for  Innocent 
would  not  recognize  Grey,  and  John  would  not  allow  Langton 

to  enter  the  country.  After  a  year  Innocent  put  Eng- 
diet 1 1 208       *anc*  un<^er  an  interdict.     An  interdict  was  one  of  the 

severest  punishments  which  the  Church  could  inflict. 
By  it  all  public  worship  was  forbidden  ;  churches  were  closed  ;  no 
bell  was  tolled ;  the  dead  were  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground 
without  any  religious  rites  ;  it  was  a  favour  that  the  dying  were 
admitted  to  the  last  sacraments,  and  baptism  allowed  to  the  new- 
born child.  Men  thought  that  God's  favour  was  withdrawn  from  a 
land  under  interdict,  and  in  that  age  of  faith  the  loss  of  the  con- 
solations of  the  Church  was  a  thing  grievous  to  be  borne.  John, 
who  was  as  godless  as  William  Rufus,  cared  little  for  the  interdict. 
He  was  strong  enough  to  force  many  of  the  clergy  to  continue  their 
services  and  ignore  the  pope's  orders.  Those  priests  who  observed 
the  interdict  were  driven  into  banishment.  A  year  passed  by, 
John's  ex-  an^  John  remained  as  obstinate  as  ever.  In  1209 
eommunica-  Innocent  excommunicated  John;  that  is  to  say,  he 
Hon,  1209.  refused  to  allow  him  to  participate  in  any  of  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Church.  The  king  was  as  careless  of  excommunica- 
tion as  he  had  been  of  the  interdict,  and  Innocent  was  forced  to 
seek  a  more  effective  weapon  against  him.  As  head  of  the  Church 
the  pope  had  long  claimed  the  power  of  declaring  that  princes  who 
were  foes  to  the  Church  had  ceased  to  reign  over  their  dominions. 
By  virtue  of  this  Innocent  had  already  deposed  John's  nephew, 
Otto.  In  1212  he  declared  that  if  John  resisted  any  longer,  he 
would  deprive  him  of  his  throne.  Innocent  called  upon  John's 
enemy,  Philip  11.,  who  was  now  a  close  friend  of  the  papacy,  to 
execute  the  sentence.  Philip  willingly  accepted  the  commission, 
and  prepared  to  invade  England. 

9.  John  was  seriously  alarmed,  and  sought  to  buy  off  the 
John's  sub-  P°Pes  hostility  by  an  offer  to  accept  Langton  as 
mission  to  archbishop.  Innocent  insisted  on  a  more  abject  sub- 
12^3Cent'        mission,   and    John,   in   despair,   yielded    to    all   his 

demands.  In  1213  there  came  to  Dover  a  papal  envoy 
named  Pandulf,  appointed  to  reconcile  John  to  the  Church  if  he 


-I2I3-1  JOHN  LACKLAND  143 

fulfilled  the  hard  conditions  imposed  upon  him.  John  agreed  to 
recognize  Lang-ton  as  archbishop,  to  restore  to  their  benefices  the 
partisans  of  the  pope  whom  he  had  banished,  and  to  surrender  his 
crown  to  the  triumphant  pope.  Two  days  later  he  received  it  back 
again  from  Pandulf ,  on  promising  to  be  the  pope's  vassal  for  the 
future.  Like  any  other  feudal  vassal,  he  took  an  oath  of  fealty  to 
Innocent  as  to  his  suzerain,  and  performed  the  humiliating  act  of 
homage  to  the  pope's  representative.  Moreover,  he  agreed  to  pay 
henceforth  a  tribute  of  1000  marks  a  year  to  the  Roman  see. 

10.  Thus  John  became  the  vassal  of  the  pope,  as  Richard  had 
become  the  vassal  of  the  emperor.     To  the  men  of  the  time  there 
seemed  little  that  was  humiliating  in  both  acts ;  to    .  .     ^_ 
moderns  both  seem  equally  disgraceful.     As  regards   comes  the 
their  consequences,  there  was  all  the  difference  in  the   v^SSp1  °^ 
world  between  the  two   surrenders.     The   emperor's 

power  was  small,  and  constantly  growing  less.  He  had  no  means  of 
enforcing  his  lordship  over  England,  so  that  Richard's  surrender 
was  a  mere  form  which  even  the  emperor  did  not  care  to  revive, 
and  which  was  soon  forgotten.  The  pope  had  more  influence  in 
every  country  in  western  Europe  than  the  king,  and  he  had  in  the 
clergy  permanent  agents  of  his  will.  To  the  enormous  ecclesias- 
tical authority  exercised  by  the  pope  in  England  after  the  Norman 
conquest  was  now  added  political  supremacy  as  overlord.  Hence- 
forth England  was  regarded  as  depending  on  Rome  in  the  same 
way  that  Grascony  depended  on  France,  or  "Wales  on  England. 
John,  however,  thought  little  of  the  ultimate  consequences  of  his 
act,  for  to  him  it  was  but  a  move  in  the  game.  Henceforth  he  had 
the  pope  on  his  side,  and  having  by  his  surrender  stopped  the 
French  invasion,  he  was  in  a  position  to  renew  the  attacks  on 
France,  which  ended  so  disastrously,  as  we  have  seen,  at  La  Roche 
au  Moine  and  Bouvines.  Luckily  he  was  turned  from  this  purpose 
by  a  quarrel  with  his  subjects. 

11.  From  his  accession  John  had  ruled  England  capriciously 
and  tyrannically,  and  had  offended  many  of  the  most  powerful  of 
his  barons.     It  was,  however,  no  new  thing  for  king   Th   b        h 
and  nobles  to  be  at  variance.     Since  the  days  of  the    between 
conquest  the  king  always  relied  upon  his  people  as  a   J9hn  and 
whole  to  support  him  against  aristocratic  revolt.     But 

times  had  changed  since  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  Cut  off  from 
Normandy,  the  barons  now  thought  mainly  of  England,  and  were 
rapidly  forgetting  the  feudal  tradition  which  had  made  it  the 
ambition  of  each  one  of  them  to  be  a  little  king  over  his  own 


144  JOHN  LACKLAND  [1213- 

estate.  The  baronial  leaders  were  still  turbulent  and  selfish  in  their 
policy,  but  their  object  was  henceforward  not  to  upset  the  central 
government  so  much  as  to  take  a  prominent  share  in  its  ad- 
ministration. Their  aims  were  henceforward  so  far  national  that 
there  was  no  reason  why  Englishmen  should  not  support  them. 
Moreover,  John  had  ruled  so  badly  that  the  people  might  well 
support  any  party  which  aimed  at  reducing  his  authority. 

12.  John's  excessive  demands  for  foreign  service  first  fired  the 
indignation  of  his  barons.  In  1213  many  refused  to  follow  him  to 
Progress  of  Poitou,  an(i  m  1214  the  same  magnates  declined  to 
the  quarrel,  pay  a  scutage  which  he  demanded.  While  the  king 
1213-1215.  wag  akroa(j  £he  barons  met  in  council,  and  Langton 
laid  before  them  Henry  i.'s  charter  of  liberties,  and  advised 
them  to  obtain  a  similar  document  from  John.  Up  to  1213  the 
prudent  rule  of  the  justiciar,  Fitz  Peter,  had  partly  checked 
John's  tyranny ;  but  the  justiciar  now  died,  and  John,  with 
characteristic  ingratitude,  rejoiced  at  the  removal  of  the  restraint 
which  Geoffrey  had  imposed  upon  him.  During  John's  long  absence 
abroad  the  barons  organized  resistance.  When  he  returned  in  1214, 
he  came  back  disgraced  and  vanquished.  Finding  that  there  was 
no  chance  of  exacting  concessions  by  peaceful  means,  the  barons  took 
arms  and  went  to  war  against  their  sovereign.  Every  one  now 
deserted  John,  save  a  few  faithful  nobles  like  William  Marshall, 
earl  of  Pembroke,  who  believed  that  they  were  bound  to  support 
the  king,  even  when  he  was  a  bad  one.  John's  main  reliance  was 
upon  his  foreign  favourites  and  mercenary  soldiers  imported  from 
abroad  to  overawe  his  kingdom.  With  such  backing  it  was  im- 
possible for  John  to  hold  out  long  against  his  subjects,  and  he  soon 
yielded  as  abjectly  to  his  barons  as  he  had  formerly  surrendered  to 
the  pope.  On  June  15,  1215,  he  met  the  baronial  leaders  at  a 
meadow  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  between  Windsor  and  Staines, 
called  Runnymede.  There  he  sealed  the  articles  of  submission 
which  the  barons  had  drawn  up  for  his  acceptance. 

13.  This  document  is  famous  as  Magna  Carta,  or  the  Great 
Charter,  and  is  justly  regarded  as  marking  the  beginnings  of 
The  Great  English  liberty.  From  the  conquest  to  this  date  the 
Charter,         Norman  kings  had  reigned  as  despots.      The  union  of 

all  classes  against  John  now  forced  the  king  to  agree 
that  his  authority  should  be  limited.  The  clauses  of  the  charter 
were  to  some  extent  modelled  on  that  of  Henry  1.,  but  there  was  a 
great  difference  between  a  charter  granted  with  the  king's  goodwill 
and  a  charter  imposed  on  a  reluctant  king  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 


-I2i6.]  JOHN  LACKLAND  145 

Moreover,  the  charter  of  1215  was  a  much  fuller  document  than 
that  of  1100.  It  contained  few  novelties,  but  clearly  stated  the 
customs  of  the  realm  in  the  days  of  Henry  n.  It  promised  free- 
dom to  the  English  Church,  and  especially  freedom  to  chapters  to 
elect  their  bishops.  A  large  number  of  clauses  carefully  limited 
the  rights  of  the  crown  to  exact  feudal  dues  from  the*barons,  and 
the  barons  were  similarly  required  to  treat  their  own  tenants 
leniently.  London  and  the  towns  were  to  have  their  liberties 
preserved  ;  merchants  had  freedom  to  trade  in  times  of  peace.  No 
new  aids  or  taxes  were  to  be  levied  by  the  king  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  great  council  of  barons.  Justice  was  to  be  denied  to 
no  man,  and  no  freeman  was  to  be  imprisoned  or  outlawed,  save 
according  to  the  judgment  of  his  peers  and  the  law  of  the  land. 

14.  John  accepted  the  barons'  demands  without  the  least  intention 
of  keeping  his  word.  His  object  was  to  gain  time,  and,  as  soon  as 
he  could,  he  repudiated  his  promise.     He  persuaded    R  .    . 

Innocent  in.  that  the  charter  was  against  the  interests    the  war  of 
of  the  Roman  Church  because  it  reduced  the  power  of    king  and 
the  pope's  vassal.     In  consequence  of  this  Innocent 
issued  a  bull  declaring  the  document  invalid.     John  then  raised  an 
army  of  foreign  mercenaries,  and  went  to  war  against  the  barons. 
For  once  he  showed  energy  and  activity.      Before  long  he  pressed 
the   nobles  so  hard  that  they  were  forced  to  call  in  foreign  aid. 
They  requested  Louis  of  France,  who  had  defeated  John  at  La  Roche 
au  Moine,  to  come  over  and  help  them  and  be  their  king.     Louis 
at  once  accepted  their  offer,  and  landed  in  England.     Even  with 
his  aid  the  barons  had  still  a  hard  task  before  them.     The  pope 
excommunicated   Louis,   and  few  of  the   clergy  dared  to  support 
him,   while  many   of  the   officials   of  the   school  of 
Henry  II.  faithfully  rallied  round  the  king.     However,    John   1216 
on  October  19,  1216,  John  died  suddenly  in  the  midst 
of  the  struggle.     He  was  the  worst  of  English  monarchs,  and  his 
persistent  ill  fortune  was  entirely  his  own  fault.    It  was  no  wonder 
that  men  called  him,  in  shame,  John  Lackland:     With  him  the 
Norman  despotism  came  to  an   end.      It  had  done  its    work  in 
making  England  peaceable  and  united,  and  was  no  longer  needed. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
FEUDAL   BRITAIN 

1.  The  chief  results  of  the  Norman  conquest  were  to  stimulate  the 
energy  of  England,  to  promote  its  unity,  and  to  break  down  the 
wall  of  separation  that  had  hitherto  divided  it  from 
tance  of  the  the  res^  °^  the  world.  In  a  lesser  degree  the  Normans 
Norman  exercised  a  similar  influence   over  the   non-English 

^Britain?1"  Parts  of  the  Britisl1  Islands.  They  made  English- 
speaking  Scotland  a  feudal  land  as  much  as  England. 
Though  their  influence  was  more  superficial  in  Celtic  districts,  they 
made  their  power  felt  in  Celtic  Scotland,  in  Wales,  and  in  Ireland. 
Reduced  to  a  common  subjection  under  their  restless  and  masterful 
Norman  lords,  the  Irish  and  the  Welsh,  like  the  English,  lost  some- 
thing of  their  ancient  freedom,  and  were  for  the  first  time  brought 
into  more  than  nominal  dependence  upon  an  English  king.  Thus 
the  Norman  conquest,  which  finally  brought  about  the  union  of 
England,  did  much  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  later  union  of  the 
British  Isles.  While,  however,  Norman  and  Englishman  were 
amalgamated  by  the  twelfth  century  into  a  single  people,  Celtic 
tribalism  and  Norman  feudalism  lay  too  far  asunder  to  be  capable 
of  fusion.  It  resulted  from  this  that  Norman  influence  over 
Celtic  lands  ever  remained  what  it  originally  was  in  England — that 
is,  the  rule  of  the  alien  based  simply  upon  military  force.  For 
that  reason  it  was  more  superficial  than  was  the  case  in  England. 
Nevertheless,  the  history  of  the  British  Islands  would  have  been 
very  different  had  there  not  been  Norman  conquests  of  Scotland, 
Wales,  and  Ireland,  as  well  as  of  England.  To  all  these  countries 
alike  the  conquest  marks  the  chief  turning-point  of  their  history. 

2.  We  have  seen  how  the  Norman  kings  completed  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  feudal  system  of  land  tenure  in  England.  In  so 
doing,  they  brought  our  country  into  line  with  the  general  civi- 
lization of  that  mediaeval  Europe  of  which  England  soon  became 
one  of  the  important  powers.  Henceforward  the  isolation  of 
Anglo-Saxon  England  was  replaced  by  openness  to  new  ideas,  and 
146 


I2i6.]  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  147 

constant  participation  in  all  the  great  movements  of  the  time. 
While  Anglo-Saxon   England  lived    its    life  apart   in  sluggish 
indifference  to  the  world  beyond,  Norman  and  Angevin 
England  stood  in  the  forefront  of  every  great  Euro-   [JSteiM 
pean  movement.     Its  kings  were  as  powerful  across   between 
the  sea  as  in  Britain.     Its  feudal  institutions  were   f,ritalnt*nd 
those  of  the  western  world.   Its  knights  lived  the  same   nent. 
life  and  fought  after  the  same  fashion  as  the  warriors 
of  the  continent.     Englishmen  took  their  full  share  in  the  crusades 
and  the  other  international  movements  of  the  time.  This  communion 
of  sympathy  was  even  greater  in  the  domain  of  ideas  than  in  the 
world  of  action.   We  shall  see  this  in  detail  when  we  study  the  new 
position  of  the  English  Church. 

3.  The  vital  fact  of  the  Norman  and  Angevin  periods  was  the 
permanent  establishment  of  the  centralized  despotism  of  the  king-. 
The  only  real  checks  to  the  caprice  of  the  monarch   The  fc. 
were  the  nobles  and  great  ecclesiastics,  and  even  these   and  the 
had  little  power  to  control  the  king,. save  by  directly   Great 
waging  war  against  him.    The  place  of  the  Witenagemot 

as  the  council  of  the  nation  was  now  taken  by  the  Great  Council, 
which  did  not  differ  very  greatly  from  it  in  constitution  or  powers. 
It  was  composed,  during  the  twelfth  century,  of  all  the  tenants  in 
chief  of  the  crown,  but  in  practice  only  the  more  important  tenants 
were  in  the  habit  of  attending  it.  It  agreed  to  new  laws  and  to 
extraordinary  taxes;  but,  like  the  Witenagemot,  it  seems  seldom 
or  never  to  have  ventured  to  resist  the  wishes  of  a  strong  king. 
Even  more  under  the  monarch's  control  were  the  courts  composed 
of  officials  appointed  by  him,  such  as  the  Curia  Regis  and  the 
Exchequer,  of  which  we  have  spoken  elsewhere.  In  both  of  them 
the  chief  ministers  of  the  crown  had  seats.  Besides  the  Justiciar, 
the  regent  in  the  king's  absence,  and  the  prime  minister  when  he 
was  in  England,  the  king's  chief  ministers  were  the  Chancellor,  who 
was  a  sort  of  secretary,  issuing  all  writs  and  documents,  and  the 
Treasurer,  who  controlled  the  finances.  It  was  generally  thought 
best  to  give  these  offices  to  ecclesiastics,  who  were  better  educated 
than  laymen,  and  were  not  able  to  hand  on  their  powers  to  their 
families.  The  offices  of  state,  held  by  lay  lords,  such  as  the  military 
dignities  of  Marshal  and  Constable,  became  hereditary. 

4.  The  local  courts  of  the  Shire  and  Hundred  were  still  con- 
tinued. Though  the  feudal  courts  of  the  great  landlords  often 
usurped  the  jurisdiction  of  the  hundred,  the  shire  moot  remained 
a  strong  body,  though  it  also  became  in  practice  a  court  of  the 


148  FEUDAL  BRITAIN"  [1066- 

landlords.  The  circuit  and  jury  system  of  Henry  11.  brought  it 
into  close  relations  with  the  central  government,  and  the  kings 

found  it  very  useful  as  a  means  of  raising  money  and 
Local  0£  asCertaining  public  opinion.     The  immense  revenue 

of  the  crown  was  mainly  derived  by  taxes  on  land. 
It  was  collected  by  the  Sheriffs  of  the  shires,  who  went  twice  a  year 
to  the  Exchequer  at  Westminster  to  present  their  accounts  and 
pay  over  the  money  they  had  raised.  They  were  the  chief  agents 
of  the  king  in  dealing  with  the  local  government,  and  had  much 
more  power  and  importance  than  before  the  conquest. 

5.  Great  as  were  the  changes  brought  about  by  Norman  in- 
fluence, the  vast  majority  of  Englishmen  still  lived  a  life  not  very 
Earls  different  from    that    of    their    ancestors    before  the 

barons,  and  conquest.  Land  remained  the  chief  source  of  wealth, 
knights.  anc|  neariy  everybody  depended  on  agriculture  for  his 

livelihood.  Like  the  Anglo-Saxon  thegns,  the  Norman  nobles 
owed  their  importance  to  their  being  possessors  of  large  landed 
estates.  Though  the  kings  looked  with  suspicion  upon  the  political 
ambitions  of  the  barons,  they  put  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
accumulation  of  great  estates  under  a  single  hand.  War,  however, 
and  the  unhealthy  conditions  of  life  made  the  duration  of  a  baronial 
house  extremely  short.  By  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century 
there  were  few  Norman  houses  left  which  could  boast  an  uninter- 
rupted descent  from  those  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  with  the  earldoms,  whose  possessors 
still  formed  a  small  and  powerful  class  at  the  head  of  the  aristocracy. 
Next  to  them  came  the  greater  barons,  who  included  all  tenants  in 
chief  important  enough  to  be  summoned  to  the  king's  council  by  a 
special  writ.  By  the  thirteenth  century,  these  were  not  more  than 
a  hundred  in  number.  The  lesser  barons  were  the  tenants  in  chief, 
who  were  called  to  the  king's  councils  by  general  writs  addressed 
to  the  sheriff  of  each  county.  They  ultimately  became  combined 
with  the  mesne  tenants,  to  form  the  lesser  nobility,  or  knighthood, 
which  plays  in  mediaeval  history  the  same  part  as  that  taken  by  the 
country  gentry  of  more  modern  times.  Properly,  a  knight  was  a 
fully  armed  and  mounted  soldier  who  had  been  solemnly  admitted 
to  the  use  of  arms  by  his  older  and  tried  comrades.  The  greatest 
kings  and  soldiers  were  proud  to  be  dubbed  knight  by  some  famous 
warrior;  but  every  landowner  of  a  fair-sized  estate  was,  by  the 
thirteenth  century,  compelled  by  the  king  to  become  a  knight,  so 
that  a  knight  often  meant  simply  a  smaller  landlord. 

6.  The  estates  of  the  nobles  and  gentry  were  divided  into 


T2i6.]  FEUDAL  BRITAIN     -  I49 

manors,  which  were  all  much  of  the  same  type.     Each  manor  had 
its  lord,  who   controlled  all  the  land  and  exercised  jurisdiction 
in  his  manorial  court  over  his  tenants.     Sometimes 
the  lord  had  special  rights  of  jurisdiction,  as,  for  ex-  system"01*1*1 
ample,  the  trial  of  criminals.    In  this  case,  he  also  held 
a  court-leet,  in  which  these  powers  were  exercised.    If  the  lord  were 
a  great  man,  he  held  many  manors  scattered  all  over  England,  and 
was  in  consequence  seldom  in  residence.     His  steward,  or  repre- 
sentative, then  acted  on  his  behalf,  while  in  any  case  his  bailiff 
looked  after  the  details  of  cultivation  and  the  management  of  the 
estate.     There   was   probably  a  hall  where  the  lord  could  reside 
with  his  family  and  servants.     The   land  was   divided  into  two 
parts.     First,  there  was  the  demesne,  or  home  farm  of  the  lord, 
which  was   cultivated  by  his  bailiff  for  him,  by  the  help  of  the 
villagers,  who  were  compelled  to  work  on  their  lord's  . 

estate  for  a  certain  number  of  days  in  the  year.  The 
rest  of  the  manor  was  divided  among  the  villagers,  most  of  whom 
belonged  to  the  villein  class.  The  villeins  were  serfs,  bound  to  the 
soil,  who  could  not  move  from  the  estate  of  their  lord.  In  some 
ways  they  were  not  badly  off.  Each  had  his  cottage  and  little 
patch  of  ground,  from  which  he  could  not  be  turned  off  so  long  as 
he  performed  the  services  of  his  lord.  Though  they  had  no  luxuries, 
the  villeins  seem  to  have  had  in  ordinary  times  plenty  of  meat, 
bread,  and  ale,  and  enough  warm  woollen  clothing  to  keep  out  the 
cold.  They  were,  however,  exposed  to  the  caprice  of  their  lords, 
and,  though  not  called  upon  to  perform  military  service,  were  the 
first  to  suffer  whenever  war  broke  out.  Though  the  Norman 
conquest  increased  the  number  of  villeins,  there  was  this  compen- 
sation— that  the  absolute  slavery  which  was  common  in  early 
England  died  out  during  the  Norman  period. 

7.  There  was  little  variety  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.     The 
ploughs  were  heavy,  and  were   drawn  by  several  yoke  of   oxen. 
The  old  succession  of  corn-crops  and  fallow  still  went 
on.     The  lands  tilled  by  the  tenants  were  not  grouped   husbandry, 
together  in  compact  holdings,  but  were  scattered  in 
long  narrow  strips  all  over  the  manor.     This  was  also  the  case 
with  the  lord's  demesne.      In  most  other  ways  the  Anglo-Saxon 
system  was  continued.     There  was  still  a  large  extent  of  common 
land,  and  after  harvest  any  tenant  could  still  pasture  his  cattle 
on  the  arable  fields.     The  farmer's  object  was  still  to  raise  enough 
corn  and  meat  to  keep  himself  and  his  family  through  the  winter. 
Though  trade  and  markets  were  becoming  more  important,  there 


150  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  [1066- 

was  little  intercourse  between  various  districts.  The  establishment 
of  the  strong-  Norman  despotism  greatly  added  to  the  happiness 
of  the  ordinary  man,  who  could  till  his  fields  and  go  about  his 
business  in  comparative  safety. 

8.  Towns  and  trade  received  an  immense  impetus  as  a  result  of 
the  Norman  conquest.     Towns  not  only  became  bigger  and  richer ; 

they  ceased  to  be  mainly  the  homes  of  husbandmen  or 
Towns  and  refugees  in  time  of  war,  and  henceforth  were  centres 
of  trade  and  industry.  The  merchants  of  the  chief 
towns  formed  societies  called  Merchant-guilds,  and  in  many  places 
the  merchant-guild  secured  a  monopoly  of  trade  for  its  members, 
as  well  as  virtual  control  bf  the  government  of  the  borough.  The 
Norman  trader  was  as  restless  and  energetic  as  the  Norman  soldier, 
and  since  Edward  the  Confessor's  days  many  Normans  had  settled 
down  in  English  towns,  and  actively  busied  themselves  in  commerce. 
The  father  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  was,  for  example,  a  Norman 
who  had  established  himself  in  London  and  won  a  high  position  for 
himself  in  the  city.  After  the  conquest  Jews  began  to  take  up 
their  abode  in  the  greater  English  towns,  and  made  much  profit  for 
themselves  as  money-lenders.  In  this  business  the  Jews  had  a 
practical  monopoly,  since  the  law  of  the  Church  for- 
bade all  Christians  to  lend  money  on  usury.  They 
were  unpopular,  and  were  often  cruelly  persecuted.  They  were 
forced  to  wear  a  distinctive  dress,  and  live  in  a  special  part  of 
the  town,  called  a  Jewry.  But  they  generally  enjoyed  the  king's 
protection,  because  they  could  afford  to  pay  heavily  for  it.  Gradually 
they  obtained  special  laws,  courts,  and  recognized  customs  of  their 
own.  They  were  much  richer  than  the  Christians,  and  were 
among  the  first  private  people  who  built  stone  houses  to  live  in. 

9.  Even  before  the  conquest  London  was  the  most  important 
town  in  England.  From  Edward  the  Confessor's  time  onward,  the 
London  and  C0Tlrt  made  Westminster  its  chief  centre,  and  it  followed 
othep  chief     from  this  that  London  gradually  became  a  recognized 

capital.  It  received  many  liberties  by  royal  charters,  of 
which  the  most  important  was  one  issued  by  Henry  1.  Its  citizens 
took  an  active  part  in  politics,  and  their  zeal  in  supporting  Stephen 
and  in  opposing  John  were  especially  noteworthy.  Under  Richard  1. 
London  obtained  the  right  of  choosing  its  own  mayor,  and  was 
henceforth  self-governing  in  every  respect.  The  country  towns 
were  contented  to  obtain  from  the  king  charters  which  extended  to 
them  privileges  which  were  already  possessed  by  the  Londoners. 
Conspicuous  among  them  were  York,  the  capital  of  the  north; 


-I2i6.]  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  151 

Exeter,  the  chief  town  of  the  west ;  Bristol,  the  most  important 
port  after  London ;  and  Norwich,  the  leading  manufacturing  city. 
Among  the  ports,  those  of  the  south-east  coast  were  particularly 
conspicuous.  They  were  called  the  Cinque  Ports,  because  they  were 
originally  five  in  number.  They  formed  a  confederation  among 
themselves,  and  showed  great  activity.  When  war  arose,  the  ships 
of  the  Cinque  Ports  formed  a  large  part  of  the  royal  navy.  The 
most  famous  of  them  was  Dover,  the  chief  port  of  passage  between 
England  and  the  continent.  As  the  Norman  power  was  extended 
over  Wales  and  Ireland,  towns  grew  up  for  the  first  time  in  those 
■countries  under  the  protection  of  the  Norman  lords.  Despite  the 
great  development  of  town  life,  the  English  were  still  not  very 
energetic  in  commerce.  What  foreign  trade  there  was  remained  in 
the  hands  of  foreigners.  It  was  for  that  reason  that  the  Great 
Charter  laid  special  stress  upon  protecting  foreign  merchants,  and 
giving  them  free  access  to  England  in  peace  time. 

10.  Life  was  still  simple,  primitive,  and  hard.  Even  the  king 
and  the  great  nobles  had  no  high  standard  of  comfort.  There  was 
little  money  in  the  country,  and  a  great  man  could 

only  support  his  numerous  train  of  followers  by  wan-  Jj*|* lons  of 
Bering  ceaselessly  from  oner  of  his  estates  to  another. 
When  the  produce  of  one  estate  was  eaten  up,  the  magnate  went 
on  to  the  next,  for  it  was  easier  for  men  to  move  about  than 
it  was  for  produce  to  be  carried  for  long  distances.  Kings  and 
nobles  were  thus  forced  to  change  their  abode  so  often  that  it  was 
never  worth  while  to  collect  much  furniture  or  make  their  dwellings 
comfortable.  Houses  were  still  mainly  built  of  wood,  and  the 
castles,  erected  for  military  purposes,  were  cramped  and  dark  places 
to  live  in.  There  was  much  dirt  and  overcrowding  among  most 
orders  of  society,  and  only  the  great  had  any  chance  of  privacy. 
Men  huddled  together  to  sleep  in  the  same  room  in  which  they 
lived  or  ate.  There  were  few  amusements,  and  scanty  means  of 
keeping  out  the  cold  of  winter. 

11.  Despite  these  disadvantages,  the  Normans  brought  in  a 
more  refined  way  of  living  than  that  which  had  prevailed  before  the 
conquest.     They  cooked  their  food  more  delicately, 

and  despised  the  gross  feeding  and  heavy  drinking  of   d££ssan 
the  English.     They  also  brought  in  new  methods  of 
dress,  which  were  especially  exemplified  by  the  profligate  dandies 
of  William  Rufus's  court,  whose  rich  mantles,  embroidered  tunics, 
and  long  shoes,  curling  up  to  a  point,  were  bitterly  denounced  by 
Anselm  and  the  zealous  ecclesiastics.    Normans  cut  their  hair  short. 


152  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  [1066- 

and  shaved  their  faces,  so  that  to  the  English  they  all  looked  like 
priests.  Married  women  wore  a  wimple  and  veil,  and  dressed  very 
much  as  nuns  still  do.  Unmarried  women  and  men  went  bare- 
headed, though  in  stormy  weather  travellers  would  protect  them- 
selves by  low  round  hats.  Foreign  luxuries  were  more  common 
than  formerly,  and  furs  were  used  by  the  wealthy  of  both  sexes. 
The  weapons  and  armour  of  warriors  long  remained  similar 
to  those  used  by  the  Normans  in  the  battle  of  Hastings.  By 
the  twelfth  century  horses  as  well  as  men-at-arms  were  protected 
by  armour.  The  knight's  hauberk  of  chain-mail  was  supplemented 
by  other  trappings  to  protect  him  better  from  attack.  The  helmet, 
hitherto  open,  save  for  a  nasal,  protecting  the  nose,  became  an 
elaborate  structure,  closed  by  a  grating,  or  visor,  with  holes  for 
the  eyes  and  mouth.  Under  the  helmet  was  worn  a  skull-cap  of 
steel,  covered  by  a  hood  of  mail,  protecting  the  head  and  neck. 

12.  The  towns  and  villages  were  still  rude  collections  of  wooden 
and  mud  huts,  but  great  care  was  taken  in  the  erection  of  castles, 

churches,  and  monasteries.     The  first  Norman  castles 
castle*1*  were  hastily  built  structures  of  wood,  raised  upon  a 

lofty  artificial  mound  of  earth,  which  was  surrounded 
by  a  deep  ditch  and  defended  by  a  thick  palisade.  Soon  stone 
castles  began  to  be  erected.  These  were  of  two  types.  In 
both,  the  defences  centred  round  a  great  tower,  called  the  keep. 
Sometimes  the  keep  was  a  high  square  tower  built  of  solid  stone 
with  walls  of  enormous  thickness,  and  roofed  either  with  wood  or 
by  vaults  of  stone,  so  that  the  whole  area  within  its  walls  served, 
for  habitation  or  storage.  Sometimes  the  keep  was  more  lightly 
erected  on  the  top  of  an  artificial  mound  of  earth,  which  was  not 
strong  enough  to  bear  the  ponderous  weight  of  the  former  variety. 
This  latter  species  was  called  the  shell-keep,  and  was  often  hexagonaL 
or  polygonal  in  shape.  In  this  the  exterior  wall  of  the  tower  served 
only  as  a  curtain,  and  the  buildings  were  roughly  erected  in  wood 
or  stone  within  its  area.  The  White  Tower  of  the  Tower  of  London, 
and  Rochester  Castle,  are  famous  instances  of  the  square  keep, 
while  the  keeps  of  Lincoln  and  Carisbrooke  exemplify  the  shell-keep. 
In  each  type  of  castle  there  were  exterior  defences,  enclosing  a 
wide  area  by  stone  walls,  high  earthworks,  and  deep  ditches  filled, 
with  water.  Later  on,  the  Norman  builders  sometimes  erected, 
round,  instead  of  square  keeps,  as,  for  example,  at  Pembroke,  or  at 
Conisborough,  near  Doneaster,  in  Yorkshire,  where  the  huge  round 
tower  is  further  strengthened  by  buttresses,  and  its  interior  is. 
richly  fitted  up  and  adorned.     Wherever  the  Normans  went  they- 


-1216.]  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  I  53 

built  their  fortresses,  so  that  the  march  of  Wales,  even  more  than 
England,  became  pre-eminently  a  land  of  castles.  The  famous 
Chateau  Gaillard,  built  by  Richard  i.  in  Normandy,  was  the  most 
elaborate  castle  of  its  day  (see  ground  plan  on  page  135),  and  pre- 
pares the  way  for  the  magnificent  and  complicated  fortresses  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

13.  The  Norman  style  of  architectwe,  roughly  illustrated  by  their 
military  buildings,  attained  its  richer  and  more  artistic  develop- 
ment in  the  solemn  and  mighty  churches  which  the 

piety  of  the  new-comers  erected  in  every  part  of  the  churches 
land.  Edward  the  Confessor's  abbey  of  "Westminster 
shows  that  this  fashion  had  begun  before  the  conquest.  The 
removal  of  the  cathedrals  from  the  country  to  the  great  towns,  and 
the  wonderful  development  of  monastic  life  which  followed  the 
conquest,  gave  many  opportunities  for  erecting  Norman  churches 
in  every  part  of  England.  The  nave  of  Durham  Cathedral,  com- 
pleted by  Ranulf  Flambard,  and  the  cathedral  of  Norwich,  erected 
by  bishop  Herbert  of  Losinga,  represent  the  earlier  Norman 
type ;  while  the  naves  of  the  cathedrals  of  Peterborough  and  Ely 
illustrate  the  richer  Norman  of  the  twelfth  century.  Both  are 
characterized  by  the  prevalence  of  the  round  arch  and  by  massive 
solemnity  of  proportion,  while  in  the  later  examples  there  is  much 
barbaric  richness  of  decoration.  They  belong  to  the  Romanesque 
type  of  architecture  which  the  Romans  bequeathed  to  all  Europe. 

14.  The  Romanesque  builders  were  unable  to  erect  vaults  of 
stone  over  large  or  high  buildings.  About  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century  successful  experiments  in  the  art  of 

vaulting  large  spaces  resulted  in  the  Gothic  style  of   njngs  of 
architecture,  which  began  to  replace  the  Romanesque.    Gothic 
The  earliest  Gothic  buildings  were  erected  in  France.   *u^ltec* 
There  was  no  sudden  change  from  the  old  to  the 
newer  style.     Gothic  grew  gradually  out  of  the  older  Romanesque, 
and  we  can  trace,  especially  in  the  buildings  of  Henry  n.'s  time,  how 
the  one  style  fades  into  the  other.     Examples  of  the  transition  aro 
to  be  seen  in  the  choir  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  built  by  a  Erench 
architect  soon  after  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas,  and  in  the  great 
abbeys  erected  to   accommodate  the   Cistercian  and  other  new 
orders,  conspicuous  instances  of  which  are  the  picturesque  ruins  of 
Fountains  or  Kirkstall  in  Yorkshire.     In  these  round  arches,  after 
the  Norman  fashion,  are  found  side  by  side  with  the  pointed  arch 
of  the  later  style.     The  Gothic  vault  is  largely  employed,  and  the 
general  structure  is  lighter  and  more  masterly  than  that  of  the 


154  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  [1066- 

Norman  builders.  When  the  Gothic  style  had  attained  its  full 
proportions,  the  pointed  arch  replaced  the  round  Norman  arch. 
The  first  truly  Gothic  building  erected  in  England  was  the  choir 
of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  built  by  its  bishop.  St.  Hugh,  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

15.  We  have  already  seen  that  a  remarkable  development  of 
monastic  life  followed  the  Norman  conquest.  In  the  abbey  of 
New  monas-  Battle,  erected  on  the  site  of  his  victory  over  Harold, 
tic  move-  the  Conqueror  set  a  model  which  his  followers  faith- 
ments.  fully  adopted.     New  monasteries  rose  up  all  over  the 

land,  and  many  French  houses  of  religion  received  great  estates  in 
England.  At  first  the  new  abbeys  all  followed  the  rule  of  St. 
Benedict.  Early  in  the  twelfth  century  fresh  monastic  types  were 
brought  from  the  continent  into  England.  Conspicuous  among 
.  these  were  the  Cistercians,  or  White  Monks,  who  sought 

to  save  themselves  from  the  temptations  of  the  Bene- 
dictine houses  by  extreme  asceticism  of  life,  by  withdrawing  from 
the  haunts  of  man  and  setting  up  their  abbeys  in  the  wilderness, 
and  by  eschewing  all  pomp  and  ornament  even  in  the  conduct 
of  Divine  worship  and  the  building  of  their  habitations  and 
churches.  For  this  reason  the  Cistercian  monks  chose  for  their 
abodes  remote  districts,  such  as  the  hills  of  Yorkshire  and  the 
mountains  of  Wales.  About  the  same  time  there  came  to  England 
the  Canons  Regular,  who,  while  living  the  life  of 
Regular.  monks,  strove  to  do  also  the  work  of  clerks,  and 
busied  themselves  with  teaching  and  preaching  as  well 
as  with  meditation  and  prayer.  Another  new  monastic  type  was 
that  of  the  Military  Orders,  which  were  set  up  as  the  result  of  the 
Crusades.  The  chief  of  these  were  the  knights  of  the  Temple  and 
the  knights  of  St.  John.  These  orders  lived,  when  at  peace,  the 
life  of  the  canons  regular,  but  their  special  mission 
tary  Orders.  was  ^°  fight  the  heathen  and  the  infidel,  and  in  par- 
ticular to  defend  the  sepulchre  of  Christ  from  the 
assaults  of  the  Mohammedans.  In  them  the  two  great  types  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  warrior  and  the  monk,  were  curiously  com- 
bined. All  these  new  orders  took  deep  root  in  England,  notably 
during  the  anarchy  of  Stephen's  days,  when  men,  despairing  of 
this  world,  were  fain  to  turn  to  the  cloister  for  refuge.  As  a  result 
of  the  monastic  movement,  a  great  religious  revival  arose.  Even 
more  conspicuously  important  than  those  in  England  were  the 
monastic  and  religious  movements  which  followed  in  the  train 
•of  Norman  influence  in  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.     In  these 


-I2i6.]  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  155 

lands  the  Norman  priests  and  monks  eradicated  the  last  traces 
of  the  ancient  independence  of  the  Celtic  churches,  and  brought 
in  the  Roman  types  of  ecclesiastical  life,  organization,  and  art, 
for  which  they  had  already  secured  a  paramount  position  in 
England. 

16.  The  twelfth  century  saw  the  best  results  of  the  improve- 
ments in  government  and  civilization  and  the  revival  of  religion 
which  followed  upon  the  Norman  conquest.  „  The  life  ^g  TWeifth 
of  learning  and  study  again  became  possible.  At  first  Century  Re- 
the  chief  teachers  and  students  came,  like  Lanf  ranc  and  na|ssance 
Anselm,  from  the  monasteries.  Before  long,  however,  beginnings 
the  love  of  knowledge  spread  to  secular  clerks,  and  of  Univer- 
even  to  laymen.  Masters  or  teachers  collected  found  sl  ies' 
them  bands  of  eager  students  of  philosophy,  philology,  and  litera- 
ture. So  numerous  did  these  groups  of  teachers  and  students 
become  that  permanent  schools  grew  up  at  various  centres.  Before 
long  the  teachers  in  each  place  became  an  organized  society  or 
corporation,  with  special  privileges  and -strong  position.  These 
organized  schools  were  called  Universities,  a  word  which  means 
simply  a  corporation.  The  most  famous  university  in  the  west  was 
that  of  Paris,  to  which  students  flocked  from  every  part  of  Europe. 
In  the  course  of  the  reign  of  Henry  u.  an  English  university  arose 
at  Oxford,  one  of  the  most  important  towns  of  the  south  midlands. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  the  thirteenth  century  that  the  univer- 
sities became  fully  organized  and  played  a  great  part  in  the  history 
of  thought  and  learning.  As  time  went  on,  even  the  households 
of  kings  and  great  nobles  became  centres  of  study  and  intellectual 
interest.  Robert  of  Gloucester,  as  we  have  seen,  did  much  for 
historical  learning  in  his  day.  The  court  of  Henry  u.  was  a 
famous  home  of  intellectual  activity  and  literary  composition. 

17.  Latin  was  still  the  universal  language  of  scholars,  the  clergy, 
and  statesmen.     In  it  all  serious  books  were  written,  and  all  legal 
documents,   state  papers,   and  diplomatic  correspon- 
dence  drawn  up.     It  was    the    everyday  speech   of   7^?  litera" 
clergy  and  scholars,  and  all  lectures  at  the  universities 

were  given  in  it.  Most  of  the  best  writing  set  forth  by  English- 
men was  in  this  tongue,  notably  the  chronicles  and  histories,  which 
during  the  twelfth  century  attained  a  high  level  of  thought  and 
style,  as  is  shown  by  "William  of  Malmesbury,  William  of  New- 
burgh,  Roger  of  Hoveden,  and  many  others.  Men  read  the  Latin 
classics  eagerly,  and  based  their  style  upon  them,  as  was  notably 
the  case  with  William  of  Malmesbury.    Even  a  great  romancer  like 


I56  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  [1066- 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  composed  his  hook  in  Latin,  and  gave  it 
out  to  he  a  serious  history. 

18.  The  English  tongue  was  not  much  affected  in  form  or 
vocabulary  by  the  Norman  conquest.  The  effect  of  the  coming 
English  and  °^  *ne  Norman  was,  however,  that  fewer  books  were 
French  written  in  it.     For  example,  the  English  Chronicle, 

literature.  which  had  been  kept  up  since  Alfred's  days  in  some  of 
the  great  monasteries,  was  after  the  conquest  continued  at  Peter- 
borough only,  and  ceased  even  there  by  th<  end  of  the  reign  of 
Stephen.  Latin  was  now  used  where  English  had  often  been  em- 
ployed earlier.  English  lost  even  more  ground,  however,  as  a  spoken 
tongue  than  as  a  written  language.  The  Normans  brought  French 
with  them,  and  down  to  the  thirteenth  century  French  continued 
to  be  the  ordinary  vernacular  speech  of  the  court,  the  nobles,  and 
the  mass  of  the  landed  classes.  The  lighter  popular  literature, 
which  was  written  to  amuse  lords  and  ladies,  was  henceforth  largely 
composed  in  French  also.  The  result  was  that  English  became 
the  spoken  language  of  peasants  and  the  poor.  There  was  no  longer 
a  literary  standard,  such  as  that  which  has  been  set  at  the  West 
Saxon  court,  and  everybody  spoke  and  wrote  in  the  dialect  of  his 
native  district.  There  were  three  chief  dialects,  corresponding 
roughly  to  the  three  Anglo-Saxon  great  kingdoms  of  Northumbria, 
Mercia,  and  Wessex.  Of  these,  the  southern  dialect  was  the  most 
like  the  old  English  of  the  West  Saxon  court.  The  northern  dialect 
was  marked  by  a  certain  number  of  Danish  and  Norwegian  words. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  Lowland  Scots  of  a  later  age,  as  well  as 
of  the  popular  dialects  of  the  north  of  England.  The  midland 
dialect  is  more  important  to  us,  because  it  is  the  source  of  the 
standard  English  which  all  write  and  speak  nowadays.  In  all  these 
varieties  there  was  a  movement  towards  the  cutting  down  of  cases 
and  inflexions,  and  the  simplification  of  grammatical  forms,  so  that 
the  language — now  called  Middle  English — forms  a  sort  of  bridge 
between  the  old  English  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman  days 
and  the  modern  English  which  we  now  use. 


I2l5.] 


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158  FEUDAL  BRITAIN  [1216, 

Books  Recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  Book  II.,  1066- 121G. 

Good  detailed  accounts  of  the  history  of  the  whole  period  can  be  found  in 
H.  W.  C.  Davis'  England  under  the  Normans  and  Angevins,  and  in  G.  B. 
Adams'  History  of  England,  1066-1215  (Longmans'  "Political  History  of 
England,"  vol.  iii.).  Stubbs'  Constitutional  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  chaps. 
ix.  to  xiii.,  contains  the  most  authoritative  account  of  the  constitutional 
development  of  the  period.  Some  important  criticisms  and  amendments 
of  Stubbs  are  given  in  C.  Petit-Dutaillis  Studies  Supplementary  to  Stubbs, 
i.  v.-xii.  Useful  biographies  of  important  characters  are  Freeman's 
William  the  Conqueror  and  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green's  Henry  II.,  both  in  Mac- 
millan's  "Twelve  English  Statesmen  series."  R.  W.  Church's  Life  of  St. 
Anselm  gives  a  picturesque  delineation  of  the  life  and  times  of  the  greatest 
English  churchman  of  the  period,  and  the  story  of  Becket  can  be  read  in  J. 
Morris'  Life  and  Martyrdom  of  St.  Thomas  Becket.  For  general  Church  history, 
W.  R.  W.  Stephens'  History  of  the  English  Church,  1066-1272,  is  useful,  and 
Miss  Kate  Norgate's  England  under  the  Angevin  Kings  and  John  Lackland  are 
valuable  from  the  accession  of  Henry  II.  onwards,  and  Stubbs'  Early  Plan- 
tagenets  (Longmans'  "  Epochs  of  Modern  History  ")  gives  a  masterly  account 
of  the  Angevin  period  on  a  small  scale.  T.  A.  Archer's  Crusade  of  Richard  I. 
sets  forth  from  translated  extracts  of  contemporary  writers  a  good  account  of 
the  Third  Crusade.  Miss  Mary  Bateson's  Mediatval  England,  1066-1350,  parts 
i.  and  ii.,  give  an  admirable  picture  of  the  social  life  of  the  period.  Barnard's 
Companion  to  English  History  (Middle  Ages)  contains  a  series  of  useful 
articles  on  trade,  social  life,  architecture,  warfare,  art,  learning,  etc.  Map  xvii. 
(England  and  Wales  in  1086)  in  Oxford  Historical  Atlas  is  of  importance 
for  the  study  of  British  historical  geography.  For  Irish  history,  G.  H. 
Orpen's  Ireland  under  the  Normans,  or  more  briefly,  A.  G.  Richey's  Shot^t 
History  of  the  Irish  People ;  for  Welsh  history,  J.  E.  Lloyd's  Higtwy  of  Wales, 
vol.  ii. ;  and  for  Scottish  history,  P.  Hume  Brown's  History  of  Scotland,  i. 
1-130,  or  Skene's  Celtic  Scotland. 


BOOK    III 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NATION 
(i 2 i 6-1 399) 

CHAPTER   I 

HENRY  III.  (1216-1272) 

Chief  dates : 

1216.  Accession  of  Henry  in. 

1217.  Battle  of  Lincoln. 

1219.  Death  of  William  Marshall. 

1232.  Fall  of  Hubert  de  Burgh. 

1242.  Battle  of  Taillebourg. 

1248.  Sinion  of  Montfort,  governor  of  Gascony. 

1258.  Provisions  of  Oxford. 

1259.  Treaty  of  Paris. 

1264.  Battle  of  Lewes. 

1265.  Montfort's  Parliament  and  the  Battle  of  Evesham.  v 
1267.     Treaty  of  Shrewsbury. 

1272.     Death  of  Henry  in. 

1.  John's  eldest  son  was  only  nine  years  old  at  his  father's  death, 
but  the  dead  king's  friends  at  once  proclaimed  him  as  Henry  m. 
Gualo,    the    pope's    legate,    procured    for    him    the   ~    conflict 
support  of  the  Church,  and  showed  that  John's  sur-    between 
render  to  the  pope  was  a  reality  by  taking  on  him-    William 
self  the  supreme  direction  of  the  kingdom.     Gualo   an^  loujs 
worked  in  close  harmony  with  the  leader  of  Henry's   of  France, 
English  partisans,  William  Marshall,  an  aged  baron    1216»  1217' 
of  unblemished  honour,  who  had  married  Strongbow's  daughter, 
and  thus    become    earl  of    Pembroke  and  lord  of   Strongbow's 
great  possessions  in  Wales  and  Ireland.     Pembroke  was  appointed 
Ruler  of  the  King  and  Kingdom,  a  title  which  was  practically 
equivalent  to  that  of  regent.      The  prudent  measures  taken  by 
Gualo  and  Pembroke  soon  began   to  increase  the  party  of  the 

159 


l6o  HENRY  III.  [121?- 

little  king.  The  rebellious  barons  had  taken  up  arms  to  secure 
the  privileges  contained  in  the  Great  Charter.  Reversing  the  policy 
of  Innocent  hi.,  Gualo  now  allowed  Pembroke  to  issue  a  con- 
firmation of  the  charter  in  Henry's  name.  This  wise  step  cut  the 
ground  from  under  the  feet  of  the  partisans  of  Louis.  Those  who 
had  hated  John  the  most  had  no  ill  will  to  the  monarchy,  and  the 
innocent  boy  on  the  throne  was  in  nowise  responsible  for  the 
crimes  of  his  father.  Gradually  the  friends  of  Louis  fell  away 
from  him  and  declared  for  Henry.  The  feeling  grew  that  it  was 
a  dangerous  thing  for  England  to  be  ruled  by  a  prince  who  would 
one  day  be  king  of  France  ;  but  the  chief  thing  that  weighed  with 
the  deserters  was  their  knowledge  that  the  pope  and  the  Church 
had  declared  against  Louis.  Even  Philip  11.  of  France  dared  not 
give  any  help  to  his  son,  because  he  was  afraid  of  provoking  a 
quarrel  with  the  pope.  In  these  circumstances  Louis  steadily  lost 
ground.     In  1217  Marshall  defeated  him  in  a  pitched  battle  in  the 

streets  of  Lincoln.  Later  on  in  the  year  a  fleet  sailed 
The  Battle  from  France,  bringing  him  reinforcements ;  but  Hubert 
and  the  '  ^e  Burgh,  the  justiciar,  met  the  French  fleet  off 
Treaty  of  Sandwich,  and  utterly  destroyed  it.  It  was  useless 
1217       '        ^or  Mollis  to  persevere   any  longer.     In    September, 

1217,  he  made  the  treaty  of  Lambeth  with  William 
Marshall,  by  which  he  agreed  to  leave  England.  No  sooner  had 
he  gone  than  Magna  Carta  was  once  more  reissued,  in  what  was 
substantially  its  permanent  form.  Besides  this,  a  Forest  Charter 
was  also  published  by  the  king,  which  mitigated  the  severity  of 
Henry  n.'s  Assize  of  Woodstock,  and  laid  down  the  great  principle 
that  no  man  was  to  lose  life  or  limb  for  breach  of  the  forest 
laws. 

2.  William  Marshall  continued  to  rule  England  till  his  death 
in  1219.  He  had  put  an  end  to  the  civil  war  and  restored  the 
The  rule  monarchy,  but  he  did  not  venture  to  interfere  with 

of  William  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  and  was  much  hampered 
^ar^ha^]»  by  the  fact  that  he  was  obliged  to  trust  the  greedy 
and  Hubert  foreigners  who  had  been  the  chief  supporters  of  John, 
de  Burgh,  On  his  death  no  new  recent  was  appointed.  At  first 
'  the  pope's  legate  practically  acted  as  regent.  The 
legate  was  now  that  Pandulf  who  had  received  John's  submission 
in  1213.  His  constant  interference  in  the  details  of  government 
provoked  much  resentment  in  England,  and  at  last  Archbishop 
Langton  went  to  Rome  and  persuaded  the  pope  to  recall  him. 
From  that  time  there  was  no  regular  papal  legate  in  England,  save 


I234-]  HENRY  III.  l6l 

the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  himself.  Langton  henceforward 
did  his  best  to  restore  peace  and  prosperity  to  England,  and 
worked  well  with  Hubert  de  Burgh,  the  justiciar,  who,  after 
Pandulf 's  recall,  was  the  chief  ruler  of  England.  Hubert  was  a 
capable  and  vigorous  man ;  he  made  it  his  chief  object  to  restore 
the  system  of  strong  rule  which  had  prevailed  under  Henry  u. 
Many  difficulties  stood  in  his  way.  During  the  long  civil  war  the 
feudal  party  had  revived,  and  Hubert,  like  Henry  n.,  at  his 
accession  was  obliged  to  put  down  adulterine  castles  and  compel 
the  nobles  to  obey  the  law.  An  even  graver  trouble  arose  from 
John's  foreign  friends.  The  chief  of  these  were  Peter  des  Roches, 
a  native  of  Poitou,  who  was  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  a  mercenary 
soldier,  Falkes  of  Breaute,  who  had  fought  John's  battles  so  well 
that  the  late  king  had  given  him  enormous  territories.  In  1224 
Falkes  rose  in  revolt,  but  Hubert  captured  and  destroyed  his  chief 
castle  at  Bedford  and  drove  him  into  exile.  "With  the  fall  of 
Falkes  the  reign  of  the  foreigners  was  over,  and  the  government 
of  England  again  fell  into  English  hands.  Disgusted  with  his 
rival's  success,  Peter  des  Roches  left  England  to  go  on  crusade. 

3.  In  1227  the  pope  declared  that  Henry  was  old  enough  to 
govern  his  kingdom ;  and  Langton  died  in  1228.  Hubert  continued 
to  act  as  justiciar  till  1232  ;  but  his  severity  raised  up    _.     _ ,  „    . 

a  host  of  enemies  against  him,  and  he  gradually  lost    Hubert, 
the  support  of  the  young  king.     At  last  Peter  des    1232,  and 
Roches  returned  to  England,  and  cleverly  brought    0fpeter 
about  his  fall.     Henry  dismissed  the  faithful  Hubert,    des  Roches, 
and  persecuted  him  with  much  ingratitude.     Peter  des    1232-1234. 
Roches  succeeded  Hubert  as  justiciar,  but  held  power   for  only 
two  years.     He  gave  the  chief  offices  of  the  state  to  his  friends  and 
kinsfolk  from  Poitou,  and  soon  excited  the  bitterest  indignation 
among  the  English  barons.     Richard  Marshall,  earl  of  Pembroke, 
the  son  of  the  late  regent,  made  himself  the  spokesman  of  the 
barons'  discontent,  and  finally  headed  a  revolt  against  the  justiciar. 
Peter  maliciously  revenged  himself  by  stirring  up  a  rebellion  against 
Richard  in  his  Irish  estates.     Richard  was  forced  to  go  to  Ireland, 
where  he  was  treacherously  slain;  but  Henry  was  horrified  when 
he  heard  of  the  justiciar's  deceit,  and  was  easily  persuaded  by 
Edmund  Rich,  a  saintly  scholar  who  had  just  become  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  to  drive  Peter  and  his  Poitevins  from  office. 

4.  With  the  fall  of  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  the  first  period  of 
Henry  iii.'s  reign  comes  to  an  end.  During  all  these  years  Henry 
had  been  either  a  minor  or  under  the  control  of  one  powerful 

M 


1 62  HENRY  III.  [I234- 

mind  which  he  could  not  easily  resist.  For  eighteen  years,  then, 
the  personal  authority  of  the  king  was  small.  This  circumstance 
Growth  of  helped  to  spread  the  notion  of  a  limited  monarchy, 
limited  with  which  was  combined  the  view  that  the  natural 

monarchy,  helpers  and  advisers  of  the  crown  were  the  great 
barons  who  sat  in  the  royal  council.  We  already  seem  far  away 
from  the  Angevin  despotism.  Though  the  charters  were  often 
broken  in  their  details,  the  spirit  of  them  had  begun  to  enter  into 
English  political  life. 

5.  With  the  fall  of  Peter  des  Roches,  Henry  in.  personally 
undertook  the  government  of  the  country.  The  king  was  resolved 
The  ner-  ^a^  henceforth  ^e  'would  submit  to  no  master.  He 
sonal  rule  of  would  be  his  own  prime  minister,  holding  in  his  own 
Henry  III.       bands  all  the  strings  of  policy,  and  acting  through 

subordinates,  whose  duty  was  to  carry  out  their 
master's  orders.  Under  such  a  system  the  justiciarship  practically 
ceased  to  exist,  for  Des  Roches's  successor,  Stephen  Segrave,  was 
a  mere  lawyer  who  never  aspired  to  be  chief  minister.  Before 
long  the  justiciar  had  become  a  simple  president  of  the  law  courts. 
Unluckily,  Henry  in.  was  not  hard-working  or  possessed  of  suffi- 
cient strength  of  will  to  rule  England  effectively.  He  possessed, 
indeed,  some  noble  and  many  attractive  qualities ;  his  private  life 
was  pure ;  his  piety  was  sincere ;  he  was  well  educated  and  loved 
fair  churches,  beautiful  sculpture,  and  richly  illuminated  books. 
Born  and  brought  up  in  England,  he  was  proud  of  his  English 
ancestors,  was  devoted  to  English  saints,  and  gave  his  children 
English  names  like  Edward  and  Edmund.  Nevertheless,  Henry 
showed  less  sympathy  with  English  ways  than  many  of  his  foreign 
predecessors.  Too  feeble  to  act  for  himself,  too  suspicious  to  trust 
his  barons,  he  leant  upon  the  support  of  foreign  favourites  and 
kinsmen.  From  1234  to  1258  he  sought  to  rule  England  through 
foreign  dependants.  The  work  of  Hubert  seemed  altogether  un- 
done when  swarm  after  swarm  of  aliens  came  from  abroad,  and 
obtained  place  and  power  beyond  their  deserts  through  the  weak 
complacency  of  the  king. 

6.  The  new  alien  invasion  began  soon  after  Henry's  marriage  in 
The  alien  "^^  vrfth.  Eleanor,  daughter  of  the  count  of  Provence 
invasion.  an<*  sister  to  Margaret,  wife  of  Louis  ix.,  who  in  1226 
The  Pro-  succeeded  his  father,  Louis  vni.,  the  sometime  invader 
Savoyards.     °^  England,  to  the  French  throne.    Eleanor's  mother 

was  a  daughter  of  the  count  of  Savoy,  and  her  numerous 
Savoyard  uncles,  having  but  a  slender  endowment  in  their  own 


-1258.] 


HENRY  III. 


163 


mountain  land,  made  their  way  to  England  to  share  King- 
Henry's  bounty.  It  soon  became  known  that  Henry  was  willing* 
to  welcome  any  attractive  foreign  adventurer  of  high  birth,  and 
many  such  flocked  to  the  land  of  promise.  Among  them  was 
Simon  of  Montfort,  son  of  a  famous  Simon  of  Montfort  who  had 
been  a  chief  instrument  in  extending  North  French  and  orthodox 
influence  over  the  heretical  Albigenses  of  southern  France,  and  who 
had  won  for  himself  by  his  sword  the  county  of  Toulouse,  and 
quickly  lost  it  again.  From  his  mother  the  elder  Simon  inherited 
a  claim  of  the  earldom  of  Leicester.  The  younger  Simon  per- 
suaded his  brothers  to  make  over  their  pretensions  to  him,  and 
went  to  England  to  demand  the  Leicester  titles  and  estates.  Henry 
recognized  Simon  as  earl  of  Leicester,  married  him  to  his  sister, 
and  lavished  on  him  many  marks  of  favour. 

THE  PROVENCALS  AND  SAVOYARDS 

Amadeus, 
count  of  Savoy. 


Beatrice, 

m.  Raymond  Berengar, 

count  of  Provence. 


Boniface  of  Savoy, 

archbishop  of 

Canterbury. 


Other  sons  and 
daughters. 


Margaret, 

m.  Louis  ix., 

king  of  France 

Philip  in.  of 
France. 


Eleanor, 
m.  Henry  in. 
of  England . 

Edward  1. 


Sanchia. 
m.  Richard  of 
Cornwall,  king 
of  the  Romans. 


Beatrice, 

m.  Charles  of 

Anjou,  king 

of  Sicily. 


7.  Another  foreign  element  that  weighed  with  increasing  force 
on  England  was  the  power  of  the  pope.  The  successors  of  Inno- 
cent in.  pressed  still  further  the  exalted  claims  of  their 

1  The 

predecessor.     They  declared  that  it  was  their  right  to   R0mans 

appoint  their  nominees  to  any  bishopric  or  benefice. 
At  their  caprice  they  issued  what  were  called  papal  provisions,  by 
which  the  rights  of  electors,  or  patrons,  were  put  aside  in  favour 
of  the  pope's  nominee.  The  result  of  this  was  that  a  swarm  of 
Italian  and  French  priests  were  established  by  the  pope  in  English 
benefices,  and  grew  rich  on  the  spoils  of  the  English  Church  with- 
out attempting  to  do  the  work  of  their  offices.  Besides  this,  the 
pope  claimed  the  right  of  taxing  the  Church  at  his  will.  About 
this  time  papal  taxation  became  more  severe  on  account  of  a  quarrel 
which  broke  out  between  Pope  Gregory  ix.   and  the   Emperor 


1 64  HENRY  III.       *  [1234- 

Frederick  11.  Frederick  11.,  the  son  of  Henry  vi.,  had  been 
made  emperor  by  Innocent  in.,  after  the  fall  of  Otto  iv.  He 
was  now  waging  deadly  war  against  the  papacy,  and  Gregory 
looked  upon  the  English  Church  as  a  sure  source  of  supplies  to 
equip  armies  to  fight  the  emperor.  Though  Henry  had  married 
his  sister  to  Frederick  n.,  and  was  on  friendly  terms  with  him,  he 
dared  not  resist  the  pope's  demands.  Things  became  worse  in 
1237,  when  the  pope  sent  to  England  the  first  legate  despatched 
from  Rome  since  the  days  of  Pandulf.  This  legate,  a  cardinal 
named  Otto,  made  himself  unpopular  both  by  his  strictness  in 
reforming  abuses  and  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  furthered  his 
master's  interests.  In  1238  he  visited  Oxford,  where  a  great 
school  or  university  had  recently  sprung  up.  An  affray  broke  out 
between  the  legate  and  the  scholars,  and  the  latter  forced  the 
pope's  representative  to  take  refuge  in  a  church  steeple  until  the 
king  could  send  soldiers  to  effect  his  release.  At  last  Otto  went 
back  to  Rome,  leaving  very  bitter  memories  behind  him. 

8.  The  gentle  Archbishop  Edmund  did  all  that  he  could, to  save 
the  clergy  from  the  exactions  of  pope  and  king.  Though  high- 
Edmund  minded  and  well-meaning,  he  was  not  strong  enough 
Rich  and  to  grapple  with  the  difficult  task  before  him.  In  1240 
Robert  ne  left  England  in  disgust,  and  soon  afterwards  died 
abroad.  His  reputation  for  holiness  was  such  that  he 
was  soon  canonized  as  St.  Edmund.  His  successor  at  Canterbury 
was  a  man  of  very  different  stamp.  The  new  archbishop  was 
Boniface  of  Savoy,  one  of  the  queen's  uncles.  He  owed  his  office 
entirely  to  the  favour  of  the  king  and  pope,  and  made  no  effort  to 
protect  the  clergy  from  them.  In  these  circumstances  the  leader- 
ship of  the  clergy  passed  to  Robert  Grosseteste,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
a  famous  writer,  a  saintly  man,  and  the  most  practical  reformer  of 
Church  abuses  of  his  day.  Innocent  iv.,  Gregory  ix.'s  successor, 
made  even  severer  demands  on  England  than  his  predecessor.  In 
1245  he  deposed  Frederick  from  the  empire,  and  persecuted  him 
relentlessly  till  his  death  in  1250.  Frederick  was  the  la9t  of  the 
great  emperors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  his  fall  marked  the  end 
of  the  long  struggle*  between  papacy  and  empire,  which  began 
with  the  investiture  contest  between  Gregory  vn.  and  Henry  iv. 
Grosseteste  continued  his  protest,  and  even  ventured  to  withstand 
Innocent  iv.  face  to  face.  Nothing,  however,  came  from  his 
complaints.  However  much  the  clergy  grumbled,  Henry  gave 
them  no  help,  and  they  were  forced  to  pay  whatever  the  pope 
exacted. 


-1258.]  HENRY  III.  1 65 

9.  As  Henry  in.  grew  older  lie  felt  the  disgrace  of  his  father's 
failure  to  retain  the  Angevin  Empire  abroad.  In  1230  he  led  an 
expedition  to  recover  Poitou,  but  obtained  nothing  by  Henry's 
his  attempt.  In  1242  he  again  went  in  person  to  foreign 
prosecute  his  rights  to  the  Angevin  inheritance  which  fallures- 
was  fast  slipping  away  owing  to  the  growing  power  of  Louis  ix. 
The  French  monarch  was  a  high-minded  and  conscientious  king,  as 
wise  as  he  was  good,  and  so  universally  admired  and  beloved  that 
after  his  death  he  was  canonized  as  St.  Louis.  But  he  was  anxious 
to  extend  his  authority  and  complete  the  work  of  his  grandfather, 
Philip  11.  With  this  object  Louis  made  one  of  his  brothers  count 
of  Poitou  and  of  Toulouse,  and  thus  threatened  the  last  hopes  of 
Henry  in  Poitou.  But  the  barons  of  Poitou  were  even  more  afraid 
of  the  growth  of  the  French  power  than  was  the  English  king,  and 
now  turned  to  Henry  and  besought  him  to  save  them  from  French 
domination.  At  their  head  was  Hugh  of  Lusignan,  count  of 
La  Marche,  the  mighty  Poitevin  baron,  whose  rage  at  John's 
abduction  of  Isabella  of  Angouleme  had  given  the  signal  for  the 
conquests  of  Philip  n.  Hugh  of  La  Marche  was  now  Henry  m.'s 
step-father,  for  on  John's  death  Isabella  had  gone  back  to  France 
and  married  her  old  lover.  She  added  her  appeals  to  those  of  her 
second  husband,  and  Henry,  always  dutiful  to  his  family,  willingly 
listened  to  his  mother's  entreaties.  But  when  Henry  got  to  Poitou, 
he  found  that  Hugh  and  Isabella  had  no  real  care  for  his  interests, 
and  simply  used  him  as  a  tool  to  prosecute  their  grievances  against 
the  French  king.  He  learnt  how  impossible  it  was  to  build  upon 
Poitevin  promises.  The  army  of  Louis  ix.  defeated  his  troops  at 
Taillebourg,  near  Saintes,  and  drove  him  in  panic  flight  to  Bordeaux. 
The  expedition  was  an  utter  failure,  and  henceforth  Louis's  brother 
ruled  Poitou  as  he  would.  On  his  death  Poitou  became  part  of 
the  direct  domains  of  the  French  king. 

10.  The  chief  result  of  the  expedition  was  the  ruin  of  the  house 
of   Lusignan.      The  numerous   children   of   Hugh  and   Isabella, 
finding  that  they  had  no  prospects  in  France,  crossed   ^he  Poite- 
over  the  Channel  and  threw  themselves  on  the  bounty   vins  in 

of  their  half-brother.  Henry  welcomed  them  warmly,  EnSland. 
and  loaded  them  with  grants  and  presents.  He  married  one  of  them. 
"William  of  Valence,  to  the  heiress  of  the  Marshalls,  earls  of  Pem- 
broke, whose  house  had  recently  died  out  in  the  male  line.  Another 
brother,  Aymer,  a  violent  and  incompetent  man,  became  bishop  of 
Winchester.  Henry's  half-sisters  found  husbands  among  the  richest 
of  the  earls.     Henceforth  the  Poitevin  half-brothers  of  the  king 


1 66  HENRY  III.  [1246. 

rivalled  the  Savoyard  uncles  of  the  queen  in  wealth,  pride,  and 
unpopularity. 

11.  The  government  of  England  by  Henry  and  his  foreign 
friends  was  not  only  expensive  and  unpopular,  but  weak  and  in- 
effective.    Though  the  people  paid  heavy  taxes,  good 

Principality  order  was  not  maintained.  Under  a  feeble  king  like 
of  North  Henry,  the  princes  of  North  Wales  became  very  power- 
Wales.  ^  an^  extended  their  power  to  the  south  at  the 
expense  of  the  lords  marcher.  Since  the  days  of  Griffith  ap 
Llewelyn  no  Welsh  prince  had  been  as  mighty  as  Llewelyn  ap 
Iorwerth.  He  joined  with  the  barons  in  wresting  Magna  Carta 
from  John,  and  took  advantage  of  the  troubles  of  Henry's  minority 
to  push  his  dominions  from  the  Dovey  to  Carmarthen  Bay.  Though 
married  to  Henry's  sister,  he  was  constantly  at  war  with  his  brother- 
in-law.  Under  his  grandson,  Llewelyn  ap  Griffith,  who  became 
prince  in  1246,  the  Welsh  principality  became  even  stronger. 

12.  Henry's  remaining  dominions  in  France  were,  like  Wales, 

slipping  away  from  his  control     All  that  now  remained  of  the 

„,  _        inheritance  of  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine  was  Gascony,  but 

Simon  of  .  ,    ~*  J' 

Montfort  in     even  in  Gascony  Henry  s  power  was  very  small.     1  he 

Gascony,         nobles  behaved  like  independent  princes,   and  great 

towns  like  Bordeaux  were  becoming  little  republics 

which  cared  nothing  for  the  commands  of  their  duke.     Things  got 

to  such  a  pass  that  even  Henry  saw  that  something  had  to  be  done. 

In  1248  he  made  his  brother-in-law,  Simon  of  Montfort,  governor, 

or  seneschal,  of  Gascony,  and  gave  him  full  power  to  reduce  the 

unruly  Gascons  to  obedience.     Simon  threw  himself  into  the  rude. 

task  with  wonderful  ability  and  energy.     He  restored  order,  but 

showed  little  regard  for  impartiality  or  justice.     The   Gascons 

sent  piteous  complaints  against  him  to  England.     Henry  listened 

to  their  murmurs,  and  gradually  withdrew  his   confidence  from 

Simon.      Profoundly  irritated  at  this   shabby  treatment,  Simon 

resigned  his  office  in  disgust  in  1252.     Henceforward  he  became 

Henry's  bitter  enemy.     Returning  to  England,  he  put  himself 

at  the  head  of  the  opposition  which  the  king's  fatuous  government 

had  created. 

13.  For  many  years  many  protests  had  been  raised  against 
Henry's  misrule,  but,  for  want  of  competent  leaders,  nothing  had 
come  out  of  these  efforts.  For  a  time  Henry's  younger  brother, 
Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  had  led  the  baronial  opposition;  but 
Richard  now  married  Sanchia  of  Provence,  the  queen's  younger 
sister,  and  reconciled  himself  with  the  court.     The  failure  of  all 


-1258.]  HENRY  III.  167 

attempts  to  check  him  encouraged  Henry  to  adopt  a  more  adven- 
turous polioy.     His  children  were  growing  up,  and  he  wished  to 
establish  them  in  life.     To  his  elder  son,  Edward,  he 
made  over  the  earldom  of  Chester  which  had  recently   ^f™"1^' 
lapsed  to  the  king's  hands,  all  his  lands  in  Wales,    Sicily;  and 
and  the  duchy  of   Gascony.      Edmund,   his   second    Richard, 
son,   was    still  unprovided  for,   and   Henry   eagerly   the  Romans, 
grasped  at  a  chance  of  establishing  him  in  a  foreign 
kingdom    which    the   pope    now  offered.     After    the    death    of 
Frederick  11.,  the  popes  continued  to  wage  unrelenting  war  against 
his  children.      They  were  particularly  anxious    to   prevent   the 
kingdom  of  Sicily,  which  Frederick  had  ruled,  remaining  united 
with  Germany  and  the  empire.     Accordingly  the  pope  offered  to 
make  Edmund  king  of  Sicily,  and  Henry  greedily  swallowed  the 
tempting  bait.      Edmund,    who  was  a   mere    boy,  remained  in 
England,  but  Henry  allowed  the  pope  to  wage  war  in  Sicily  in 
Edmund's  name,   and  promised  to   defray   the   expenses.      This 
was    not    the    only    foreign    kingdom    which    Henry's    kinsfolk 
obtained.    In  1257  Richard  of  Cornwall  was  elected  emperor  after 
the  death  of  Frederick  n.'s  son.     His  title  was  disputed,   and 
as  he  was  never  crowned  by  the  pope,  he  was  called  king  of  the 
Romans. 

14.  Each  new  adventure  of  Henry  and  the  pope  imposed  a  fresh 
burden  upon  Englishmen.     The  taxes  became  heavier,   and  the 
king's  misgovernment  steadily  became  worse.   Henry's 
misrule  was  the  more  grievous,  since  England  in  other   trogression 
ways  was  full  of  life  and  progress.     It  was  the  time  of  and 
the  great  religious  revival  which  saw  the  establishment   npoeress 
of  the  Mendicant  Friars,  whose  two  chief  orders,  the 
Dominicans  and  the  Franciscans,  came  to  England  in  1221  and  1224. 
It  was  a  time  of  remarkable  intellectual  progress,  of  the  growth  of 
the  universities,  where  flourished  many  famous  scholars,  philosophers, 
and  theologians.     It  was  the  time  when  mediaeval  art  attained  its 
highest  development  in  the  growth  of  Gothic  architecture.     The 
coimtry  was  becoming  increasingly  wealthy  through  the  spread  of 
manufactures  and  commerce,  and  towns  and  town  life  became  more 
important  than  they  had  ever  been  before.     It  was  now  also  that 
English  national  sentiment  was  becoming  conscious  of  itself.     In 
every  direction  there  was  rapid  progress,  but  political  progress  was 
stayed  by  the  incompetence  of  the  king  and  his  advisers.     But  the 
day  of  reckoning  was  now  at  hand.   Led  by  Earl  Simon,  the  barons 
at  last  knew  what  they  wanted.     In  1258  the  storm  of  indignation 


l68  HENRY  III.  11258^ 

burst,  and  drove  Henry  and  his  favourites  from  the  position  which 
they  had  so  long-  misused. 

15.  The  crisis  was  hastened  by  the  enormous  demands  of  the 
pope  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  waged  for  Sicily  in  Edmund's 
The  Mad  name.  Henry  could  only  satisfy  the  pope  by  raising 
Parliament,  fresh  taxes,  and  to  do  this  he  had  to  obtain  the 
1258.  consent  of  the  barons.  In  a  council,  or  as  it  was 
now  called,  a  parliament,  at  Westminster,  the  barons  utterly 
refused  to  give  the  king  any  money,  and  forced  him  to  consent  to 
a  drastic  reform  of  the  government.  In  June  a  second  parliament 
met  at  Oxford.  Taking  advantage  of  a  summons  for  an  expedition 
against  the  "Welsh,  the  barons  came  arrayed  for  war  and  attended 
by  their  armed  followers.  The  king's  friends  called  this  assembly 
the  Mad  Parliament,  but  the  barons  knew  very  well  what  they  were 
doing.  A  committee  of  twenty-four,  chosen  in  equal  proportions 
by  king  and  barons,  laid  before  the  Oxford  parliament  an  elaborate 
scheme  for  the  future  government  of  the  realm.  The  new  con- 
stitution was  called  the  Provisions  of  Oxford,  and  readily  adopted 
by  the  barons.  By  it  a  standing  council  of  fifteen  was  established, 
by  whose  advice  and  consent  Henry  was  henceforth  to  exercise  all 
his  authority.  All  aliens  were  to  be  expelled  from  office  and  new 
ministers  were  appointed  under  stringent  conditions.  To  save  the 
barons  the  expense  of  attending  frequent  parliaments,  a  body  of 
twelve  was  appointed  to  represent  the  whole  nobility.  This  was  to 
meet  three  times  a  year  and  to  discuss  public  affairs  with  the 
committee  of  fifteen. 

16.  The  Provisions  of  Oxford  carried  to  a  still  further  point  the 
idea  of  limited  and  constitutional  monarchy  first  expressed  in  the 
The  Pro-  Great  Charter.  Every  royal  power  was  to  remain 
visions  of        unimpaired,  but  henceforth  it  was  to  be  exercised  not 

by  the  king  in  person,  but  by  a  committee  of  the 
barons.  The  feudal  tradition,  when  each  baron's  dearest  wish  was 
to  break  down  the  monarchy  and  reign  like  a  king  over  his  own 
lands,  was  thus  quite  forgotten.  The  scheme  was  quite  effective  to 
check  the  autocracy  of  the  crown.  The  danger  was  lest  it  should 
set  up  in  the  place  of  the  Angevin  despotism  a  narrow  baronial 
oligarchy,  as  careless  as  the  king  had  been  of  the  welfare  of  the 
country  as  a  whole.  There  was  no  time,  however,  to  think  of 
future  dangers  at  the  moment.  Headed  by  William  of  Yalence. 
the  king's  half-brother,  the  foreigners  steadily  resisted  the  new 
scheme.  They  were  soon  overpowered  and  driven  into  exile. 
Henry  and  his  eldest  son  were  forced  to  take  oaths  to  observe  the 


-I259-]  HENRY  III.  169 

Provisions.  Next  year,  when  King  Richard  came  back  to  England, 
he  was  not  allowed  to  land  until  he  took  the  same  oath.  Thus 
the  fifteen  triumphed  over  all  opposition.  Henceforth  they,  and 
not  Henry,  were  the  real  rulers  of  England. 

17.  One  result  of  the  baronial  victory  was  the  abandonment 
of  Henry's  ambitious  schemes  of  foreign  domination.     His  son 
Edmund  renounced  his  phantom  kingdom  of  Sicily,    jjje  Treaty 
and  the  pope  found  a  mora  competent  instrument  for   of  Paris, 
his  purpose  in  Charles  of  Anjou,  a  younger  brother    1259- 

of  Louis  ix.  Charles,  who  had  married  the  youngest  sister  of 
Queen  Eleanor,  had  already  won  for  himself  her  father's  county  of 
Provence.  In  1265  he  established  himself  in  Naples  and  Sicily, 
and  was  the  ancestor  of  a  long  line  of  kings  ruling  over  southern 
Italy  under  the  pope's  supremacy.  In  1259  Henry  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  concluded  a  permanent  peace  with  the  king  of  France. 
By  this  treaty  of  Paris  he  renounced  all  his  claims  over  Normandy, 
Anjou,  and  Poitou,  retaining  only  the  Channel  Islands,  a  fragment 
of  the  Norman  duchy,  over  which  the  English  kings  still  ruled 
because  they  were  stronger  by  sea  than  the  French.  Besides  this, 
Henry  agreed  to  perform  homage  to  Louis  for  the  duchy  of  Gascony, 
which  remained  under  its  English  dukes.  Louis  was  so  anxious 
to  make  peace  that  he  voluntarily  handed  over  to  Henry  some  parts 
of  Gascony  which  were  actually  in  his  possession  and  also  paid  him 
a  considerable  sum  of  money,  nominally  to  equip  knights  to  fight 
on  a  crusade.  This  treaty  was  the  first  peace  made  between 
England  and  France  since  Philip  n.'s  conquest  of  Normandy.  It 
failed,  however,  to  establish  permanent  friendship  between  the  two 
countries.  So  long  as  Gascony  remained  ruled  by  dukes  who  were 
also  English  kings,  real  cordiality  between  them  was  impossible. 

18.  In  England  the  fifteen  ruled  for  some  years  in  Henry's 
name,  but  they  governed  in  such  a  selfish  and  narrow  way  that 
murmurs,  almost  as  loud  as  the  old  outcry  against 

Henry,  arosfe  against  them.     Earl  Simon  of  Leicester   Up  of  parties 
took  broader  views  than  most  of  the  barons,  but  he  found   and  the 
it  very  difficult  to  make  the  other  nobles  accept  his    ~ft fnenmS 
policy.    After  all  he  was  a  newcomer  and  a  foreigner,    Barons' 
and  with  all  his   greatness  he  was  so  masterful  and   War,  1259- 
overbearing  that  he  was  not  easy  to  work  with.     The 
majority  of  the  barons  deserted  his  leadership  for  that  of  Richard  of 
Clare,  earl  of  Gloucester,  the  most  powerful  of  the  earls  of  English 
birth.    Gloucester  was  a  much  less  able  man  than  Simon,  and  looked 
with  suspicion  upon  his  rival.     From  their  disputes  arose  a  division 


17 o 


HENRY  III. 


[1259- 


121  the  baronial  ranks,  which  gave  Henry  in.  a  good  chance  to  win 
back  power.  Henry  himself  was  not  clear-sighted  enough  to  make 
the  most  of  his  opportunities ;  but  Edward,  his  eldest  son,  now  a 
grown  man,  did  much  to  compensate  for  his  father's  weakness. 
The  king's  son  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  popular  royalist  party, 
and  showed  himself  more  disposed  to  trust  the  people  than 
Gloucester.  It  was  plain  that  he  had  no  sympathy  with  Henry's 
past  misdeeds,  and  that  under  him  there  would  be  no  danger  of 
the  domination  of  foreign  favourites.  In  fact,  Edward  stood 
to  the  royalist  party  as  his  uncle  Leicester  stood  to  the 
baronial  oligarchy.  For  a  time  Edward  and  Simon  worked  well 
together,  but  they  were  too  much  like  each  other  to  agree  long. 
Ultimately  Edward  proved  himself  Simon's  most  deadly  enemy. 
He  persuaded  many  of  the  barons  to  desert  to  the  royalist  side, 
and  in  particular  won  over  from  the  opposition  the  fierce  and 
warlike  lords  of  the  Welsh  March,  of  whom,  as  earl  of  Chester,  he 
was  the  natural  leader.  By  1263  the  royalist  party  had  become 
so  strong  that  Henry  repudiated  the  Provisions,  and  shook  himself 
free  of  the  control  of  the  fifteen.  He  persuaded  the  pope  to  annul 
the  Provisions,  and  absolve  him  from  the  oath  which  he  had  taken 
to  observe  them.  This  growth  of  the  royalist  power  forced  the 
barons  to  unite  again,  and  their  reunion  was  easier  since  Earl 
Richard  of  Gloucester  died,  and  his  young  son,  Earl  Gilbert  of 
Gloucester,  was  a  devoted  follower  of  Montfort.  Open  hostilities 
broke  out  between  the  king  and  the  barons,  which  were  called  the 
Barons'  War.  In  this  struggle  both  parties  were  so  evenly  matched 
that  neither  could  obtain  a  victory  over  the  other.  The  best  way 
out  of  an  impossible  situation  seemed  to  be  to  appeal  to  the 
arbitration  of  some  impartial  outsider.  Accordingly,  in  December, 
1263,  the  two  parties  arranged  to  submit  all  disputes  between  them 
to  the  judgment  of  Louis  ix. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  LUSIGNAX 

Isabella  of  Angouleme. 
m.  (1)  John,  King  of  England. 
(2)  Hugh  of  Lusignan,  count 
of  La  Marche. 

(1)  '    (1) (2)1 (?) (2) 


Henry  m. 

king  of 

England. 


I 

Richard, 

king  of 

the  Romans. 


William  of  Valence, 

m.  heiress  of  the 

Marshalls,  earls 

of  Pembroke. 

I 

Aymer  of  Valence, 

earl  of  Pembroke. 


Aymer  of      Other  sons 
Valence,     and  daughters 
bishop  of      settled  or 
Winchester,     married  in 
England. 


-I«64]  HENRY  111.  I?I 

THE  EARLS  OF  GLOUCESTER 
Henry  i. 

Robert, 
earl  of  Gloucester,  d.  1147. 

William, 
earl  of  Gloucester. 


Amtcia,  Isabella  of  Gloucester, 

m.  Richard  of  Clare.        m.  King  John. 

Gilbert  of  Clare, 
earl  of  Gloucester. 

I 

Richard  of  Clare, 

earl  of  Gloucester,  d.  1262, 

Gilbert  of  Clare, 

earl  of  Gloucester,  d.  1295, 

m.  Joan,  daughter  of  Edward  i. 

i  i         ~    '      r~  i 

Gilbert,  Eleanor,  Margaret,  another 

earl  of  Gloucester,    m.  Hugh  le  Despenser    m.  Peter  of  Gaveston.    daughter. 
d.  1314.  the  younger. 

The  names  in  italics  are  not  referred  to  in  the  text. 

19.  The  king  of  France  was  the  justest  of  kings ;  but,  after  all, 
he  -was  a  king,  and  naturally  prejudiced  in  favour  of  a  sovereign 
waging  war  against  his  subjects.     In  January,  1264,   ,~    failure 
he  issued  his  decision  in  a  document  called  the  Mise   of  the  Mise 
of  Amiens,  which  pronounced  the  Provisions  invalid,   of  Amiens, 
mainly  because  the  pope  had  already  condemned  them. 
This  judgment  was  too  one-sided  to  be  accepted,  and  the  barons, 
headed  by  Leicester,  resolved  to  continue  the  war.     In  taking  this 
step  Simon  deliberately  broke  his  pledged  word,  but  he  was  not 
more  forsworn  than  the  king,  who  had  so  solemnly  promised  to 
abide  by  the  Provisions.       Though  deserted  by    many    of    his 
followers,  Simon  did  not  lose  heart.     The  defection  of  his  allies 
gave  him  almost  uncontrolled  power  over  the  baronial  party,-  and 
he  now  showed  himself  as  good  a  general  as  he  had  been  a  states- 
man.    War  was  renewed,  and  at  first  the  royalists  gained  some 
successes.    At   the  head  of  their  victorious  troops,  Henry  and 
Edward  marched  triumphantly  through  Kent  and  Sussex,  and  at 
last  took  up  their  quarters  at  Lewes,  where,  on  May  14,  the  decisive 
battle  of  the  campaign  was  fought. 


172 


HENRY  III. 


[1264- 


20.  The  royalist  army  was  holding  the  town  of  Lewes,  which  is 
situated  on  a  sort  of  peninsula  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Ouse. 
The  Battle  Early  in  the  morning,  Montf ort's  army  advanced  from 
of  Lewes,  the  north  and  made  their  way  over  the  open  chalk- 
1264.  downs   which   encompassed    Lewes    on    three    sides. 

Simon's  hope  was  to  surprise  the  royalists  in  their  camp,  but  they 
obtained  information-  of  his  approach,  and  swarmed  out  of  the 
town  to  meet  him.  The  baronial  troops  moved  in  two  great 
divisions  along  two  spurs  of  the  downs,  separated  by  a  valley. 
Their  best  soldiers  were  on  the  right  wing,  and  their  left  wing 
largely  consisted  of  the  Londoners,  who  were  ardent  partisans  of 
Earl  Simon.  Edward,  who  commanded  the  right  wing  of  the 
royalists,   attacked  the  Londoners  with  such  fury  that  he  drove 


|fli 


BATTLE  OF  LEWES 
4  May  1264 

English  Mile 

'A 
.  Earl  Simon 

The  Londoners 

Kings  Henry  and  Richard 

Edward 

1% 


Emery  Walker  sc 


them  in  confusion  many  miles  from  the  field.  During  his  absence, 
however,  Montfort  with  his  right  wing  had  captured  Lewes  town, 
utterly  defeated  the  king's  troops,  and  taken  prisoners  Henry  and 
his  brother,  the  king  of  the  Romans.  When  Edward  returned  from 
the  pursuit  it  was  too  late  to  renew  the  conflict.  Next  day  the 
king's  son  surrendered,  so  that  the  barons  won  a  complete  triumph. 
21.  The  victors  drew  up  a  new  plan  for  the  government  of  the 
country,  called  the  Mise  of  Lewes.  By  it  the  king's  power  was 
The  rule  handed  over  to  a  committee  of  nine,  and  Henry  and 

of  Earl  Edward  were  forced  to  swear  to  observe  its  provisions. 

1264-ni  265       In  realitJr'  however,  Montfort  now  governed  England. 
His  position  was  much  stronger  than  it  had  been  in 
the  early  years  of  the  struggle,  and  for  the  first  time  he  was  able 


-I26S-]  HENRY  III.  173 

to  enforce  his  policy  upon  all  his  party.  His  position,  however, 
was  still  very  difficult.  The  lords  of  the  Welsh  March  were  still 
in  arms  for  the  king,  and  the  pope  was  Henry's  warm  partisan. 
Queen  Eleanor  and  her  kinsfolk  assembled  an  army  on  the  French 
coast,  and  waited  for  an  opportunity  of  invading  England. 

22.  Montfort  saw  that  the  best  way  of  resisting  the  formidable 
forces  opposed  to  him  was  to  call  upon  the  people  as  a  whole  to  rally 
round  him.  With  this  object  he  summoned,  in  TheParlia- 
Januarv,  1265,  a  parliament  which,  unlike  the  Parlia-  ment  of 
ment  of  1258,  was  not  a  mere  council  of  barons.  He 
called  upon  every  shire,  city,  and  borough  in  England  to  elect  two 
representatives  who  were  to  join  with  the  barons  and  bishops  in 
their  deliberations.  This  action  of  Montfort's  has  made  the 
Parliament  of  1265  very  famous  in  our  history.  It  has  been  called 
the  first  House  of  Commons,  and  Montfort  has  been  named  the 
creator  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Neither  of  these  claims  can  be 
justified.  It  was  no  new  thing  to  call  upon  the  shires  to  send  their 
representatives  to  treat  with  the  king  or  his  ministers.  The  policy 
of  electing  representatives  of  the  shires  began  when  Henry  11. 
instituted  the  system  of  grand  juries,  and  sent  his  justices  to  trans- 
act business  with  them.  It  was  only  a  small  step  forward  when, 
instead  of  the  king's  representative  dealing  with  each  shire  in  turn, 
representatives  of  all  the  shires  were  joined  together  in  a  single 
assembly,  and  brought  face  to  face  with  the  king  in  person.  This 
was  first  done,  so  far  as  we  know,  under  John  in  1213.  Under 
Henry  ill.  it  became  a  common  custom  for  the  king  to  call  together 
such  representatives,  or,  as  they  were  called,  knights  of  the  shire, 
and  to  take  their  advice  or  listen  to  their  complaints.  Moreover, 
when  the  king  wanted  to  get  money  from  the  merchants,  or  advice 
on  matters  of  trade,  he  had  already  more  than  once  summoned 
representatives  of  the  cities  and  boroughs.  Nevertheless,  Mont- 
fort's Parliament  does  mark  a  real  advance.  It  was  a  new  thing 
to  join  both  the  shire  and  borough  representatives  in  a  single 
gathering.  Moreover,  Montfort  did  not  summon  this  parliament 
merely  to  raise  taxes,  and  to  discuss  matters  of  little  importance. 
His  object  was  to  take  the  people  into  partnership  with  him,  and 
find  out  their  real  views  as  to  the  government  of  the  country. 
Thus,  while  the  barons  of  1258  acted  as  if  none  but  the  magnates 
had  any  voice  in  matters  of  politics,  Montfort  allowed  commons  as 
well  as  lords  a  voice  in  high  matters  of  state.  Since  Magna  Carta 
the  king's  power  had  been  limited.  It  was  the  glory  of  Montfort 
that  he  was  the  first  man  to  see  that  the  power  of  the  crown  should 


174  HENRY  III.  [1265- 

be  controlled,  not  only  by  the  barons  and  bishops,  but  also  by  the 
lesser  land-owners,  the  men  of  business,  and  the  smaller  people  as 
well.  Nevertheless,  Montfort's  Parliament  was  but  the  expedient 
of  the  moment.  We  must  wait  for  the  next  reign  before  the  rival 
and  disciple  of  Montfort,  Edward,  the  king's  son,  established  the 
popular  element  on  a  firm  basis. 

23.  Earl  Simon's  rule  lasted  only  a  few  months.  His  fierce  and 
overbearing  temper,  and  the  deep  differences  of  policy  between  him 

.        and  such  of  the  magnates  as  still  adhered  to  him,  made 
of  the  permanent  co-operation  between  him  and  the  barons 

Marchers,  impossible.  Gilbert  of  Clare  was  now  old  enough  to 
shake  off  the  fascination  which  had  bound  him  to 
Simon  in  earlier  years.  He  quarrelled  first  with  Simon's  sons,  who 
had  all  the  defects  and  little  of  the  greatness  of  their  father.  Then 
he  broke  violently  with  Simon  himself,  and  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt  in  his  lordship  of  Glamorgan.  The  marchers,  whom  Simon 
had  never  been  able  to  subdue,  rallied  round  him,  and  Simon  was 
forced  to  proceed  to  the  west  to  wage  war  against  Gloucester  and 
his  friends.  He  took  with  him  Henry  and  Edward,  both  of  whom 
were  still  practically  prisoners.  One  day,  however,  Edward,  who 
was  allowed  the  diversion  of  hunting,  escaped  from  his  guards  and 
joined  Gloucester.  By  this  time  a  strong  band  of  exiles,  headed 
by  William  of  Valence,  had  landed  in  South  Wales  and  added  their 
forces  to  those  of  Edward  and  Gloucester.  Simon  strove  to  create 
a  diversion  by  making  a  close  alliance  with  Llewelyn  of  Wales,  but 
the  Welsh  prince  gave  him  little  real  help.  Llewelyn  had  already 
profited  by  the  civil  war  to  conquer  many  of  the  lordships  marcher, 
and  he  would  not  stop  adding  to  his  territories  to  fight  Montfort's 
battles.  Before  long  Montfort  was  forced  to  recross  the  Severn, 
closely  followed  by  Edward  and  the  marchers.  On  August  4, 
1265,  a  decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Evesham  in  Worcestershire. 

24.  Evesham,  like  Lewes,  stands  on  a  peninsula,  and  is  almost 
encircled  by  a  wide  curve  of  the  Avon.  Simon  and  his  war-worn 
The  Battle  nos^  were  resting  in  the  town  when  Edward  occupied 
of  Evesham,    the  narrow  neck  of  land  which  lies  a  little  to  the  north 

between  the  two  reaches  of  the  stream.  This  cut 
off  all  prospect  of  escape  by  land,  especially  as  Gloucester  with  a 
strong  force  occupied  the  village  of  Bengeworth  on  the  left  bank, 
which  was  connected  with  Evesham  by  the  only  bridge  on  that 
part  of  the  river.  Simon  saw  that  Edward  had  outgeneralled  him, 
yet  could  not  but  admire  his  adversary's  skill  in  warfare.  "  By 
the  arm  of  St.  James,"  he  declared,  "  they  come  on  cunningly ;  yet  it 


-1267.] 


HENRY  III. 


175 


is  from  me  that  they  have  learnt  their  order  of  battle.  God  have 
mercy  on  our  souls,  for  our  bodies  are  the  lord  Edward's."  The 
battle  then  began,  and  Montfort's  troops,  though  fighting  bravely, 
were  overpowered.  Montf  ort  himself  perished  in  the  fight,  but  his 
memory  lived  long  in  the  hearts  of  Englishmen,  who  worshipped 
him  as  a  saint  and  martyr,  and  believed  that  he  had  laid  down  his 


BATTLE   OF   EVESHAM. 


life  for  the  cause  of  justice  and  religion.  The  best  of  Simon's 
work  survived  the  battle  of  Evesham.  His  victorious  nephew 
learnt  well  the  lesson  of  his  career,  and  the  true  success  of  the 
martyred  earl  was  the  future  Edward  1. 

25.  Edward  now  restored  his  father  to  liberty  and  the  throne. 
There  was  a  greedy  scramble  for  the  spoils  of  victory,  and  the 
greatest  of  these,  the  forfeited  earldom  of  Leicester,  The  Royalist 
went  to  Edmund,  the  king's  younger  son,  who  soon  Restoration, 
also  became  earl  of  Lancaster  and  Derby.  But  the  1265~1267- 
victors'  resolve  to  deprive  their  beaten  foes  of  their  estates  drove 
the  vanquished  into  fresh  revolts,  and  for  two  years  there  was  still 
much  fighting  in  England.  At  last  the  chief  rebels  were  forced  to 
defend  themselves  behind  the  strong  walls  of  Kenilworth  Castle. 
There  were  two  parties  among  the  royalists  ;  one,  led  by  the  cruel 
marchers,  thought  of  nothing  but  spoils  and  vengeance,  while  the 


176 


HENRY  III. 


[1267- 


other,  headed  by  Gloucester,  recommended  moderation  in  victory. 
At  first  Edward  favoured  the  former,  but  he  now  adopted 
Gloucester's  milder  policy,  and  drew  up  the  Dictum  de  Kenilworth, 
which  allowed  rebels  to  redeem  their  estates  by  paying  a  fine 
assessed  at  five  years'  value  of  their  lands.  In  1266  the  defenders 
of  Kenilworth  were  admitted  to  these  terms,  and  in  1267  a  few 
desperate  partisans,  who  still  held  their  own  amyist  the  fens  of  the 
Isle  of  Ely,  were  also  forced  into  submission. 

26.  England  was  thus  restored  to  peace,  but  Llewelyn  ap  Griffith 
still  remained  under  arms.  Even  Edward  was  now  tired  of  fighting, 
The  Treaty  an^  m  September,  1267,  gave  Llewelyn  liberal  terms 
of  Shrews-  of  peace  in  the  treaty  of  Shrewsbury.  By  it  Llewelyn 
bury,  1 267.  was  recognized  as  prince  of  Wales,  and  as  overlord  of 
all  the  Welsh  magnates.     Many  of  his  conquests  were  definitely 


I  Llewelyn 's  lands  at  his  accession  1246 

]Land  held  by  other  Welsh  Princes  in 
1246  and  brought  more  or  less  under 
Llewelyn's  control  by  1267. 

.  Marcher  lands  occupied  by  Llewelyn 
j  and  assigned  to  him  by  the  Treaty  of 
'Shrewsbury  1267. 


□ 


Marcher  Lordships  remaining  outside 
Llewelyn's  power  in  1267. 


WALES  AND   THE   MARCH,    SHEWING  THE   GROWTH   OF   THE   POWER  OF 
LLEWELYN    (1246-1267). 

ceded  to  him,  including  the  four  cantreds  of  the  vale  of  Clwyd, 
over  which  Edward  himself  had  claims.  Alone  of  Montfort's 
friends,  Llewelyn  came  out  of  an  unsuccessful  struggle  upon  terms 
which  are  seldom  obtained  even  by  a  victor  in  the  field. 

27.  The  rest  of  Henry  m.'s  reign  was  as  peaceful  as  the  middle 
part  had  been  stormy.     The  old  king  was  practically  replaced  by 


-1272]  HENRY  III.  177 

his  wise  son,  and  Edward  was  shrewd  enough  to  rale  the  land  after 
a  fashion  more  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  Earl  Simon  than 
with  those  of  his  father.  Before  long  things  became  Tne  end  0f 
so  quiet  that  Edward  was  able  to  leave  England  and  the  reign, 
go  on  a  crusade.  Ever  since  the  Third  Crusade  the  **»«**'*• 
Christian  kingdom  in  Palestine  had  been  steadily  decaying,  and  it 
was  clear  that  unless  a  new  holy  war  were  preached,  it  would  soon 
be  completely  overwhelmed.  Louis  ix.  undertook  to  lead  a  crusade 
in  person,  but  instead  of  going  to  the  Holy  Land,  he  turned  his 
arms  against  Tunis,  where  he  died  in  1270.  Soon  afterwards 
Edward  arrived  off  Tunis,  only  to  find  that  Louis  was  dead,  and  his 
son,  Philip  in.,  had  concluded  a  truce  with  the  Mohammedans. 
Disgusted  by  what  he  regarded  as  treason  to  Christendom,  he  made 
his  way  to  Palestine,  where  he  remained  till  1272.  He  was  the 
last  of  the  great  crusaders,  and  even  his  fire  and  courage  could  do 
little  to  uphold  the  crusading  kingdom,  which  a  few  years  later  was 
altogether  destroyed.  Edward  was  still  away  in  the  East  when 
Henry  in.  died,  in  November,  1272.  The  old  king  was  buried  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  which  he  had  rebuilt  in  honour  of  St.  Edward, 
his  favourite  saint.  During  his  lifetime  the  old  Norman  despotism 
had  faded  slowly  into  the  national  and  constitutional  monarchy 
which  Simon  had  begun,  and  which  Simon's  conqueror  was  soon  to 
complete. 


CHAPTER   II 

EDWARD    I.  (1272-1307) 

Chief  Dates: 

1272. 

Accession  of  Edward  1. 

1274. 

Edward's  coronation. 

1277. 

The  first  Welsh  War. 

1279. 

Statute  of  Mortmain. 

1282-1283. 

Conquest  of  North  Wales. 

1285. 

Statutes  De  Donis  and  of  Winchester. 

1290. 

Statute  Quia  Emptores. 

1292. 

John  Balliol,  king  of  Scots. 

1295. 

The  Model  Parliament. 

1296. 

First  conquest  of  Scotland. 

1297. 

Confirmatio  Cariarum. 

1298. 

Battle  of  Falkirk. 

1303-1304- 

Completion  of  second  conquest  of  Scotland. 

1306. 

Revolt  of  Robert  Bruce. 

1307. 

Death  of  Edward  1. 

1.  Edward  i.  was  thirty -three  years  old  when  he  became  king,  and 
the  broad  lines  of  his  policy  had  already  been  formed  in  the  rnde 
Character  school  of  the  Barons'  War.  He  was  wise  enough  to 
and  policy  profit  by  his  experience,  and  his  love  of  strong  rule 
of  Ed  ward  I.  an^  efliciencV}  j^g  courage,  energy,  and  honesty  stand 
in  strong  contrast  to  the  weakness  and  incompetence  of  his  father. 
Edward  loved  power  too  much  to  part  with  it  willingly,  but  he  saw 
that  if  he  wished  to  be  a  successful  ruler,  he  must  make  his  policy 
popular.  For  this  reason  he  strove  to  carry  out  the  great  idea  of 
Earl  Simon  of  taking  the  people  into  a  sort  of  partnership  with 
him.  The  result  was  that  his  people  trusted  and  followed  him. 
Edward  found  that  he  could  thus  get  more  of  his  own  way  than  by 
constantly  wrangling  with  his  subjects.  His  remarkable  personal 
gifts  made  it  easy  for  him  to  win  respect  and  love.  He  was  of 
elegant  build  and  lofty  stature,  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  consummate 
swordsman,  and  a  mighty  hunter.  He  was  hot-tempered  and 
passionate,  and  when  moved  to  wrath  was  sometimes  hard  and 
almost  cruel.  He  committed  many  deeds  of  violence  in  his  youth, 
178 


I277-]  EDWARD  I.  179 

but  he  learned  to  curb  bis  impetuous  temper,  was  proud  of  his 
straightforwardness,  and  boasted  that  he  always  kept  his  word. 
Yet  Edward  had  a  curious  narrowness  of  temper,  which  made  him 
sometimes  look  at  the  letter  rather  than  the  spirit  of  his  promises. 
An  enemy  said  of  bim  that  he  called  prudence  the  treachery 
whereby  he  advanced,  and  believed  that  whatever  he  liked  was 
lawful.  He  was  hard-working,  clear-headed,  and  practical.  His 
family  life  was  unstained.  He  was  a  loyal  friend,  and  was  sincerely 
religious.     With  all  his  faults  he  was  the  greatest  of  all  his  house. 

2.  Edward  was  proclaimed  king  during  his  absence.  A  regency 
was  appointed  whose  chief  members  were  Walter  Grey,  archbishop 
of  York,  and  Robert  Burnell,  a  Shropshire  clerk,  who 

was  already  the  new  king's  most  intimate  confidant,  ment  during 
and  did  so  well  that  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  Edward's 
life   Edward's  chief  minister.    It  kept  England  in  i272-?274 
such  unbroken  peace  that  there  was    no    need   for 
Edward  to  hasten  his  return.     He  tarried  for  more  than  a  year 
in  France,  and  paid  a  prolonged  visit  to  Gascony.     At  last,  in 
August,  1274,  he  crossed  over  to  England,  and  was  crowned  king. 

3.  Edward's  first  trouble  came  from  Wales,  where  the  treaty  of 
Shrewsbury  had  not  brought  enduring  peace.     The  brilliant  success 
of  the  Welsh  arms  and  diplomacy  seems  somewhat  to   The  flPSt 
have  turned  Llewelyn's  brain.     Visions  of  a  wider   Welsh  war, 
authority  constantly  floated  before  the  Welsh  prince,    1277- 

and  he  dreamed  of  driving  the  Saxons  out  of  Wales  and  making 
himself  an  independent  ruler.  Accordingly,  when  the  regents  of 
the  new  king  required  him  to  take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  Edward,  he 
answered  them  with  all  sorts  of  pretexts  and  delays.  There  were 
many  other  subjects  of  contention,  and  both  English  and  Welsh 
complained  that  the  treaty  of  Shrewsbury  had  not  been  properly- 
executed.  Even  after  Edward's  return  Llewelyn  continued  to- 
evade  the  performance  of  his  feudal  duty.  At  last  he  declared 
that  he  dared  not  leave  Wales  to  perform  homage  unless  Edward 
sent  his  brother,  Earl  Edmund  of  Lancaster,  to  Wales  as  a  hostage- 
for  his  safety.  Llewelyn  also  strove  to  stir  up  dissension  in 
Edward's  realm  by  posing  as  the  disciple  of  Simon  of  Montfort, 
and  in  1275  sought  for  Montfort's  daughter  Eleanor  as  his  wife. 
However,  on  her  way  to  Wales  Eleanor  was  captured  by  Edward's 
sailors,  and  kept  in  restraint  at  court.  Edward  at  last  lost  all 
patience,  and  in  1277  led  an  army  to  North  Wales,  blockaded 
Llewelyn  in  Snowdon,  and  forced  hi™  to  make  his  submission  by 
the  treaty  of  Conway.     This  treaty  deprived  Llewelyn  of  all  that 


l80  EDWARD  I.  [1277- 

he  had  won  at  Shrewsbury,  and  reduced  him  to  the  position  of  a 
petty  North  Welsh  chieftain,  strictly  dependent  on  his  English 
overlord.  Next  year  he  was  allowed  to  marry  Eleanor  of  Montf  ort ; 
Edward  was  not  inclined  to  treat  him  severely  if  he  accepted  his 
position  of  dependence. 

4.  For  the  next  few  years  Edward  strove  with  all  his  might  to 
establish  English  law  in  the  districts  ceded  to  him  by  Llewelyn. 
.         His  own  attitude  was  unsympathetic  to  the  Welsh,  and 
Welsh  his  agents  were  often  brutally  harsh.     A  loud  outcry 

troubles,  against  the  king's  rule  arose  from  his  new  subjects,  and 
especially  from  those  of  the  four  cantreds  of  the  vale  of 
Clwyd.  They  called  upon  Llewelyn  to  help  them,  and  Llewelyn's 
brother  David,  who  in  1277  had  been  on  Edward's  side,  reconciled 
himself  with  his  brother.  A  revolt  of  the  four  cantreds  broke  out 
suddenly  in  the  spring  of  1282.  Llewelyn  and  David  gave  active 
assistance  to  the  rebels,  and  almost  simultaneously  another  rising 
took  place  in  South  Wales. 

GENEALOGY  OF  THE  LAST  WELSH  PRINCES 

Owen, 
prince  of  North  Wales  under  Henry  II. 

lorwerth. 


d.  1240,  m 

Llewelyn, 

.  (2)  daughter  of  John. 

!                 (2J> 

1 
Griffith. 

David, 
d.  1246. 

Llewelyn, 
d.  1282. 

1 
David, 
d.  1283. 

Roderick, 
Thomas. 

Sir  Owen  of  Wales 
(time  of  Edward  111.). 

(The  names  in  italics  are  not  referred  to  in  text ;  Welsh  princes 
in  small  capitals.) 

5.  Edward  led  a  second  expedition  against  Llewelyn  in  the 
summer  of  1282.  Again  the  rebel  prince  was  shut  up  in  Snowdon, 
but  he  managed  to  break  his  way  through  the  English  troops  and 
excite  a  fresh  revolt  on  the  upper  Wye,  where  he  was  slain  on 
December  11,  at  the  battle  of  Orewyn  Bridge.  David,  now  prince 
of  Wales,  held  his  own  in  the  mountains  for  another  year ;  but  at 


•1284.] 


EDWARD  I. 


I8l 


last  he   was   tracked  and  captured.     In   October,  1283,  he  was 

executed  as  a  traiter  at  Shrewsbury,     This  was  the 

end  of  the  native  principality  of  Wales.     It  is  often   quest  of  the 

called  the  conquest  of  Wales,  but  it  was  in  reality   Princi- 

only  the   conquest  of  Llewelyn's  principality.     The    i|g2^i283. 

marches  of  Wales  remained  under  their  feudal  lords 

until  the  sixteenth  century. 

6.  In  1284  Edward  drew  up  the  Statute  of  Wales.     He  declared 


EmeryWalker  so 

iThe  Principality  I I  The  smaller  marcher  lordships 

MM  If**  Palatine  counties  wmlnglish  shire  ground 

Modern  boundary  between  England  &  Wales  ■■««-■*■ 

WALES   AND  THE   MARCH    BETWEEN   THE   CONQUEST   CNDER  EDWARD   I. 
AND   THE   UNION   UNDER   HENRY   VIII. 


that  the  principality  of  Wales,  hitherto  feudally  subject  to  him, 
was  henceforward  to  be  directly  ruled  by  him,  and  drew  up  a 
scheme  for  its  future  government.  He  divided  it  into  five  counties 
— Anglesey,   Carnarvon,   Merioneth,   Cardigan,  and  Carmarthen 


1 82  EDWARD  I.  [1275- 

— and  added  a  new  county,  Flintshire,  to  the  earldom  of  Chester, 

which  was  now  permanently  in  the  king's  hands.     In  each  of  the 

Th   s  tti        new  s^res  ^e  English  system  of  local  government  was 

ment  of  the     set  up,  though  such  "Welsh  laws  as  Edward  thought 

Princl-  reasonable  were  allowed  to  continue.    In  all  the  details 

oalitv  1284 

v      "'  of  the  settlement  Edward  strove  to  deal  fairly  with 

the  Welsh,  though  he  never  understood  them  well  enough  to 
respect  their  feelings.  To  secure  his  conquest  Edward  surrounded 
Snowdon  with  a  ring  of  fortresses,  which  still,  in  their  ruin,  bear 
witness  to  the  solidity  of  their  work.  Round  each  castle,  such  as 
Carnarvon  and  Conway,  grew  up  a  little  English  town  whose  in- 
habitants might  help  the  soldiers  of  the  castle  to  keep  the  Welsh  in 
.  _  check.  In  one  of  Edward's  new  strongholds,  that  of 
Carnarvon,  Carnarvon,  his  son,  the  future  Edward  11.,  was  born, 
prince  of  in  1301  this  Edward  was  made  prince  of  Wales  by  his 
'  *  father.  After  this  it  gradually  became  the  fashion  to 
create  the  king's  eldest  son  prince  of  Wales.  That  custom  has 
lasted  down  to  our  own  day. 

7.  Though  Edward  was  an  able  soldier,  his  greatest  strength 
was  as  a  lawgiver  and  administrator.  Intent  as  he  was  on  his 
Edward's  conquest  of  the  Principality,  he  was  even  more  busily 
legislation,  engaged,  during  the  first  half  of  his  reign,  in  drawing 
1274-1290.  Up  a  remarkable  series  of  new  laws  and  in  striving 
with  all  his  might  to  see  them  carried  out  in  practice.  With  all 
their  importance  Edward's  laws  do  not  contain  very  much  that  is 
novel  or  original.  They  owe  their  fame  to  the  care  with  which  he 
discerned  the  practical  needs  of  his  people  and  the  skill  with  which 
he  engrafted  into  our  permanent  constitution  the  best  results  of 
the  age  of  unrest  and  revolution  in  which  he  had  grown  up.  His 
reign  has  been  called  a  period  of  definition,  by  which  it  is  meant 
that  he  made  clear  points  that  were  formerly  doubtful,  and  selected 
from  the  rich  store  of  precedents,  furnished  by  the  age  of  the 
Barons'  War,  the  institutions  which  his  keen  eye  saw  were  of  most 
value  to  himself  and  his  subjects,  and  the  most  likely  to  bring  about 
the  permanent  welfare  of  England.  Between  1275  and  1290  a 
series  of  great  laws  passed  in  review  every  branch  of  both  the  local 
and  central  administration,  and  made  their  permanent  mark  in 
English  history.  In  the  later  years  of  his  reign  we  shall  see  the 
same  statesmanlike  policy  of  definition  applied  to  the  constitution, 
which  under  his  guidance  took  the  form  which  it  has  retained  ever 
since. 

8.  On  reaching  England  Edward  made  B.obert  Burnell  his 


1284.]  EDWARD  I.  1 83 

chancellor,  and  retained  him  in  that  office  until  his  death  in  1292. 

The  credit  for  the  legislation  of  the  period  is  to  be  divided  between 

the  chancellor  and   Edward,  who  rewarded   Burnell 

with  the  bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells.     In  1275  the  vJtst-*6  °f 

first  of  the  great  laws   of  the  reign  was  passed   in  minster  L, 

the  statute  of  Westminster  the  First.     It  was  mainly  1275' 

aimed  at  strengthening    the   king's    government  and  ensuring 

peace ;  but  it  re-enacted  many  of  the  best  provisions  of  the  Great 

Charter  and  provided  for  the  freedom  of  elections  to  parliament. 

Part  of  the  statute  included  a  permanent  grant  to  Edward  and  his 

successors  of  a  duty  on  every  sack  of  wool  and  every  bundle  ff 

sheepskins  and  leather  sent  out  of  the  country.     This    ' 

was  called  the  Old  and  Great  Custom.     It  was  hence-    The  Great 
„  .  Custom, 

forth  an  important  source  of  revenue,  and  it  was  a  proof 

of  the  growing  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  country  that  the  kings 

were  able  in  the  future  to  derive  a  large  portion  of  their  income 

from  a  tax  on  trade. 

9.  In  1278  Edward  passed  the  statute  of  Gloucester,  which 
ordered  an  inquiry  into  all  law  courts  and  jurisdictions  held  by 
the  feudal  barons,  and  sought  to  limit  their  number.  -j-ne  statute 
Commissioners  went  through  the  country  to  every  of  Glouces- 
franchise,  and  demanded  by  what  warranty  the  holder  *  *278- 
of  it  exercised  his  right.  For  this  reason  the  letters  issued  by 
Edward's  commission  were  called  writs  of  quo  warranto.  Edward's 
object  was  to  break  down  the  power  of  the  nobles,  and  make  every 
court  depend  on  the  crown.  But  his  barons  bitterly  resented  his 
action  as  an  attack  upon  their  privileges.  It  was  said  that  when 
the  commissioners  asked  Earl  Warenne  by  what  right  he  held 
his  courts,  the  earl  bared  his  sword  and  haughtily  declared  that 
this  weapon  was  his  authority.  "  My  ancestors  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror,"  said  "Warenne,  "  and  won  their  lands  with  their  sword, 
and  with  the  same  sword  will  I  defend  them  against  all  who  wish 
to  take  them  from  me."  These  fierce  words  voiced  the  opinion  of 
the  barons,  and  Edward  was  wise  enough  not  to  force  them  to 
extremities.  He  suffered  many  franchises  to  remain  that  he  would 
gladly  have  abolished ;  but  he  took  care  to  create  no  fresh  ones,  and 
saw  that  all  the  lords  were  thoroughly  obedient  to  him. 

10.  In  1279  Edward  passed  the  statute  of  Mortmain.     Lands 
which  went  to  the  Church  were  said  to  have  fallen    xne  statute 
into  the  dead  hand,  or  in  Latin,  in  mortua  manu,    of  Mort- 
and  the  statute  forbade  any  further  grants  of  lands   maln»  1279« 
to    the    Church   without    the    king's    leave.      Edward's    motive 


1 84  EDWARD  1.  [1284- 

was  partly  to  prevent  an  increase  of  the  wealth  and  power  of 
the  Church,  and  partly  to  prevent  more  lands  falling  to  clerical 
owners,  who  were  not  so  well  able  to  fight  his  battles  as  the  lay 
barons.  His  action  was  resented  by  the  stricter  churchmen,  and 
in  particular  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  archbishop 
at  the  time  was  John  Peckham,  a  Franciscan  friar,  and  a  very 
busy,  well-meaning,  and  active  man,  who  was  so  eager  for 
the  rights  of  the  Church  that  he  was  constantly  causing  great 
irritation  to  Edward  by  his  claims.  More  than  once  there  seemed 
to  be  a  good  chance  of  a  conflict  between  Edward  and  Peckham 
breaking  out,  such  as  had  raged  between  Henry  11.  and  Arch- 
bishop Thomas.  But  Edward's  prudence  and  Peckham's  fear  of 
his  sovereign  continued  to  keep  matters  at  peace.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, the  advantage  was  with  the  king,  who  would  not 
specte  give  up  the  statute  of  Mortmain,  and  who  in  1285 

Agatis,  passed  a  law  called  Circumspecte  Agatis  (act  cautiously), 

by  which  he  forced  the  Church  courts  to  confine  them- 
selves to  business  that  was  strictly  ecclesiastical,  and  not  to  en- 
croach upon  the  jurisdiction  of  the  law  courts  of  the  crown.  Yet. 
powerful  as  he  was,  Edward  could  not  prevent  the  popes  nomi- 
nating whom  they  would  to  great  places  in  the  English  Church. 
Peckham  himself  had  been  appointed  by  papal  provision,  and 
Edward  could  never  persuade  the  pope  to  allow  the  Chancellor 
Burnell  a  richer  bishopric  than  his  see  of  Bath  and  Wells.  Edward 
was,  however,  strong  enough  to  put  a  practical  end  to  the  pope's 
exercising  any  rights  as  overlord  of  England  by  virtue  of  King 
John's  submission  in  1213.  He  refused  to  pay  the  tribute  John 
had  promised,  and  the  popes  were  wise  enough  not  to  press  for  it. 

11.  In  1285  Edward  passed  two  famous  laws,  called  the  statute 
of  Westminster  the  Second  and  the  statute  of  Winchester.  The 
former  made  important  changes  in  the  land  laws.  One 
West  °  °^  ^s  clauses  was  called  De  Donis  Conditionalibus — that 
minster  II.  is,  "  concerning  gifts  on  condition."  Its  effect  was 
an.d  to  make  it  easier  for  a  landholder  to  entail,  or  settle,  his 

1285.  '    lan<*  uPon  a  particular  line  of  his  descendants  for  ever. 

In  practice,  however,  this  custom  of  tying  up  lands 
from  generation  to  generation  was  found  to  work  badly,  and  the 
judges  interpreted  Edward's  law  in  such  a  fashion  that  it  lost  its 
worst  sting.  It  had,  however,  some  effect  towards  creating  the 
English  custom  of  settling  lands  strictly  on  the  eldest  son,  which 
has  proved  more  profitable  to  a  few  great  houses  than  to  the  king 
or  country.    The  statute  of  Winchester  aimed  at  putting  down  riots 


-1290.]  EDWARD  I.  1 85 

and  violence  by  making  each  Hundred  responsible  for  all  breaches 
cf  the  peace  within  its  limits,  and  by  providing  for  the  proper 
arming  and  calling  out  of  the  fyrd,  or,  as  it  soon  became  called,  the 
militia.  It  was  in  a  sense  a  new  version  of  Henry  11. 's  Assize  of 
Arms  brought  up  to  date. 

12.  The  last  great  law  of  the  reign  was  the  statute  of  West- 
minster the  Third,  passed  in  1290,  and  often  called  from  its  opening 
words,  Quia  JEmptores.      It  allowed  any  landholder  to   ...     f 
sell  his  land  if  he  wished  it,  but  enacted  that  the    West- 

buyer  should  not  be  the  vassal  of  the  man  of  whom    minster  III., 

1290 
he  had  acquired  <the  land,  but  stand  in  the  same 

relation  to  the  lord  of  the  seller  as  the  seller  had  stood  himself. 

The  effect  of  this  was,  in  the  long  run,  to  bring  most  landholders 

under  the  direct  lordship  of  the  crown,  and  so  still  further  to 

weaken  the  position  of  the  barons. 

13.  Despite  Edward's  new  laws,  the  government  was  only 
properly  carried  on  when  the  king  was  himself  in  England. 
Between  1286  and  1289  foreign  troubles  carried  both 

Edward  and  Burnell  to    Gascony.       During    their   ??iailsi)f 
absence  the  judges  sold  verdicts  for  money,  and  the    1289,  and 
ministers  were  so  corrupt  and  oppressive  that  Edward,    expulsion  of 
on  his  return,  appointed  a  special  commission  to  hear    ^90        ' 
the  numerous  complaints  brought  against  them  by  his 
subjects.     All  the  judges  but  four  were  heavily  fined  and  dismissed 
from  office.      Soon  after  this  stern  act,  Edward  issued  orders  that 
all  Jews  should  be  expelled  from  England.     The  Jews  had  come 
to  England  about  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest,  and  had 
shown  such  skill  in  business  as  to  make  much  money  for  them- 
selves.    They  were  unpopular  as  foreigners  and  as  unbelievers, 
and  also  because  they  were  in  the  habit  of  lending  money  at  high 
rates  of  interest.      They  were,  however,  favoured  by  the  kings,  and 
were  glad  to  pay  highly  for  the  royal  protection.     Gradually,  how- 
ever, the  feeling  against  them  became  very  bitter.      Edward  was 
brought  over  by  it  to  withdraw  his  support  from  them.      In  1290 
he  drove  them  from  the  land  altogether. 

14.  Jjl  1286  Alexander  in.  king  of  Scots  died,  the  last  male 
representative  of  the  old  line  of  Scottish  monarchs.     With  him 
ended  a  long  and  prosperous  period  for  Scotland,   s    ..      . 
during  which  the  various  nations  which  were  ruled   under 

by  the  Scots  king  were  gradually  becoming  blended   Alexander 

together  into  a  single  people.     The  elements  which 

made  up  the  Scottish  kingdom  were  even  more  various  than  those 


1 86  EDWARD  1.  [1286. 

which  were  brought  together  in  Edward's  realm.     The  original 
Scots  were  the  Celtic-speaking  Highlanders,  who  dwelt  amongst 
the  mountains  of  the  north  and  west.     Their  territory  did  not, 
however,  extend  further  south  than  the   Clyde  and  the   Forth, 
which  were  the  original  southern  limits  of  the  Scottish  kingdom. 
But  we    have    seen    how    by  the    conquest    of    Strathclyde,   or 
Cumbria,  a  Welsh  population   in  the   south-west  of  the  modern 
realm  was  brought  under  the  rule  of   the   Scottish  king,  so  that 
his  rule  extended  over  the  Clyde  to  the  Solway  and  the  Esk.     We 
have  also  seen  how  from  the  cession  of  the  English  district  of 
Lothian,    originally    the    northern    part    of     Northumbria,   the 
dominions  of  the  Scottish  king  had  been  extended  towards  the 
south-east  from  the  Forth  to  the  Tweed.     To  these  new  districts 
and  new  peoples  brought  under  his  sway  must  be  added  the  Danes 
and  Norsemen,  who  had  largely  displaced  the  Celtic  inhabitants 
in  the  western  and  northern  islands  and  in  the  extreme  north, 
and    the    Norman    nobles    who    had    become    the    chief    landed 
proprietors     since    the    twelfth    century.       By    this    time    the 
Welsh,  the  Normans,  the  English,  and  the  Danes  were  sufficiently 
united  with  the  Celts  for  all  to  call  themselves  Scots.      The  most 
important  and  populous  part  of  the  country  was  in  the  south  or 
Lowlands,  which  spoke  a  form  of  the  old  speech  of  Northumbria, 
which  was  soon  to  be  called  the  Scots  tongue.      The  original  Scots 
were  henceforth  called  Highlanders,  and  their  language  more  often 
called  Gaelic  than  Scots.     The  Highlanders  were  very  like  their 
near  kinsmen  the  Irish,  and  were  still  for  many  centuries  to  be 
governed  after  the  old  Celtic  fashion,  by  which  each  tribe  was 
practically  ruled  by  its  clan  chieftain.     On  the  other  hand,  English 
and  Norman  influence  had  made  most  of  the  Lowlanders  almost 
Englishmen.     The  Welsh  of  the  south-west  were  rapidly  losing 
their    old    nationality    and    becoming    English    in    speech    and 
institutions.     The  Danes  of  the  north,  cut  off  from  their  kinsfolk 
in  Scandinavia,  since  the  Norse  invasions  had  come  to  an  end,  were 
also  becoming  Anglicized.     Up  the  east  coast  English  influence 
gradually  penetrated  over  the  Forth  and  Tay,  or  to  the  low  and 
fertile  region  between   the   mountains   and  the   sea,  far  beyond 
Aberdeen,   and   almost   up   to   Inverness.      The  result  was  that 
English-speaking    Scotland  was  become  very  extensive.     But  all 
the  various  races  dwelling  in  Scotland  were  ruled  by  one  king,  and 
were  becoming  equally  proud  of  the  name  of  Scot.     For  a  century 
their  rulers  had  lived  on  good  terms  with  the  English  monarchs, 
but  this  happy  period  now  ended. 


-1289.] 


EDWARD  I. 


I87 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE  EARLY  SCOTTISH  KINGS,  SHOWING  THE 
CHIEF  CLAIMANTS  IN  1290 

Malcolm  Canmore, 
d.  1093,  m.  St.  Margaret,  sister  to  Edgar  ^theling. 


t)AVID   I., 

1124-1153. 

Henry, 
earl  of  Huntingdon. 


Matilda, 
m.  Henry  :. 


William  the  Lion, 
1165-1214. 

I 

Alexander  ii., 

1214-1249. 

I 

Alexander  hi., 

1249-1286. 

Margaret, 
m.  Eric  of  Norway. 

I 
Margaret, 
the  Maid  of  Norway, 
d.  1290.       . 


David, 
earl  of  Huntingdon. 


Margaret, 
m.  Alan  of  Galloway. 

.      I   ■„ 
Devorgilla, 

m.  John  Balliol. 

I 

John  Balliol, 

king  of  Scots, 

1292-1296. 

Edward  Balliol, 
nominal  king  of 
Scots,  1332-1338. 


Isabella, 
m.  Robert  Bruce. 

I 
Robert  Bruce 
the  claimant. 

i 
Robert  Bruce, 
earl  of  Carrick. 

Robert  i.  Bruce, 

king  of  Scots, 

1306-1329. 


I  -       I 

David  ii.  Bruce,  Margaret, 

1329-1371.  m.  Walter  Stewart 

of  Scotland,  from 
whom  the  Stewarts 
\  are  descended. 

(Scottish  kings  in  small  capitals  ;  names  in  italics  not  mentioned  in  text.) 


15.  Alexander  m.'s  nearest  heir  was  Margaret,  Ms  daughter's 
daughter,  a  young  girl,  called  the  Maid  of  Norway,  because  her 
father  was  Eric,  king  of  that  country.     Proclaimed   j^e  Majd 
queen  of  Scots  on  Alexander's  death,  she  remained   of  Norway, 
in  Norway  under  her  father's  care,  while  her  realm    1286_129°- 
was  ruled  by  a  regency,  which  found  it  hard  to  keep  the  country 
in  good  order.      Edward,  who  watched  Scottish  affairs  carefully, 
saw  in  a  female  reign  the  best  prospects  of  extending  his  power 
over  the  north.       He  proposed    that  his  eldest  surviving  son, 
Edward  of  Carnarvon,  should  marry  the  little  queen,  and  thus 
bring  about  the  union  of  the  two  lands.     On  his  pledging  himself 


1 88  EDWARD  I.  [1290- 

that  the  two  kingdoms  should  each  retain  their  own  laws  and 
customs  even  if  the  marriage  resulted  in  their  being  joined  under 
a  common  sovereign,  the  Scots  cheerfully  accepted  his  plan.  In 
1290  the  treaty  of  Brigham  was  signed  embodying  these  conditions. 
It  was  the  wisest  scheme  that  could  be  devised  for  bringing  about 
the  peaceful  unity  of  Britain.  Unluckily,  the  Maid  of  Norway  died 
in  the  course  of  the  same  year  on  her  journey  from  Norway  to 
Scotland. 

16.  A  swarm  of  claimants  now  arose  to  the  Scottish  throne. 
As  none  had  a  clear  title,  and  several  had  eager  supporters,  it  looked 

as  if  the  sword  alone  would  settle  the  question  of  the 

T,h®  succession.     The  Scots  were  alarmed  at  the  prospect 

cl8.in13.nLs 

to  the  of  a  long  and  bloody  civil  war,  and  resolved  to  get  out 

Scottish  0f  the  difficulty  by  calling  on  Edward  to  decide  which  of 

1290-1292.'  ^he  candidates  had  the  best  right.  Edward  willingly 
agreed  to  undertake  this  course.  He  required,  how- 
ever, that  all  the  Scottish  barons  and  all  the  claimants  should  take 
an  oath  of  fealty  to  him  as  overlord  of  Scotland  before  he  began 
to  examine  the  question.  He  gladly  welcomed  so  good  an  oppor- 
tunity of  settling  the  relations  of  the  two  kingdoms  which  had 
remained  somewhat  doubtful  since  Richard  1.  remitted  to  William 
the  Lion  the  hard  conditions  of  the  treaty  of  Falaise.  Though 
every  subsequent  Scottish  king  had  done  homage  to  the  English 
king,  yet  each  of  them  possessed  large  estates  in  England,  and  it 
was  not  always  clear  whether  their  submission  was  f  or  their  English 
estates  or  for  the  Scottish  throne.  As  Scotland  grew  stronger  her 
kings  became  more  unwilling  to  acknowledge  their  subjection  to  a 
foreign  king,  and  the  good  understanding  that  had  prevailed  for  so 
long  between  them  and  their  southern  neighbours  had  made  the 
English  kings  see  no  reason  in  pressing  their  claim.  However, 
circumstances  had  now  changed.  If  Edward  did  not  arbitrate, 
there  was  the  certainty  of  Scotland  falling  into  terrible  confusion. 
The  claimants,  in  their  anxiety  to  curry  favour  with  Edward,  were 
the  first  to  submit.  The  chief  nobles  followed,  and  Edward  there- 
upon undertook  to  try  the  great  suit  for  the  succession. 

17.  The  pleas  were  examined  by  104  judges,  of  whom  24  were 
chosen  by  Edward  and  40  by  each  of  the  two  claimants  whose 
Accession  rights  seemed  the  nearest.  These  were  John  Balliol, 
of  John  lord  of  G-alloway,  and  Robert  Bruce,  lord  of  Annan- 
folo01,  fals.    Both  of  these  were  descended  on  the  female  side 

from  David,  earl  of  Huntingdon,  Balliol  being  the 
grandson  of  his  eldest  daughter,  Margaret,  and  Bruce  the  son  of 


-I293-]  EDWARD  I.  1 89 

his  second  daughter,  Isabella.  Balliol's  claim  was  based  upon  his 
representing  the  elder  branch,  while  Bruce's  title  rested  on  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  generation  nearer  Earl  David.  The  judges  went  into 
the  case  with  great  care  and  impartiality,  and  finally  adjudged 
the  crown  to  Balliol.  The  decision  was  announced  on  November 
30,  1292,  at  Berwick-on-Tweed,  then  a  Scottish  town.  Balliol  at 
once  did  homage  to  Edward,  and  was  crowned  king  of  Scots.  The 
question  seemed  peaceably  settled,  and  Edward  won  great  reputa- 
tion for  justice  in  his  conduct  of  the  case. 

18.  Fresh  trouble  at  once  fell  upon  Edward  ;  this  time  from 
France.  All  through  his  reign  there  had  been  constant  bickering 
between  Edward  and  the  French  kings.  There  were  England 
great  difficulties  in  carrying  out  the  treaty  of  1259,  and  France, 
and  the  irritation  caused  to  the  French  by  Edward's  1259_1293- 
position  in  Gascony  was  increased  when  his  queen,  Eleanor  of 
Castile,  inherited  through  her  mother  the  county  of  Ponthieu  on 
the  lower  Somme,  so  that  Edward's  position  in  France  was  thereby 
strengthened.  All  through  the  reign  of  Philip  in.,  who  succeeded 
his  father  St.  Louis  in  1270,  the  relations  of  the  two  countries  were 
strained ;  but  in  1279  both  kings  agreed  to  make  the  treaty  of 
Amiens,  by  which  Edward's  position  in  Grascony  was  improved  and 
his  wife  put  in  possession  of  Ponthieu.  Philip  iv.,  who  became  king 
of  France  in  1285,  was  a  stronger  king  than  his  father,  and  was 
eager  to  undermine  Edward's  hold  over  the  French  fiefs,  by  pushing 
his  power  as  suzerain  to  the  uttermost.  Matters  were  made  worse 
by  quarrels  between  English  and  French  seamen,  which  grew  so 
bitter  that  the  French  hanged  some  English  mariners  to  the  yard- 
arms  of  their  ships,  with  dogs  hung  up  beside  them,  "  as  if  they  made 
no  difference,"  said  an  indignant  chronicler,  "  between  a  dog  and 
an  Englishman."  This  so  enraged  the  English  shipmen  that  in 
1293  they  challenged  the  French  to  fight  a  pitched  battle,  in  which 
the  latter  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter.  The  beaten  sailors 
besieged  Philip  iv.  with  their  complaints,  and  Philip  summoned 
Edward  to  his  court  at  Paris  to  answer  for  the  behaviour  of  his 
subjects.  Edward  sent  his  brother  Edmund,  earl  of  Lancaster,  as  his 
agent,  but  Edmund  was  too  simple  to  be  a  good  negotiator.  Philip 
persuaded  him  to  give  up  Grascony  to  him  just  as  a  form,  and  on 
condition  of  its  being  soon  restored.  But  when  the  time  of  restitu- 
tion came,  Philip's  agents  kept  a  tight  hold  over  the  whole  of  the 
duchy.  Edward,  seeing  that  his  brother  had  been  tricked,  angrily 
broke  off  negotiations,  and  went  to  war  with  the  French. 

19.  Philip  iv.  prepared  to  invade  England,  and  sought  to  stir 


190 


EDWARD  I. 


[1293- 


up  Edward's  enemies  to  make  common  cause  against  him.  At 
French  instigation  the  Welsh  rose  in  revolt,  and  forced  Edward  to 
divert  to  their  subjection  an  army  collected  to  recover  Gascony.     It 


EmeryWalket  so. 


Boundary  of  Lands  nominally  allowed  to  Henry  III.  In  1259- 

Lands  secured  by  Edward  I.  in  1279 

Lands  surrendered  by  Edward  I.  In  1279 

ENGLISH   KING'S   DOMINIONS   IN   FRANCE   IN  THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY. 

was  only  after  hard  fighting,  in  the  course  of  which  Edward 
himself  ran  great  personal  risk,  that  the  Welsh  rebellion  was  put 
down.    Then  Philip  stirred  up  an  even  more  effective  enemy  to 


-I295-]  EDWARD  I.  igi 

Edward  in  Scotland,  where  thing's  had  been  going  badly  since  John 
Balliol's  snccession.  Now  that  Edward's  authority  over  Scotland 
had  been  recognized,  Scotsmen,  beaten  in  the  local  The  ^peneil 
law  courts,  appealed  to  Edward's  courts  and  asked  and  Scottish 
him  to  do  them  justice.  It  was  a  regular  thing  ™« 
for  a  suzerain  to  receive  appeals  from  his  vassal's 
courts,  and  Edward  had  suffered  much  from  the  way  in  which 
Philip  iv.  of  France  had  encouraged  his  vassals  in  Gascony  to 
take  their  appeals  to  Paris.  He  saw  no  harm,  therefore,  in  allowing 
the  Scots  to  come  to  his  court,  and  was  probably  surprised  when 
the  Soots  nobles  grew  indignant  at  the  practice.  But  there  had 
been  no  precedents  for  such  appeals  from  Scotland  to  England  in 
the  past,  and  the  Scots  declared  that  they  would  allow  Edward  no 
such  power.  As  John  Balliol  seemed  weak  and  hesitating,  the 
nobles  deprived  him  of  nearly  all  his  authority,  and  entrusted  it  to 
a  committee  of  twelve,  like  the  council  of  fifteen  of  the  Provisions 
of  Oxford.  The  new  government  broke  off  all  relations  with 
Edward,  and  concluded  a  close  alliance  with  the  Erench. 

20.  Edward  met  this  combination  of  enemies  by  forming'  an 
alliance  with  the  emperor,  the  count  of  Flanders,  and  other  friends 
of  England  abroad.  But  he  chiefly  relied  upon  the  The  M0<iei 
good  will  of  his  own  subjects,  and  the  step  he  now  Parliament 
took  to  win  his  people  to  his  side  was  ever  memorable 
in  the  history  of  the  growth  of  our  constitution.  Already  on 
many  occasions  he  had  summoned  representative  parliaments  like 
Montfort's  famous  assembly  of  1265.  Thus  in  1275  a  parliament 
met  which  formed  an  almost  exact  precedent  for  the  full  parliament 
which  Edward  gathered  together  in  1295.  To  this  he  did  not  merely 
convoke  the  earls  and  barons,  the  bishops  and  abbots.  Beside  them 
came  two  knights  from  every  shire,  and  two  citizens  and  burgesses 
from  every  city  and  borough.  A  new  element  was  also  introduced  in 
the  appearance  of  representatives  of  the  lower  clergy,  in  the  persons 
of  deans  and  archdeacons,  one  proctor,  or  representative,  of  every 
cathedral  chapter,  and  two  proctors  for  the  parish  clergy  of  every 
bishopric.  Thus  each  of  the  three  estates,  or  class  divisions,  into 
which  society  was  then  divided — the  barons,  the  clergy,  and  the 
commons — had  fevery  chance  of  making  their  wishes  felt.  Later 
times  have  called  the  1295  parliament  the  Model  Parliament, 
because  it,  even  more  than  those  of  1265  and  1275,  became  the 
type  upon  which  all  later  parliaments  were  based.  'Its  assembly 
is  the  more  important  since  Edward  deliberately  called  it  as 
a  means  of  taking  his  people  into  partnership  in  a  great  crisis. 


I92  EDWARD  I.  [1295- 

"  What  touches  all,"  said  he,  in  his  letters,  or  writs,  of  summons, 
"  should  be  approved  of  all.  It  is  also  very  clear  that  common 
dangers  should  be  met  by  measures  agreed  upon  in  common."  It 
is  from  this  moment  that  the  parliamentary  constitution  of  England 
was  completed.  "What  with  Simon  of  Montfort  was  the  expedient 
of  a  moment,  became  henceforth  with  Edward  1.  a  permanent 
principle  of  policy. 

21.  Edward's  parliament  voted  large  sums  of  money  which 
enabled  him  to  crush  the  Welsh  revolt,  ward  off  any  prospect  of 
_.  invasion,  and  send  an  army  to  win  back  Grascony.  But 
quest  of  it  was  evident  that  Philip  would  not  be  beaten  until  the 
Scotland,        Scots  had  been  taught  to  respect  the  power  of  Edward. 

Accordingly,  in  1296  Edward  led  an  army  into  Scotland, 
and  resolved  to  punish  John  Balliol  as  he  had  formerly  punished 
Llewelyn  of  Wales.  Balliol  made  a  poor  resistance,  and  after  a 
very  little  fighting,  surrendered  his  crown  to  Edward.  The  sub- 
jection of  Scotland  was  thus  apparently  effected  with  infinitely 
greater  ease  than  the  conquest  of  the  Principality.  Edward 
treated  Scotland  as  he  had  treated  Wales.  He  declared  Scotland 
annexed  directly  to  his  crown,  and  appointed  English  nobles  to 
rule  the  realm  in  his  name.  He  wandered  through  the  land 
and  received  the  homage  of  thousands  of  Scottish  landholders. 
He  transferred  the  sacred  stone,  seated  on  which  the  Scottish 
kings  had  been  wont  to  be  crowned  at  Scone,  to  Westminster 
Abbey,  where  it  ultimately  became  the  base  of  the  coronation  chair 
of  the  English  kings.  After  this  easy  conquest  of  a  kingdom  he 
hoped  to  devote  all  his  resources  to  the  recovery  of  Grascony. 

22.  New  troubles  arose  in  his  own  realm,  which  once  more 
forced  Edward  to  postpone  his  purpose.  This  time  his  own  clergy 
The  clerical  an^  harons  played  the  game  of  the  enemy.  The 
opposition  trouble  with  the  clergy  began  when  Robert  Winchel- 
wdGh  sea,   who  had   succeeded  Peckham  as  archbishop  of 

Canterbury,  refused  to  allow  Edward  to  raise  any 
more  taxes  from  ecclesiastics,  on  the  ground  that  the  pope,  Boni- 
face viii.,  had  issued  a  bull,  called  Clericis  laicos,  which  forbade 
the  clergy  to  pay  any  taxes  to  secular  princes.  In  great  disgust 
Edward  declared  that,  if  the  clergy  would  not  help  to  support  the 
state,  the  state  should  not  protect  them.  He  declared  all  the 
clergy  outlaws,  and  announced  that  he  would  punish  no  man  who 
did  injury  to  a  priest. 

23.  It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  barons  to  resist.  Edward  wished 
to  send  many  of  his  chief  lords  to  Grascony,  while  he  himself  went 


-1297-3  EDWARD  I.  193 

to  fight  against  Philip  iv.,  in  Flanders,  whose  count  was  his  ally. 
Headed  by   Humphrey   Bohun,   earl   of    Hereford,   constable  of 
England,  and  Roger  Bigod,  earl  of  Norfolk,  marshal   The 
of  England,  a  large  section  of  the  barons  declined  baronial 
to  go  to  G-ascony  unless  the  king  accompanied  them,    opposition 
In   1297  there  was  a  hot  dispute  between  Edward   f0]k  and 
and  the  earls  at  the  parliament  at  Salisbury.     "  You   Hereford, 
shall  go  to  Gascony,"  said  Edward  to  Norfolk,  the    1297- 
marshal,  "  whether  I  go  or  not."     On  the  marshal  persisting  in  his 
refusal,  the  king  burst  into  a  passion.     "  By  God,  Sir  Earl,"  he 
cried, "  you  shall  either  go  or  hang."    "  By  the  same  oath,"  answered 
Norfolk,  "  I  will  neither  go  nor  hang."     The  two  earls  gathered 
an  army  round  them,  and  made  common  cause  with  Winchelsea. 
In  great  disgust  Edward  went  to  Flanders  to  fight  against  Philip, 
leaving  his  chief  nobles  behind  him.    He  could  send  no  real  help 
to   Gascony.     He   only  raised  money  to  pay  his  troops   by  im- 
posing taxes  of  his  own  arbitrary  will.   He  seized  all  the  merchants' 
wool  and  forced  them  to  pay  a  heavy  duty,  called  the  Maletote,  or 
evil  toll,  before  he  would  surrender  it.     As  soon  as  he  was  beyond 
sea,  the  two  earls  marched  to  London  and  easily  forced  the  weak 
regency,  of  which  the  boy,  Edward  of  Carnarvon,  was  the  nominal 
head,  to  submit  to  their  will.     It  was  now  agreed  that    conflrmatio 
a  fresh  confirmation  of  Magna  Carta  and  the  Charter   Cartarutn, 
of  the  Forest  should  be  issued  in  Edward's  name,  to   1297' 
which  new  articles  were  to  be  appended  by    which    the    king 
promised  to  renounce  the  Maletote,  and  never  in  the  future  to  raise 
similar  aids  or  taxes  save  with  the  consent  of  parliament.     This 
Cmnfirmatio  Cartarum  was  sent  over  to  Edward  in  Flanders,  and 
very  unwillingly  he  gave  his  consent  to  it.     It  was  an  important 
epoch  in  the  growth  of  our  constitution.     Though  the  earls  were 
greedy  and  pedantic,  and  Winchelsea  thought  more  of  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Church  than  the  liberties  of  the  realm,  Edward  in  his 
need  had  acted  as  a  mere  tyrant,  and  it  was  necessary  that  his 
power  should  be  checked. 

24.  Terrible  news  from  Scotland  showed  that  the  king  had 
yielded  none  too  soon.  With  all  his  ambition  and  violence, 
Edward  still  wished  to  rule  Scotland  well,  but  many  The  Seott{sh 
of  those  who  governed  that  kingdom  in  his  name  were  rising  under 
cruel  and  greedy  men,  and  the  Scots  hated  English  ^llace' 
domination  even  when  it  was  fair  and  just.  Their 
subjection  had  been  due  to  the  folly  of  their  king  and  the  half- 
heartedness  of  the  chief  Scottish  nobles,  most  of  whom  submitted 

0 


194  EDWARD  J.  [1297- 

because  they  possessed  estates  in  England  which  they  did  not  wish 
to  lose  by  offending  Edward.  It  was  otherwise  with  the  mass  of 
the  Scots  people,  who  were  indignant  because  their  national  in- 
dependence was  destroyed  and  their  country  trampled  upon  by  the 
foreigner.  Within  a  few  months  there  were  popular  risings  all  over 
the  country,  and  soon  an  able  leader  to  the  insurgents  was  found 
in  Sir  William  Wallace  of  Elderslie,  not  far  from  G-lasgow.  In 
1297  Wallace  gathered  a  gallant  army  round  him,  and  offered  battle 
to  Earl  Warenne,  Edward's  aged  and  easy-going  governor  of 
Scotland.  At  Stirling  Bridge,  near  the  abbey  of  Cambuskenneth, 
Warenne  was  out-generalled  by  Wallace  and  utterly  defeated. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year  all  Scotland  threw  off  the  English 
yoke,  and  Wallace  spread  desolation  over  the  English  border. 

25.  Edward  hurried  back  from  Flanders,  where  he  had  done 
very  little  against  Philip.  In  1298  he  once  more  led  an  army  into 
Battle  of  Scotland,  and  engaged  Wallace  in  battle  at  Falkirk 
Falkirk,  on  July  22.  The  English  army  fought  on  horseback, 
1298-  after  the  fashion  that  had  prevailed  ever  since  the 
battle  of  Hastings,  though  Edward  had  learnt  from  his  Welsh  war 
the  wisdom  of  combining  archers  with  the  cavalry,  so  as  to  wear 
down  the  foe  from  a  distance.  Most  of  the  barons  and  knights  of 
Scotland  were  holding  aloof  from  Wallace,  or  were  actually  on 
Edward's  side,  so  that  the  Scottish  hero  had  to  trust  to  those 
Scots  who  were  not  rich  enough  to  fight  on  horseback.  But 
Wallace  had  the  eye  of  a  good  general,  and  saw  that  his  only  chance 
of  victory  was  to  keep  his  troops  closely  together.  He  planted  his 
infantry,  whose  chief  arm  was  the  pike,  in  dense  squares  or  circles. 
For  a  long  time  the  stubborn  pikemen  resisted  the  repeated  rushes 
of  Edward's  knights,  but  the  king  cleverly  broke  through  their 
ranks  by  constant  flights  of  arrows;  and  then  the  cavalry  rode 
through  the  gaps  and  dispersed  the  Scottish  squares  with  great 
slaughter.  Wallace  fled  to  Prance,  and  once  more  it  seemed  as  if 
Scotland  were  at  Edward's  feet. 

26.  A  renewal  of  Edward's  domestic  troubles,  and  the  continued 
struggle  with  Philip  iv.,  destroyed  the  king's  hopes  of  completing 
Edward's  ^e  conquest'  of  the  north.  He  soon  saw  that  he  could 
reconeilia-  no^  fight  both  France  and  Scotland  at  the  same  time, 
tion  with  and  in  1299  made  peace  with  Philip,  and,  being  now  a 
the  Cnurch.    widower,  married  the  French  king's  sister  Margaret 

as  a  pledge  of  better  relations  for  the  future.  Even 
then  Philip  retained  for  several  years  the  greater  part  of  Grascony, 
but  luckily  for  Edward,  the  French  king  quarrelled  with  the 


>I304-]  EDWARD  I.  195 

imperious  Pope  Boniface  vm.,  and  soon  found  it  necessary  to  buy- 
Edward's  friendship  by  surrendering  him  Gascony.  By  1303 
Philip  had  ruined  Boniface  and  broken  down  the  overwhelming' 
power  of  the  papacy.  In  1305  a  Gascon  subject  of  Edward's 
was  chosen  pope  by  Philip  iv.'s  good  will,  and  took  the  name 
of  Clement  v.  This  unworthy  pontiff  deserted  Italy  and  tarried 
in  France,  finally  taking  up  his  abode  at  Avignon,  on  the  Rhone, 
and  doing  complacently  the  will  of  the  mighty  French  king.  He 
was  only  less  subservient  to  Edward,  and  abandoned  Archbishop 
Winchelsea  to  the  king's  anger.  Winchelsea  was  driven  into 
exile,  and  with  his  fall  Edward  became  once  more  master  over  the 
English  Church.  Long  before  that  the  bull  Clericis  laicos  had 
been  given  up,  and  Edward's  persecution  of  Winchelsea  had 
a  sinister  appearance  of  mere  revenge. 

27.  France  was  thus  conciliated  and  the   clerical  opposition 

crushed.     While  these  processes  were  going  on,  Edward  was  also 

breaking   down  the  baronial  opposition    which   had   The 

triumphed  over  him  in  1297.     Despite  his  agreement   baronial 

to  confirm  the  charters,  his  troubles  with  the  barons   opposition 

»  1  j     i»    x-     i  xj    conciliated, 

went  on  for  several  years,  and  ettectively  prevented 

the  united  effort  of  all  England,  which  alone  could  complete  the 
work  began  at  Falkirk.  Edward  was  very  sore  at  being  forced  to 
give  up  so  much  power,  and  behaved  almost  as  badly  as  his  father 
had  done  in  regarding  the  letter  rather  than  the  spirit  of  his  con- 
cessions. Disgusted  at  his  narrow  spirit,  the  barons  refused  to 
follow  him  to  Scotland  until  he  had  really  carried  out  his  promises. 
In  1300  he  was  forced  to  accept  another  series  of  additions  to  the 
charters,  contained  in  a  document  called  Articuli  super  Cartas, 
which  ordered  a  survey  of  the  forests  to  be  made,  in  order  to  check 
the  king's  encroachments  on  freemen's  rights  by  extending  the 
boundaries  of  the  forests,  within  which  he  had  more  power  than 
over  the  rest  of  his  realm.  Edward  resented  the  attempt  to  limit 
bis  authority  over  the  forests  with  extreme  bitterness,  and  struggled 
as  long  as  he  could.  In  1301  he  made  a  further  submission,  but 
even  after  that  he  induced  Clement  v.  to  free  him  from  his  oath, 
though,  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  he  made  no  use  of  the  papal  dis- 
pensation. The  long  struggle  taught  him  that  it  was  only  by 
yielding  to  his  barons  that  he  could  subdue  Scotland. 

28.  It  was  not  until  1303  that  Edward  was  able  to  throw  all  his 
efforts  into  conquering  Scotland.  In  1304  he  captured  Stirling, 
and  at  last  saw  Scotland  at  his  feet.  Wallace  now  came  back  to  the 
scene  of  his  former  triumphs,  but  was  not  able  to  effect  much  against 


I96  EDWARD  I.  [1305- 

Edward.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  and  in  1305  beheaded  as  a  traitor 
at  London.  Fierce  and  cruel  though  he  had  been,  his  courage 
and  daring  had  made  him  the  idol  of  his  country- 
conquest  of  men-  When  the  nobles  despaired  of  freedom,  Wal- 
Scotland,  lace  organized  revolt  and  kept  alive  the  spirit  of 
1303-1305.  iikerty.  The  work  that  he  did  survived  his  apparent 
failure. 

29.  Edward  had  drawn  up  a  plan  for  the  government  of  Scotland, 
under  which  the  land  was  to  be  divided  into  four  parts,  each  of 
The  rising  which  was  to  be  under  two  justices,  one  a  Scot  and 
of  Robert  the  other  an  Englishman ;  while  the  king's  nephew, 
Bruce,  1306.  jo]m  of  Brittany,  was  to  be  warden  of  all  Scotland. 
But  the  new  system  had  hardly  begun  when  a  fresh  revolt  compelled 
Edward  to  begin  the  work  of  conquest  all  over  again.  Robert 
Bruce,  earl  of  Carrick,  grandson  of  the  unsuccessful  claimant,  had 
generally  been  a  supporter  of  Edward,  and  had  taken  a  prominent 
part  in  establishing  the  new  constitution.  He  had  a  great  foe 
in  John  Comyn  of  Badenoch,  the  hereditary  rival  of  his  house.     In 

1306  the  two  enemies  agreed  to  make  peace  and  meet  at  Dumfries 
to  discuss  their  future  action.  There  Bruce  suddenly  fell  upon 
Comyn  and  treacherously  murdered  him.  Despairing  of  Edward's 
pardon,  he  fled  to  the  hills,  and  finding  the  people  rallying  round 
him,  he  dexterously  posed  as  the  champion  of  Scottish  inde- 
pendence, and  renewed  his  house's  claim  to  the  throne.  The  Scots 
were  glad  to  follow  any  leader  against  the  hated  English,  and 
Bruce,  though  treacherous  and  self-seeking,  soon  showed  that  he 
had  the  ability  and  courage  necessary  to  rule  a  people  struggling 
for  freedom.  In  a  few  months  he  was  crowned  king  at  Scone,  and 
for  the  third  time  Edward  had  to  face  the  prospect  of  conquering 
afresh  the  stubborn  nation  that  had  so  long  defied  his  efforts. 

30.  Edward  was  now  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  and  his  health 
had  latterly  been  broken ;  but  his  courage  was  as  high  as  ever,  and 
Death  of  ne  resolved  to  conquer  Scotland  for  the  third  time.  lu 
Edward  I.,      1307  the  old  king-  was  once  more  on  the  border,  but  his 

1307  • 

infirmities  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  move  quickly. 
The  effort  proved  too  much  for  his  declining  strength,  and  on 
July  7  he  died  at  Burgh-on- Sands,  almost  the  last  village  on 
the  English  border.  With  him  perished  the  last  hope  of  con- 
quering Scotland,  but  though  the  chief  ambition  of  his  life  was 
thus  a  failure,  he  had  done  a  great  work  for  England.  The  con- 
queror of  Wales,  the  framer  of  a  whole  series  of  great  laws,  the 
maker  of  our  mediaeval  constitution,  he  had  turned  the  French 


-1307J  EDWARD  I.  1 97 

king  from  his  dearest  purpose,  curbed  the  fierce  baronage,  and  even 
set  some  limits  to  the  claims  of  the  Church.  He  was  the  first 
real  Englishman  to  reign  after  the  Norman  conquest,  and  the 
creator  of  the  modern  English  nation  as  well  as  of  the  modern 
English  state,  though  he  could  not  effect  his  purpose  of  bringing 
all  our  island  under  his  own  domination.  That  his  own  realm 
should  henceforth  be  ruled  after  a  constitutional  fashion,  and  not  by 
despotic  caprice,  seemed  assured  when  even  the  stubborn  will  of 
Edward  was  forced  to  give  way  to  his  subjects.  The  best  guarantee 
for  the  permanence  of  the  charters  and  of  the  popular  parliament 
lay  in  the  fact  that  they  were  wrested  not  only  from  a  capricious 
despot  like  John,  or  a  weakling  like  Henry  in.,  but  also  from  a 
strong  and  powerful  king  like  Edward  I. 


CHAPTER   III 
EDWARD  II.  OF  CARNARVON  (1307-1327) 

Chief  Dates: 

1307.    Accession  of  Edward  n. 

1311.  The  Ordinances  drawn  up. 

1312.  Death  of  Gaveston. 
1314.    Battle  of  Bannockbum. 
1322.    Battle  of  Boroughbridge. 

1326.  Landing  of  Isabella. 

1327.  Deposition  of  Edward  n. 

1.  Edward  of  Carnarvon  was  twenty-three  years  old  when  lie 
became  king.  Tall,  graceful,  and  handsome,  he  looked  almost  as 
Edward  II  ^ne  a  man  as  n^s  father,  but  an  utter  lack  of  serious 
and  purpose  blasted  his  whole  career.    It  was  to  no  purpose 

Gaveston,       that  Edward  1.  had  carefully  trained  his  son  both  in 

1307 

military  science  and  in  business ;   the  youth  showed 

no  taste  for  anything  but  his  own  amusements.     The  old  king  was 

bitterly  disgusted,  and  attributing  his  son's  levity  to  the  influence 

of  a  Gascon  knight,  Peter  of  Gaveston,  with  whom  he  had  been 

educated,  he  banished  the  foreign  favourite  early  in  1307.     But 

as  soon  as  his  father  was  dead,  Edward  recalled   Gaveston,  and, 

despite  his  having  solemnly  promised  his  dying  father  to  persevere 

in  it,  abandoned  the  campaign  against  the  Scots.     In  every  way 

he  reversed  the  policy  of  Edward  1.,  and  at  once  embarked  upon  a 

course  of  action   that   ultimately  involved  himself  in   ruin  and 

wrought  terrible  havoc  to  his  kingdom.     Though  there  have  been 

worse  kings  than  Edward  11.,  there  have  been  none  so  negligent 

and  light-minded. 

2.  Under  Edward  1.  the  barons  had  been  discontented  with  the 

growing  power  of  the  crown,  but  had  been  restrained  in  their 

Gaveston's     opposition  by  the  strong  will  and  wise  policy  of  the 

exile  and        king.     With  the  accession  of  Edward  11.  the  baronial 

recall,  opposition    at  once  revived,  and  soon  proved  as  for- 

1308-1309  • 

*     midable  to  the  monarchy  as  in  the  days  of  Henry  in. 

The  barons'  disgust  of  Edward's  affection  for  Gaveston  gave  them 
198 


1312.]  EDWARD  II.    OF  CARNARVON  199 

their  first  pretext  for  revolt,  and  they  had  the  people  with  them  in 
their  aversion  to  the  favourite.  Gaveston  was  quick-witted  and  a 
good  soldier,  but  his  head  was  turned  by  his  sudden  elevation,  and 
he  had  an  unhappy  knack  of  sharp  and  bitter  speech  that  mortally 
offended  the  barons.  Before  long  Edward  made  him  earl  of 
Cornwall  and  married  him  to  his  niece,  the  sister  of  the  young 
Earl  Gilbert  of  Gloucester.  In  1308  a  parliament  of  barons  met 
and  forced  the  king  to  drive  him  into  exile.  Edward  strove  to 
lighten  his  misfortunes  by  appointing  him  governor  of  Ireland,  and 
set  to  work  at  once  to  intrigue  for  his  return.  In  1309  the  king 
shrewdly  adopted  a  long  series  of  reforms,  which  a  parliament  of  the 
three  states  urged  upon  him.  In  return  for  these  concessions,  the 
parliament  allowed  Edward  to  bring  his  friend  back  to  England. 
But  the  leading  barons  refused  to  be  bound  by  the  acts  of  this 
parliament. 

3.  In  1310  another  baronial  assembly  resolved  to  punish  the 
king  for  restoring  his  favourite  by  compelling  him  to  appoint  a 
committee   of    barons   to  draft    ordinances   for   the 

future  government  of  his  realm.      In  a  vain  hope  of   nances  an(j 
saving  -Gaveston,   Edward  agreed   to  this  proposal,    the  Lords 
Accordingly,  a  body  of  twenty-one  Lords  Ordainers   ?2iOA^A 
was  appointed  from  the  earls,  barons,  and  bishops. 
In  1311  they  drew  up  the  Ordinances.     By  them  Gaveston  was  to 
be  banished  for  life,  the  great  offices  of  state  were  to  be  filled  up 
with  the  advice  of  the  barons,  and  the  king  was  not  to  go  to  war, 
raise  an  army,  or  leave  the  kingdom  without  their  permission.     It 
was  a  complete  programme  of  limited  monarchy,  but  no  word  was 
said  as  to  the  commons  and  clergy.     To  the  ordainers  parliament 
still  meant  a  parliament  of  barons. 

4.  Gaveston  went  into  exile  for  the  second  time,  but  early  in 
1312  Edward  recalled  him.  Thereupon  the  ordainers  raised  an  army 
and  besieged  Gaveston  in  Scarborough  Castle.  After  The  murder 
a  short  siege  Gaveston  surrendered,  and  the  barons  of  Gaveston, 
agreed  to  spare  his  life.    Not  long  after  he  was  brutally    * 31 2m 

put  to  death  by  the  earl  of  Warwick,  the  most  rancorous  of  his 
enemies,  who  thought  himself  free  to  slay  the  favourite  because  he 
had  not  been  a  party  to  the  promise  to  spare  his  life.  The  king 
was  bitterly  incensed  at  the  treachery  which  had  lured  his  favourite 
to  death,  and  feebly  strove  to  revenge  him.  Ultimately  he 
was  forced  to  give  way,  and  leave  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
ordainers. 

5.  It  was  high  time  that  the  king  and  barons  made  peace,  for 


200 


EDWARD  II.   OF  CARNARVON 


[1307- 


during  their  dissensions  Robert  Bruce  had  been  establishing  his 
power  over  the  whole  of  Scotland.  "When  Edward  1.  died,  Brace's 
position  was  still  doubtful ;  but  when  the  new  king 
gave  up  fighting  the  war  in  person  the  chances  of  the 
Scots  grew  brighter.  Between  1307  and  1314,  Bruce 
conquered  nearly  all  Scotland.  He  won  over  most  of 
the  Scottish  barons  to  his  side,  and  gradually  captured 
the  strong  castles  which  Edward  1.  had  established 
to  keep  the  Scots  in  subjection.     The  chief  of  the  few  castles 


Robert 

Bruce 

becomes 

master  of 

Scotland, 

1307-1314. 


Emery  Walker  Ltd. : 


BATTLE  OF   BANXOCKBURN. 


that  still  remained  in  English  hands  was  Stirling,  a  place  of  great 
military  importance,  because  it  commanded  the  lowest  bridge  over 
the  Forth,  by  which  the  easiest  road  between  the  Lowlands  and 
the  Highlands  passed.  At  last  Bruce  besieged  Stirling,  and  pressed 
the  garrison  so  hard  that  they  agreed  to  surrender  if  they  were 
not  relieved  by  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Day,  June  24.  1314. 

6.  If  Stirling  fell,  the  last  vestige  of  English  rule  in  Scotland 

Battle  of         was  destroyed,  and  even  Edward  felt  that  he  must 

Bannock-        make  an  effort  to  avoid  such  a  calamity.     King  and 

urn*         *     barons  accordingly  joined  to  raise  a  great  army,  and  set 

off  to  relieve  Stirling  before  the  appointed  day.     The  mighty  host 


-1314.]  EDWARD  II.    OF  CARNARVON-  201 

was  more  formidable  in  appearance  than  in  reality.  The  presence 
of  the  king  prevented  any  real  general  from  being  appointed,  and 
the  barons,  still  sulky  and  discontented,  fought  with  undisguised 
reluctance.  The  English  army  moved  so  slowly  that  it  only  reached 
the  neighbourhood  of  Stirling  on  June  23.  Bruce  resolved  to  fight 
a  battle  to  prevent  the  raising  of  the  siege,  and  took  up  a  strong 
defensive  position  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Bannockburn,  a  few 
miles  to  the  south  of  Stirling.  The  English  avoided  his  formidable 
lines  and  crossed  the  Bannock  lower  down.  But  sections  of  their 
army  were  badly  beaten  in  two  preliminary  skirmishes,  and  the 
main  body,  though  getting  into  communication  with  the  garrison 
of  Stirling,  was  forced  to  pass  the  night  in  great  dread  of  attack 
in  the  swampy  plain  of  the  carse,  whence  the  Forth  and  Bannock 
prevented  an  easy  retreat.  Next  day,  June  24,  Brace  saw  that  the 
enemy  had  delivered  himself  into  his  hands.  Though  his  trust 
was  in  infantry,  armed  with  spears  and  marshalled  in  dense 
squadrons,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  leave  his  position  on  the  hills 
and  march  down  over  against  the  English  camp,  as  if  challenging 
an  attack.  Against  the  best  advice  Edward  accepted  battle,  but 
he  neglected  all  the  precautions  by  which  his  father  had  won  his 
victories.  No  effort  was  made  to  combine  the  archers  with  the 
men-at-arms,  and  the  English  relied  entirely  on  the  shock  of  a 
cavalry  charge.  But  the  English  horsemen  failed  to  penetrate  the 
Scottish  squares.  Soon  ^he  whole  English  army  was  in  a  state  of 
wild  confusion.  The  few  who  fought  bravely,  conspicuous  among 
whom  was  the  young  earl  of  Gloucester,  perished  on  the  field. 
The  majority  fled  disgracefully,  and  Edward  u.  set  the  example  of 
cowardice  to  his  army.  Bruce  won  a  complete  victory.  Stirling 
Castle  opened  its  gates  to  him,  and  Scottish  independence  was  fully 
vindicated. 

7.  The  disaster  of  Bannockburn  made  Edward  more  dependent 
upon  his  barons  than  ever.    For  the  next  few  years  power  remained 
with  the  ordainers,  but  the  ordainers  proved  as  in- 
competent as   Edward  to   govern    England.      Their   Thomas  of 
wisest   councillor,  Archbishop   Winchelsea,  •  was  now 
dead,   and  their  leader  was    Edward's   cousin,   Thomas,    earl    of 
Lancaster,  the  son  of  Earl  Edmund,  brother  of  Edward  i.     Earl 
Thomas  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  and  wealthy  of  the  English 
earls.     By  inheritance  and  marriage  he  united  under  his  control 
the  resources  of  five  earldoms.     He  had  been  a  capable  leader  of 
opposition,  but  his  ability  was  small ;  he  was  greedy,  selfish,  and 
domineering,  and  knew  better  how  to  humiliate  the  king  than  to 


202  EDWARD  II.    OF  CARNARVON  [1322. 

rule  the  country.  He  made  few  attempts  to  save  the  northern 
counties  from  the  frequent  forays  with  which  the  Scots  now 
insulted  the  weakness  of  England.  The  country  was  full  of  tumult 
and  private  war,  and  as  Lancaster's  weakness  became  known,  even 
Edward  plucked  up  courage  to  assert  himself.  It  looked  as  if 
England  was  threatened  with  a  new  war  between  the  king  and 
his  cousin. 

8.  The  wiser  barons  now  took  matters  into  their  own  hands. 
Headed  by  Aymer  de  Valence,  earl  of  Pembroke,  they  made  terms 
with  the  better  men  of  the  court.  The  coalition  thus  formed  sought 
to  impose  terms  on  both  Edward  and  Thomas.  In  1318  this  middle 
party  got  power  into  its  own  hands  by  the  Treaty  of  Leake,  which 
was  confirmed  in  the  parliament  of  York.  By  it  a  standing  council, 
like  the  Fifteen  of  1258,  was  appointed  to  act  in  the  king's  name. 
Edward  was  allowed  little  power,  but  was  treated  respectfully,  while 
Lancaster  was  muzzled  and  held  aloof  in  sulky  isolation.  From 
1318  to  1321  things  went  much  better,  but  the  quarrels  of  the 
barons  at  last  broke  down  the  unity  of  the  coalition.  Edward,  eager 
to  win  back  authority,  now  made  a  close  friendship  with  the  two 
Hugh  Despensers,  father  and  son,  who  had  hitherto  worked  with 
Pembroke,  but  were  soon  denounced  as  favourites.  They  were  at 
least  English  noblemen,  and  not  foreign  upstarts  like  G-aveston ; 
but  the  barons  soon  showed  that  they  could  hate  a  renegade  as 
The  fall  of  bitterly  as  they  had  ever  hated  an  alien  adventurer. 
Lancaster,  They  strongly  resented  the  titles,  estates,  and  favours 
1322.  which   Edward  conferred   on  his   new  friends.      In 

particular  they  took  alarm  when  the  younger  Despenser,  who,  like 
Gaveston,  had  married  a  sister  of  the  earl  of  Gloucester  slain  at 
Bannockburn,  strove  to  obtain  for  himself  the  position  of  earl  of 
Gloucester,  vacant  since  his  brother-in-law's  death  without  male 
heirs.  By  1321  the  Despensers  were  strong  enough  to  make  the 
barons  very  anxious  to  mete  out  to  them  the  fate  of  Gaveston. 
Headed  by  Lancaster,  parliament  sentenced  them  to  banishment. 
The  loss  of  his  favourites  inspired  Edward  with  an  energy  rarely 
to  be  found  in  him.  In  1322  he  took  up  arms  on  their  behalf,  and 
recalled  them  from  beyond  the  sea.  The  barons  made  a  poor  fight, 
and  before  long  Lancaster  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Boroughbridge,  in  Yorkshire,  a  fight  memorable  by  the 
adoption  by  the  royalist  army  of  the  new  fashion  of  fighting  on 
foot,  which  had  won  Bannockburn  for  the  Scots.  A  few  days 
later  Thomas  was  tried  and  executed  at  his  own  castle  of  Pontefract. 
9.  From  the  fall  of  Lancaster  to  1326  the  Despensers  ruled 


-1325.]  EDWARD  II.    OF  CARNARVON  203 

England.  They  were  shrewd  enough  to  profit  by  the  errors  of 
the  ordainers :  they  sought  to  improve  the  government  by  1  great 
schemes  of  administrative  reform,  and  professed  to  be  The  par[la. 
the  friends  of  the  Commons.  Immediately  after  ment  of 
Lancaster's  death  a  parliament  was  held  at  York,  Yopk«  1322« 
which  revoked  the  ordinances  as  infringing  the  rights  of  the 
crown,  and  because  they  were  drawn  up  by  a  council  of  barons 
only.  This  parliament  laid  down  the  important  principle,  that 
matters  which  are  to  be  established  for  the  estate  of  our  lord  the 
king  and  for  the  estate  of  the  realm,  shall  be  treated  in  parliament 
by  a  council  of  the  prelates,  earls,  and  barons,  and  the  commonalty 
of  the  realm.  This  is  the  most  important  constitutional  advance 
made  under  Edward  11.  Henceforth  no  law  could  be  regarded  as 
valid  unless  it  had  received  the  consent  of  the  Commons. 

10.  Despite  this  wise  beginning,  the  rule  of  the  Despensers 

broke  down  as  signally  as  that  of  Lancaster.     They  were  utterly 

unable  to   cruard    the    north    of    England   from  the   _. 

The  pule 
devastating  inroads  of  Robert  Bruce,  and  in  1322  made   0f  ty\e 

a  truce  with  him  which  practically  recognized  him  Despensers, 
as  king  of  Scots.  The  favourites  thought  more  of 
winning  territory  and  wealth  for  themselves  than  of  the  good 
government  of  the  kingdom.  The  elder  Hugh  became  earl  of 
Winchester,  and  his  son  acquired  the  power  and  many  of  the 
estates,  though  not  the  title,  of  the  earl  of  Gloucester.  Their  cove- 
tousness  and  pride  made  them  generally  hated,  and  their  folly  pre- 
vented them  from  taking  proper  measures  to  protect  themselves. 
They  soon  excited  the  enmity  of  all  classes  against  them. 

11.  Among  the  many  persons  whom  the  Despensers  offended 
was  the  queen,  Isabella  of  France,  a  daughter  of  Philip  the  Fair. 
Seeing  that  she  was  not  strong  enough  to  induce  her 

husband  to  dismiss  his  favourites,  she  cleverly  dis-  MorUinep 
sembled  her  wrath,  and,  in  1325,  persuaded  her  husband 
to  allow  her  to  visit  France,  then  ruled  by  her  brother,  King 
Charles  iv.  "With  her  went  her  eldest  son,  Edward  of  Windsor, 
who  was  appointed  by  his  father  duke  of  Aquitaine,  and  com- 
missioned to  do  homage  for  that  duchy  on  behalf  of  the  king  of 
England.  At  Paris  Isabella  made  friends  with  some  of  the  exiled 
members  of  Lancaster's  party  at  whose  head  was  Roger  Mortimer 
of  Wigmore,  the  most  powerful  of  the  barons  from  the  March  of 
Wales,  who  was  eager  to  be  avenged  on  the  Despensers  and  obtain 
restoration  to  his  estates.  At  Mortimer's  advice,  Isabella  refused 
to  return  to  England  as  long  as  the  Despensers  remained  in  power. 


204  EDWARD  II    OF  CARNARVON  [1327. 

Soon  the  scandal  caused  by  the  queen's  open  affection  for  Mortimer 
induced  King  Charles  to  send  her  out  of  France.  Therefore  she 
went  to  Hainault,  where  she  betrothed  her  son  to  Philippa,  daughter 
of  the  count  of  Hainault,  and  obtained  from  him  enough  soldiers 
and  money  to  make  it  possible  for  her  to  invade  England  and  drive 
her  husband  from  the  throne. 

12.  In  September,  1326,  Isabella,  Mortimer,  and  the  young 
Edward  landed  at  Orwell,  in  Essex,  declaring  that  they  had  come 
Th  f  11  of  ^°  avenfiTe  the  murder  of  Lancaster  and  to  drive  the 
Edward  II.,  Despensers  from  power.  England  was  so  tired  of 
1326-1327.  Edward  and  the  Despensers,  that  men  of  all  ranks 
flocked  eagerly  to  the  camp  of  the  queen.  The  chief  barons, 
including  Henry  of  Lancaster,  the  brother  and  heir  of  Earl 
Thomas,  declared  in  her  favour.  The  Londoners  murdered 
Edward's  ministers,  and  opened  their  gates  to  his  enemies. 
Against  these  powerful  forces  Edward  11.  could  do  nothing.  He 
fled  to  the  west,  accompanied  by  the  Despensers,  and  rapidly 
followed  by  Isabella  and  Mortimer.  The  elder  Despenser  was 
taken  and  slain  at  Bristol,  and  his  son  was  hanged  at  Hereford. 
The  king  strove  to  take  refuge  in  the  younger  Hugh's  Glamorgan- 
shire estates,  but  he  was  soon  tracked  out  and  brought  prisoner 
to  London.  Early  in  1327  parliament  met  at  "Westminster.  It 
recognized  Edward  of  Aquitaine  as  Edward  in.,  and  forced  the 
old  king  to  resign  the  crown  to  his  son.  Next  year  the  deposed 
monarch  was  cruelly  murdered  at  Berkeley  Castle,  in  Gloucester- 
shire. He  was  the  most  worthless  of  our  kings,  and  richly 
deserved  deposition,  yet  few  beneficial  changes  have  been  brought 
about  with  more  manifest  self-seeking  than  that  which  hurled  him 
from  power.  The  angry  spite  of  the  adulterous  queen,  the  fierce 
rancour  and  greediness  of  Roger  Mortimer,  and  the  cowardice  of 
the  lesser  agents  of  the  revolution  can  inspire  nothing  but  disgust. 
Among  Edward's  foes,  Henry  of  Lancaster  alone  behaved  as  an 
honourable  gentleman.  But  though  his  wrongs  were  ostentatiously 
put  forward,  he  was,  like  the  young  duke  of  Aquitaine,  a  mere  tool 
in  the  hands  of  Isabella  and  her  paramour.  Yet  the  ostentatious 
care  shown  to  make  parliament  responsible  for  the  change  of  ruler 
showed  that  even  the  weak  reign  of  Edward  11.  had  done  some- 
thing to  strengthen  the  fabric  of  the  English  constitution. 


CHAPTER  IV 

EDWARD    III.   (1327-1377) 

Chiei  dates : 

1327.  Accession  of  Edward  in. 

1328.  Peace  of  Northampton. 
1330.    Fall  of  Mortimer. 
1333.    Battle  of  Halidon  Hill. 

1337-  Beginning  of  Hundred  Years'  War. 

1340.  Battle  of  Sluys. 

1346.  Battles  of  Crecy  and  Neville's  Cross. 

1348.  Outbreak  of  the  Black  Death. 

I3SI  •  Statute  of  Provisors. 

I3S3-  Statute  of  Praemunire. 

1356.  Battle  of  Poitiers. 

1360.  Treaties  of  Bre'tigni  and  Calais. 

1367.  Battle  of  Najera.  , 

1369.  Renewal  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

1371.  Clerical  ministers  removed  from  office. 

1376.  The  Good  Parliament. 

1377.  Death  of  Edward  m. 

1.  Edward  hi.  was  only  fourteen  years  old  when  he  became  king, 

and  for  three  years  Isabella  and  Mortimer  ruled  in  his  name. 

Nominally  power  went  to  the  council,  of  which  Henry   The  pule  of 

of  Lancaster,  now  restored  to  his  brother's  title  and   Isabella  and 

estates,  was  chairman.     Troubles  at  once  arose,  both   Mortimer, 

1327-1330 

with  Scotland  and  France.  Robert  Brace's  fighting 
days  were  over,  but  he  took  advantage  of  the  revolution  in  England 
to  send  an  army  across  the  border.  Though  a  great  force  was 
gathered  together  to  repel  the  Scots,  the  English  dared  not  .risk  a 
battle,  and  soon  began  to  negotiate  for  peace.  In  1328  this 
resulted  in  the  treaty  of  Northampton,  by  which  England  with- 
drew all  claim  to  feudal  superiority  over  Scotland,  recognized 
Robert  Bruce  as  king  of  Scots,  and  agreed  to  the  marriage  of  his 
son  David  to  Joan,  Edward's  infant  sister.  The  treaty  excited  great 
indignation,  and  men  called  it  a  shameful  peace,  but  it  is  difficult 
to  see  on  what  other  terms  an  agreement  could  have  been  made. 

205 


206  EDWARD  HI.  U327- 

There  was  not  the  least  chance  of  driving  Eohert  Brnce  from  the 
throne  which  he  had  so  laboriously  won  for  himself.  To  continue 
the  war  was  useless,  and  its  only  result  would  have  been  to  expose 
the  northern  counties  of  England  to  constant  Scottish  invasions. 
Yet  the  formal  surrender  of  Edward  i.'s  claims  over  Scotland  cost 
much  to  a  proud  and  high-spirited  nation.  The  humiliation  was  the 
worse  since  it  was  only  by  concessions  almost  as  hard  that  Isabella 
and  Mortimer  managed  to  secure  peace  with  France.  During  the 
troubles  that  preceded  the  fall  of  Edward  of  Carnarvon,  Charles  rv. 
had  taken  possession  of  Gascony,  on  account  of  which  nominal  war 
had  broken  out  between  the  two  countries.  The  English  were 
as  little  able  to  reconquer  Gascony  as  to  win  back  Scotland,  and 
here  again  Isabella  and  Mortimer  accepted  inevitable  facts,  though 
they  were  more  fortunate  than  in  their  dealings  with  the  northern 
kingdom,  since  they  obtained  a  partial  restoration  of  Gascony 
before  they  would  agree  to  conclude  peace.  This  was  done  by  the 
treaty  of  Pans  of  1327.  From  this  time  the  English  duchy  of 
Gascony  was  cut  down  to  narrow  limits,  centring  round  the  cities 
of  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne.  Next  year,  1328,  Charles  iv.  died,  having 
been  the  third  son  of  Philip  iv.  to  reign  in  succession  over  France 
and  die  without  male  heirs.  Immediately  the  French  barons 
recognized  the  nearest  male  heir,  Philip,  count  of  Valois,  the  son  of 
Charles,  count  of  Valois,  a  brother  of  Philip  iv.,  as  King  Philip  vi. 
It  had  already  been  laid  down  in  France,  when  Philip  the  Fair's 
eldest  son  died,  leaving  a  daughter,  that  women  were  excluded  from 
the  succession.  Accordingly  the  accession  of  Philip  vi.  went 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course.  Isabella,  however,  who  was  Charles's 
sister,  protested  against  the  Valois  succession.  She  recognized 
that  France  must  have  a  king,  and  did  not  claim  the  throne  for 
herself.  However,  she  maintained  that  a  woman,  though  incapable 
of  reigning,  might  form  the  "  bridge  and  plank  "  through  which 
her  son,  Edward  in.,  might  succeed.  The  French  barons  rightly 
regarded  this  as  a  dangerous  claim.  Its  effect  would  have  been, 
whenever  a  king  died  without  a  son,  to  transfer  the  throne  to 
some  foreign  prince,  whose  descent  could  be  traced  to  a  lady  of  the 
royal  house.  The  French  were  not  willing  to  hand  over  their 
throne  to  a  foreign  sovereign,  and  Isabella's  claim  on  her  son's 
behalf  was  quietly  pushed  aside.  She  was  quite  unable  to  do  more 
than  protest,  and  in  1329  her  son  virtually  recognized  the  lawful- 
ness of  Philip's  position  by  performing  homage  to  him  for 
Aquitaine. 


-« 329O  EDWARD  III.  207 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE  FRENCH  KINGS  OF  THE  DIRECT  CAPETIAN 
LINE,  SHOWING  EDWARD  III.'s  CLAIMS 

Hugh  Capet, 
987-996. 

Robert, 
996-1031. 

Henry  /., 
1031-1060. 

Philip  i., 
1060-1108. 

Louis  vi., 
1108-1137 

Louis  vii., 
1137-1180. 

I 

Philip  ii.,  Augustus, 

1180-1222. 

Louis  viii., 
1222-1226. 


I  1 

Louis  ix.,  Charles  of  Anjou, 

m.  Margaret  of  Provence,  King  of  Sicily, 

1226-1270.  m.  Beatrice  of  Provence, 

I  d.  1285. 

Philip  hi., 
the  Bold, 
1270-1285. 


Philip  iv.,  Charles,  Count  of  Valois. 

the  Fai% 
1285-1314.  Philip  vi.,  of  Valois, 

1328-1350. 


Loais  x.,  Pbilip  r.,  Charles  iv.,  Isabella, 

1314-1316.  1316-1322.  1322-1328.  m.  Edward  11. 

of  England. 

Edward  in. 

French  kings   mentioned  in  the  text  in  small  capitals ;  all  names  not 
mentioned  in  the  text  in  italics. 

2.  The  home  government  of  Isabella  and  Mortimer  was  as 
unsuccessful  as  their  foreign  policy.  Mortimer  thought  of  nothing 
save  of  acquiring  a  great  position  for  himself.     His  ambition  was 


208  EDWARD  III.  [1329- 

to  unite  the  whole  of  the  Welsh  March  under  his  sway,  and  he 
received  the  title  of  earl  of  the  March  of  Wales,  or,  more  shortly, 
The  fall  of  ear^  °^  ^aron<  -^or  a  time  he  vigorously  stamped  out 
Mortimer,  all  attempts  to  oppose  him.  His  last  triumph  was 
1330.  ^  1330,  when  he  put  to  death  Edmund,  earl  of  Kent, 

Edward  i.'s  son  by  his  second  wife,  who  had  convinced  himself  that 
his  brother,  Edward  11.,  was  still  alive,  and  strove  to  bring  about 
his  restoration  to  the  throne.  Edward  in.  was  now  becoming  a 
man,  and  was  keenly  alive  to  the  humiliation  involved  in  his 
dependence  on  his  mother  and  her  paramour.  Henry  of  Lancaster 
was  equally  indignant  at  his  exclusion  from  all  real  share  of  power. 
Accordingly,  in  1330,  a  conspiracy  was  arranged  to  drive  Mortimer 
from  the  position  which  he  had  usurped.  A  band  of  soldiers  was 
introduced  through  a  secret  passage  into  Nottingham  Castle, 
where  Mortimer  and  the  queen  were  staying.  The  favourite  was 
arrested  and  soon  afterwards  hanged.  Isabella  was  henceforward 
excluded  from  any  share  in  public  affairs.  With  their  fall  the  real 
reign  of  Edward  in.  begins. 

3.  Edward  in.  was  not  a  great  man  like  Edward  1.,  but  he  won 
a  conspicuous  place  in  history  by  the  extraordinary  activity  of  his 
Character  temperament,  and  the  vigour  and  energy  with  which 
and  policy  of  he  threw  himself  into  whatever  work  he  set  himself  to 
Edward  in.  ^Q  -g-e  flighted,  in  hunting  and  tournaments,  was 
liberal,  easy  of  access,  good  tempered,  and  kindly.  He  was  not 
only  a  consummate  knight,  but  a  capable  soldier,  with  the  general's 
eye  that  takes  in  the  points  of  a  situation  at  a  glance.  His  weak 
points  were  his  extravagance,  his  love  of  frivolous  amusement,  his 
self-indulgence,  and  his  disregard  for  his  plighted  word.  His  main 
ambition  in  life  was  to  win  fame  and  glory  abroad,  but  he  ruled 
England  creditably,  and  made  many  concessions  to  his  subjects' 
wishes  in  order  to  obtain  supplies  for  carrying  on  his  foreign  wars. 
Like  Edward  1.,  he  attempted  far  more  than  he  was  able  to  carry 
through ;  but  it  was  only  at  the  very  end  of  his  reign  that  his 
subjects  realized  that  the  popular  and  glorious  king  had  failed  in 
his  chief  ambitions. 

4.  In  the  early  years  of  his  personal  rule,  Edward's  chief  object 
was  to  win  back  for  England  something  of  the  greatness  it  had 
David  Bruce  ac<Iaired  under  Edward  1.  He  was  bitterly  irritated 
and  Edward  at  the  establishment  of  Scottish  independence,  and 
Balliol.  before  long  fortune  gave  him  a  chance  of  upsetting  in 

an  imdirect  way  the  treaty  of  Northampton.     Robert 
Bruce  died  in  1329,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  David,  Edward  iii.'s 


-1333-3  EDWARD  III.  209 

brother-in-law,  who  was  a  mere  boy.  Under  his  weak  govern- 
ment troubles  soon  broke  out  in  Scotland.  A  large  number  of 
Scottish  barons  who  had  opposed  Robert  Bruce  had  been  driven 
into  exile  when  Robert  became  king.  They  were  called  the  Dis- 
inherited, and  they  saw  in  the  minority  of  King  David  a  chance  of 
winning  back  their  estates  by  force.  At  their  head  was  the  son  of 
the  deposed  King  John,  Edward  Balliol,  who  had  not  forgotten  his 
father's  claim  on  the  Scottish  throne.  Edward  in.  gave  them  no 
direct  help,  as  he  feared  to  break  wantonly  the  treaty  of  Northamp- 
ton. However,  he  made  no  effort  to  prevent  the  Disinherited  from 
collecting  a  little  army,  with  which  they  invaded  Scotland  in  1332, 
under  the  command  of  Edward  Balliol.  The  invaders  won  a 
decisive  victory  over  the  army  of  King  David  at  Dujyplin  Moor 
near  Perth.  A  few  weeks  later  Balliol  was  crowned  king  of  Scots 
at  Scone.  He  gained  recognition  by  Edward  as  king  of  Scots  through 
promising  to  hold  Scotland  of  him,  and  to  cede  him  Berwick.  The 
party  of  David,  however,  was  not  entirely  crushed,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  year  they  surprised  Balliol  at  Annan,  and  drove  him 
back  into  England.     His  reign  only  lasted  four  months. 

5.  Edward  in.  now  openly  took  up  Balliol's  cause,  and  in  1333 
invaded  Scotland  to  restore  his  vassal  to  his  throne.     His  first  step 
was  to  besiege  Berwick,  and  the  Scots  forced  Edward 
to  fight  a  battle  before  he  could  secure  the  town,    uui  1^3 
This    fight    was   fought  at   Halidon   Hill,   a    short 
distance  west  of  Berwick.     The  English  men-at-arms  dismounted 
and  fought  on  foot  after   the   Scottish  fashion.     Their  tactics 
proved    signally  successful.     The    Scots   were  beaten,    and  next 
day  Berwick  opened  its  gates,  to  be  for  the  rest  of  its  history  an 
English  frontier  town.     Edward's  action  now  showed  that  Balliol 
was  but  a  tool  in  his  hands.   In  1334  he  restored  his  namesake  to>his 
throne,  but  only  on  his  agreeing  to  cede  to  England  the  whole  of 
Lothian  and  the  eastern  part  of  Galloway.     Any  faint  chance  that 
Balliol  had  of  success    was    completely   destroyed    by  Edward's 
greediness.     The  Scots  hated  him  as  the  betrayer  of  his  country, 
and  the  English  treated  him  as  the  puppet  of  their  king.     For 
many  years  he  strove  to  make  himself  real  master  of  that  part  of 
Scotland  which  Edward  permitted  him  to  claim.     David  was  sent 
to  France  for  safety,  but  most  Scots  still  upheld  him  against  the 
two  Edwards.     At  no  time  did  either  Edward  Balliol   David  finally 
or  the  King  of  England  effectively  possess  the  Scottish    established 
lands  they  claimed  as  theirs.     But   their  efforts  to   in  Scotland, 
establish  themselves  involved  the  north  in  many  years  of  bloodshed 


210 


EDWARD  III. 


[1333- 


and  misery.  At  last,  after  Edward  m.'s  breach  with  France, 
David  returned  to  Scotland  and  made  himself  king  over  the  whole 
country.  Thus  Edward  in.  failed  as  signally  as  his  grandfather 
in  his  efforts  to  conquer  Scotland. 

6.  During  the   years  of  Edward's  attempt   on   Scotland  the 


EmeryWallter  s 

NORTHERN   ENGLAND  AND    SOUTHERN   SCOTLAND   IN   THE   FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

relations  of  England  and  France  became  increasingly  unfriendly. 
Causes  of  Edward  complained  that  Philip  vi.  kept  David  at  his 
the  Hundred  court,  and  openly  took  the  side  of  the  Scots  against 
Years' War.  the  English.  There  were  other  difficulties  about 
Gascony,  where  Philip  vi.,  like  Philip  iv.,  was  doing  what  he 
could  to  lessen  the  power  of  Edward  as  duke.  It  was,  in  fact, 
the  impossible  position  of  Edward  in  Gascony  which  caused  the 
fundamental  difference  between  the  two  nations.  Edward  could 
not  abandon  his  ancient  patrimony,  and  Philip  could  not  give 
up  the  policy  of  every  king  since  St.  Louis  of  gradually  absorbing 


-I337-]  EDWARD  III.  211 

the  great  fiefs  in  the  royal  domain.  Besides  this,  there  were 
many  secondary  causes  of  the  war.  One  of  these  was  Philip's 
support  of  the  Scots.  Another  cause  of  dispute  arose  from 
the  rival  interests  of  England  and  France  in  Flanders.  This 
county,  though  nominally  a  fief  of  France,  was  largely  hostile  to 
the  French  king.  Flanders  in  those  days  was  the  chief  manu- 
facturing district  in  northern  Europe,  and  its  chief  towns,  Ghent, 
Bruges,  and  Ypres,  were  the  best  customers  that  England  had. 
England  in  the  fourteenth  century  was  a  purely  agricultural  and 
pastoral  land.  Its  chief  product  was  wool,  which  was  exported  to 
Flanders  to  he  woven  into  cloth  in  its  populous  clothing  towns. 
The  great  Flemish  towns  had  liberties  so  extensive  that  they  were 
virtually  independent,  both  of  their  immediate  master  the  count 
of  Flanders,  and  of  his  overlord,  the  king  of  France.  The  count 
of  Flanders  called  in  the  help  of  Philip  vi.  to  subdue  his  unruly 
townsmen,  and  these  in  their  turn  appealed  to  Edward  for  help. 
The  leader  of  the  Flemish  citizens  was  James  van  Artevelde  of 
Ghent.  He  saw  that  the  best  hopes  of  Flemish  municipal  inde- 
pendence lay  in  a  close  alliance  with  England,  and  was  eager  to  win 
over  Edward  to  his  side.  Under  his  guidance  the  towns  of  Flanders 
drove  away  their  count,  and  made  a  treaty  with  England.  Philip 
deeply  resented  Edward's  interference  with  his  Flemish  vassals. 
He  was  still  more  angry  when  Edward  added  to  the  Flemish  alliance 
a  close  friendship  with  the  Emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria  and  the  chief 
imperial  vassals  of  the  Netherlands.  Louis  of  Bavaria,  who  had 
married  Queen  Philippa's  sister,  was  now  engaged  in  a  fierce 
struggle  with  the  Avignon  popes,  who  had  excommunicated  and 
deposed  him.  Yet,  in  1338,  Edward  visited  Louis  at  Coblenz,  on  the 
Rhine,  where  he  made  a  close  alliance  with  him,  and  was  appointed 
the  emperor's  vicar  in  the  Netherlands.  Thereupon  the  count  of 
Hainault  and  Holland,  brother-in-law  of  king  and  emperor  alike, 
the  duke  of  Brabant,  and  other  Netherlandish  vassals  of  Philip, 
took  Edward's  pay  and  agreed  to  help  him  against  France.  This 
alliance  intensely  annoyed  the  pope,  who  had  long  been  making 
strenuous  efforts  to  bring  about  peace.  But  the  popes  were  now 
Frenchmen,  and  thought  by  England  to  be  prejudiced  in  favour  of 
France,  so  that  the  chief  result  of  their  interference  was  to  make 
the  papacy  disliked  in  England.  Besides  all  these  troubles,  there 
were  many  commercial  disputes,  and  French  and  English  sailors 
were  already  contending  with  each  other  at  sea,  as  they  had  done 
in  1293. 

7*  Under  these  circumstances  both  countries  slowly  drifted  into 


212  EDWARD  III.  [1339- 

war,  and  the  first  open  hostilities  took  place  in  1337.  When  war 
had  already  become  inevitable,  Edward  in.  immensely  complicated 
The  chief  *he  situation  by  reviving  the  claims  on  the  French 
features  crown  which  Isabella  had  advanced  on  his  behalf  at  the 

of  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Philip  of  Valois.     At  first 

these  claims  were  not  very  seriously  meant,  and  it  is 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  they  were  the  chief  cause  of  the  war.  It 
was  not  until  1340  that  Edward  assumed  the  title  of  King  of 
France,  and  then  he  did  so  simply  to  please  the  Flemings,  who  had 
scruples  in  fighting  their  feudal  overlord,  which  disappeared 
when  they  persuaded  themselves  that  Edward,  and  not  Philip,  was 
the  real  king  of  France.  From  that  moment,  however,  Edward's 
pretensions  became,  more  important.  The  persistence  of  Edward 
and  his  successors  in  maintaining  the  claim  made  real  peace 
impossible  for  many  generations.  The  result  was  that  the  war 
which  now  began  is  known  in  history  as  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 
Though  fighting  did  not  go  on  all  that  time  without  a  break, 
England  and  France  were  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  generally 
unfriendly,  and  nearly  always  actually  at  war  with  each  other. 
Even  when  peace  was  made,  the  claim  was  not  dropped,  and  every 
English  king  down  to  George  in.  called  himself  king  of  France, 
and  quartered  on  his  shield  the  lilies  of  France  with  the  lions  of 
England.  Edward's  claim  did  not  seem  so  unreasonable  then  as  it 
seems  to  modern  eyes,  but  the  French  rightly  resisted  it,  as  his 
success  would  have  meant  the  subjection  of  their  land  to  the  rule 
of  a  foreigner. 

8.  War  on  a  great  scale  began  in  1339,  when  Edward  led  an 
English  army  to  the  Netherlands,  and  strove,  with  the  help  of  his 
The  Nether-  Flemish  and  imperial  allies,  to  invade  the  northern 
landish  frontiers  of  France.  Neither  Edward  nor  Philip 
Campaigns,    ventured  to    fight  a  pitched    battle,   and    Edward's 

German  confederates  were  more  anxious  to  take  his  pay 
than  to  do  him  real  service.  The  only  result  of  Edward's  Nether- 
landish campaigns  was  to  exhaust  his  resources  and  diminish  his 
reputation. 

9.  The  most  decisive  fighting  during  these  wars  was  at  sea. 
The  French  had  planned  a  great  invasion  of  England,  and  though 
The  Battle  this  came  to  nothing,  they  collected  a  powerful  fleet, 
of  Sluys,  which,  in  1340,  strove  to  prevent  Edward's  returninsr 

1340 

to  the  Netherlands  to  renew  the  campaign.  The  result 
of  this  was  a  great  sea  fight  off  the  Flemish  port  of  Sluys,  in 
which  the  French  navy  was  absolutely  destroyed.     This  battle  put 


1346.] 


EDWARD  III. 


213 


an  end  to  all  schemes  of  invasion,  and  gave  the  English  for  many 
years  the  command  of  the  Channel.  Henceforward  Edward  boasted 
that  the  king  of  England  was  lord  of  the  sea.  Yet  even  the  glory 
of  Sluys  did  not  help  Edward  in  his  land  campaign.  Before  the 
end  of  1340  he  made  a  truce  with  the  French  and  returned  to 
England.  Though  his  people  had  granted  him  large  supplies,  he 
was  almost  bankrupt.  He  unfairly  laid  the  blame  of  this  on  his 
ministers,  the  chief  of  whom  was  John  Stratford,  Archbishop  of 


LONDON, 


ENGL  AN  D 

Winchestero  Canterbury 

Portsmouth 

I. of  Wight  u  .NN  EL 


^ 


O 


SH  U 


HA 


& 


L«5* 


•v^e 


Calais  J^yfchent<,* 
J  Hainaultr- 

B/anchetaqu&&Abbevil\e 

ft  Lr         \V?.(>  „,nie         t- 


smjnl 


,  Rouen 


r-w 


N  o  r\rn  a  n  d  y 


Emery  Walker  sc. 


THE   CRECY   CAMPAIGN,   1346. 


Canterbury.     On  his  return  to  England  he  drove  Stratford  from 
power,  and  appointed  an  entirely  new  body  of  ministers. 

10.  Before  the  truce  expired  a  fresh  cause  of  difference  arose 
between  Edward  and  Philip.     There  was  a  disputed  succession  to 
the  Duchy  of  Brittany,  between  John  of  Montf  ort  and   \yaP  0f 
Charles  of  Blois.     As  Philip  supported  the  claims  of   the  Breton 
Charles  of  Blois,  Edward  upheld  those  of  Montfort.   succession. 
Both  kings  went  to  Brittany  to  uphold  their  respective  champions, 
and  there  fought  campaigns  that  were  almost  as  futile  and  expen- 
sive as  the  campaigns  in  the  Netherlands.     In  1345  direct  war  was 
renewed,  and  at  first  the  chief  fighting  was  in  Grascony.     Both 
countries  frittered  away  their  strength  in  desultory  warfare,  and 
very  little  came  of  it. 

11.  More  serious  results  followed  in  1346.    In  that  year  Edward 
led  a  great  English  army  into  Normandy,  and  took  with  hirn 


214 


EDWARD   III. 


[1346. 


Lis  eldest  son,  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  a  youth  of  sixteen,  after- 
wards famous  as  the  Black  Prince.  In  July  the  English  landed 
_     .  at  La  Hougue  in  the  Cotentin,  and  marched  through 

vasion  of  Normandy,  plundering  and  devastating,  and  only 
Normandy,  meeting  with  serious  resistance  at  Caen,  which  they 
1346-  captured.     Thence  they  struck  the  left  bank  of  the 

Seine,  and  advanced  up  the  river  almost  to  the  gates  of  Paris.  Philip 
gathered  together  a  numerous  force  for  the  defence  of  his  capital, 
and  Edward  was  forced  to  retreat  northwards,  closely  followed  by 
the  French  king.  At  last  he  reached  the  river  Somme,  but  he 
found  the  bridges  guarded  by  the  French,  and  was  unable  to  get  over 
the  stream.  There  was  grave  danger  of  his  being  driven  into  a 
corner  between  the  Somme  and  the  sea,  when  he  luckily  discovered 
a  ford,  called  Blanchetaque,  by  which  the  Somme  was  crossed. 

12.  The  French  were  so  close  on  Edward's  heels  that  he  was 


Battle  of 

CRECY 

1346. 

English  Mile 

'4       X 


*^ 


English  dismounted  men  at  arms....* 

English  archers ::: 

French  cavalry E3 

French  infantry  in  rear ~.E3 

Genoese  crossbou/men —§000 


« 


Waclicourt  *# 


Emery  W»Ucer  so 


obliged  to  turn  and  fight  a  battle  in  his  own  inheritance  of  Ponthieu. 

The  Battle  He  took  up  a  strong  position  on  a  low  hill,  with  his 
right  resting  on  the  little  town  of  Crecy,  and  his  left 
on  the  village  of  "Wadicourt.    After  the  fashion  learnt 

in  the  Scottish  wars,  the  English  knights  and  men-at-arms  sent 

their  horses  to  the  rear  and  fought  on  foot,  standing  in  close  array, 


of  Crecy, 
1346. 


1 346. J  EDWARD  III.  215 

and  divided  into  three  great  divisions.  Two  of  these  were  stationed 
on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  while  the  third  was  posted  in  the  rear 
in  reserve,  nnder  the  king  in  person.  The  archers,  who  since 
Halidon  Hill  had  heen  regarded  as  a  very  important  element  in 
the  English  army,  were  posted  on  the  wings  of  each  of  the  three 
divisions.  The  French  took  up  their  position  on  an  opposite  hill, 
separated  from  the  English  by  a  shallow  waterless  depression 
called  the  Valine  aux  Clercs.  Their  numbers  were  much  greater 
than  those  of  the  English,  but  they  were  much  worse  commanded 
and  worse  disciplined.  They  still  fought  in  the  old  feudal  fashion, 
set  little  store  on  their  infantry,  which  they  placed  in  the  rear, 
and  threw  their  main  effort  in  a  cavalry  charge.  The  battle  began 
in  the  afternoon  of  August  26.  The  French,  who  had  marched 
all  the  way  from  Abbeville,  were  already  weary,  but  their  leaders 
were  so  confident  of  victory  that  they  insisted  upon  attacking  the 
English  at  once.  The  first  hostilities  proceeded  from  the  advance 
of  a  force  of  Genoese  crossbowmen,  who  were  ordered  to  shoot  their 
bolts  against  the  English  lines  to  prepare  their  way  for  the  cavalry 
charge.  But  the  crossbows  had  an  inferior  range  to  the  English 
long  bows,  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  the  evening  sun  was 
shining  behind  the  English  lines  right  in  the  faces  of  the  Genoese, 
many  of  whose  weapons  had,  moreover,  been  made  useless  by  a 
recent  shower,  which  had  wetted  their  strings.  The  result  was 
that  few  bolts  from  the  crossbowmen  reached  the  English  ranks, 
whilst  the  arrows  of  our  archers  soon  threw  the  Genoese  back  in 
confusion.  By  this  time  the  French  cavalry  had  grown  impatient 
of  waiting.  At  last  they  rushed  fiercely  through  the  ranks  of  the 
unlucky  crossbowmen  and  made  their  way  through  the  valley 
towards  the  English  lines.  Again  the  archers  threw  the  enemy 
into  confusion,  and  though  they  made  repeated  charges,  few  of  the 
French  succeeded  in  crossing  lances  with  the  enemy.  At  one  point 
only  did  they  get  near  their  goal,  and  that  was  on  the  English  right, 
where  the  Prince  of  "Wales  was  in  command.  A  timely  reinforce- 
ment saved  the  position,  and  the  French  retreated,  protected,  as 
the  English  boasted,*  by  the  rampart  of  the  dead  they  left  behind 
them.  It  was  the  greatest  victory  of  the  age,  and  won  for  the 
English  a  great  reputation  as  warriors.  Moreover,  it  proved 
conclusively  that  disciplined  infantry  could  withstand  a  cavalry 
charge,  and  so  taught  all  Europe  the  superiority  of  the  tactics 
which  the  English  had  adopted. 

13.  So  war-worn  were  the  victors  that  all  the  immediate  profit 
they  could  win  was  the  power  to  continue  undisturbed  their  march 


2l6  EDWARD  III.  [1346- 

to  the  sea  coast.  Instead,  however,  of  returning  to  England, 
Edward  laid  siege  to  Calais,  the  most  northerly  town  of  the  French 
Calais  king's  dominions.    He  persevered  in  this  siege  for  more 

Auberoche,  than  a  year,  and  in  1347  the  famine-stricken  burgesses 
Neville's  0£  QaJajg  were  compelled  to  open  their  gates  to  him. 

La  Roche  •^or  more  than  two  hundred  years  Calais  remained  an 
Derien.  English  town,  and  was  of  great  importance,  both  as  a 

1346-1347.  fortress  through  which  an  English  army  might  at  any 
time  be  poured  into  France,  and  as  a  warehouse  through  which  the 
weavers  of  Flanders  were  to  draw  their  supplies  of  raw  wool. 
Crecy  and  Calais  were  not  the  only  triumphs  of  this  glorious  time. 
Edward's  cousin,  Henry,  earl  of  Lancaster,  son  of  the  Earl  Henry 
we  have  already  mentioned,  won  decisive  victories  in  Gascony  at 
Auberoche  and  Aiguillon.  David,  king  of  Scots,  who  invaded 
England  when  Edward  was  fighting  the  Crecy  campaign,  was 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Neville's  Cross, 
near  Durham.  In  1347  Charles  of  Blois  was  beaten  and  captured 
in  the  battle  of  La  Roche  Derien,  which  secured  for  a  time  the 
establishment  of  Montfort's  cause  in  Brittany.  Yet  in  the  midst 
of  his  career  of  conquest  Edward  concluded  a  new  truce  in  1347. 
His  want  of  money  and  the  need  of  repose  account  for  this  halt  in 
the  midst  of  victory.  Yet  the  necessity  of  the  truce  showed  that 
Edward  had  embarked  upon  a  course  far  beyond  his  capacity. 
However  many  battles  he  might  win,  it  was  clear  that  he  could 
never  conquer  all  France. 

14.  Up  to  this  point  Edward's  reign  had  been  a  time  of  great 
prosperity.  Edward  had,  it  is  true,  dissipated  his  resources  in 
The  Black  fighting  the  French  and  the  Scots,  but  the  country 
Death,  1348-  was  sufficiently  wealthy  to  bear  its  burdens  with- 
1349.  ou^.  jj^Kjh  reaj  suffering.  A  war  waged  exclusively 
abroad  did  little  direct  harm  to  England,  and  offered  a  lucrative, 
if  demoralizing,  career  to  the  soldiers,  who  received  high  wages  and 
good  hopes  of  plunder  in  the  king's  foreign  service.  The  war  was 
popular,  and  the  English  supremacy  at  sea  did  much  to  promote 
our  foreign  trade.  But  in  1348  a  pestilence,  known  as  the  Black 
Death,  which  had  already  devastated  eastern  and  southern  Europe, 
crossed  over  the  Channel  and  raged  with  great  virulence  in  Eng- 
land until  1349.  It  is  sometimes  thought  that  a  third  of  the 
population  died  of  the  Black  Death,  and  the  results  of  the  visita- 
tion changed  the  whole  character  of  English  history. 

15.  The  horrors  of  the  plague  could  not  destroy  Edward's 
satisfaction  in  his  victories.     In.  the  midst  of  the  visitation,  he 


-1356.]  EDWARD  III.  11"] 

celebrated  by  magnificent  feasts  and  entertainments  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  the  first  and  most  famous 
of  those  orders  of  knighthood  which  delighted  the  Tiie  Biack 
chivalry  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Neither  the  Prince  in 
plague  nor  the  truce  entirely  stopped  the  war,  and  there  Aquitaine. 
was  much  fighting,  though  most  of  it  was  indecisive 
and  on  a  small  scale.  Gradually  the  main  scene  of  operations 
shifted  to  the  south,  and  in  1355  Edward  sent  the  Black  Prince  to 
Gascony,  which  then  became  the  chief  theatre  of  events.  In  1355 
the  Black  Prince  led  a  successful  raid  up  the  Garonne  valley  and 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  He  re- 
turned loaded  with  plunder  and  glory,  and,  in  1356,  started  from 
Bordeaux  in  a  similar  marauding  expedition  over  central  France. 
Accompanied  by  the  best  knights  of  England  and  Gascony,  he 
marched  as  far  as  the  Loire,  and  then  began  to  make  his  way  back 
with  his  booty.  Philip  vi.  had  died  in  1350,  and  his  son,  John, 
now  ruled  over  France.  The  French  king  was  as  gallant  a  knight 
as  the  Black  Prince,  and  pursued  his  foe  with  a  great  army  in  the 
hope  of  intercepting  his  retreat.  Just  as  at  Crecy,  ten  years  before, 
the  prince  found  himself  forced  to  fight  a  battle  with  weary  troops 
against  enormous  odds. 

16.  The  scene  of  the  action  was  a  few  miles  south  of  Poitiers, 
on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Miausson.  As  at  Crecy,  Edward 
resolved  to  fight  on  the  defensive ;  he  stationed  his  Battle  of 
army  on  the  side  of  a  hill  which  sloped  down  on  the  Poitiers, 
left  towards  the  marshes  of  the  Miausson.  Some  1356> 
distance  in  front  of  the  English  position,  a  long  hedge  and  ditch 
afforded  an  additional  means  of  protection.  It  was  broken  by  a  gap, 
through  which  a  farmer's  track  connected  the  fields  on  either  side 
of  it.  The  French  had  now  learnt  the  English  fashion  of  fighting 
on  foot,  but  they  did  not  fully  understand  English  tactics,  and  took 
no  pains  to  combine  archers  and  crossbowmen  with  their  men-at- 
arms.  They  mustered  in  four  lines  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
hedge,  and  each  line  in  succession  strove  to  make  its  way  through 
to  attack  the  English  on  the  further  side.  But  the  hedge 
was  lined  in  force  by  the  English  archers,  who  shot  down  the 
enemy  as  they  made  their  way  in  close  order  to  the  gap  in  it.  How- 
ever, the  French  fought  desperately,  and  for  long  the  fight  was 
doubtful.  A  dexterous  manoeuvre  on  the  part  of  Edward  at  last 
secured  him  the  victory.  He  ordered  the  Captal  de  Buch,  the  best 
of  his  Gascon  leaders,  to  march,  under  cover  of  a  hill,  round  the 
French  position,  and  attack  the  enemy  in  the  rear.     This  settled 


218 


EDWARD  111. 


[1356- 


the  hard-fought  day.  Surrounded  on  every  side,  the  French 
perished  in  the  ranks  or  surrendered  in  despair.  Among  the 
prisoners  was  king  John  himself.     Soon  afterwards  he  was  led 


in  triumph  through  the  streets  of  London,  and  joined  the  king 
of  Scots  in  the  Tower. 

17.  The  captivity  of  the  king  threw  France  into  a  desperate 
plight.  Charles,  duke  of  Normandy,  son  of  King  John,  acted  as 
The  treaties  re8'eil^>  hut  the  nohles  and  commons  did  exactly  what 
of  Bretigni  they  liked,  and  soon  reduced  France  to  a  terrible  con- 
and  Calais,  dition  of  anarchy.  In  1359  John  made  the  treaty  of 
London  with  Edward  TEL,  by  which  he  surrendered  to 
Edward  in  full  sovereignty  nearly  all  the  lands  which  Henry  n.  had 
ruled  in  France.  But  the  French  would  not  accept  so  humiliating 
a  treaty,  and  Edward  led  a  new  invasion  out  of  Calais  to  compel 
them  to  agree  to  his  terms.  During  the  winter  and  spring  of  1360 
Edward  marched  at  his  will  all  over  northern  France,  and  attempted 


-1366. J  EDWARD  III.  219 

the  siege  of  Paris.  His  success  in  maintaining-  himself  in  their 
country  showed  the  French  that  it  was  no  use  resisting  any  longer, 
and  his  failure  to  effect  permanent  conquest  taught  Edward  the 
necessity  of  abating  some  of  his  demands.  Accordingly  negotia- 
tions were  renewed,  and  in  May,  1360,  preliminaries  of  peace  were 
arranged  at  Brdtigni,  near  Chartres,  which  took  their  final  form  in 
the  treaty  of  Calais  of  October.  By  this  John  was  released  in 
return  for  an  enormous  ransom.  Edward  abandoned  his  claim  to 
the  French  crown  on  condition  of  receiving  Calais  and  Ponthieu 
and  the  whole  of  Aquitaine,  including  Poitou  and  the  Limousin. 
The  English  rejoiced  at  the  conclusion  of  so  brilliant  a  peace,  and 
the  French  were  glad  to  be  delivered  from  the  long  anarchy. 

18.  It  was  easier  to  make  peace  than  to  carry  out  the  treaty. 
King  John,  who  had  been  liberated,  found  it  impossible  to  raise 
his  ransom  from  his  impoverished  subjects,  and  was  _ 
annoyed  to  find  that  one  of  his  sons,  left  as  hostage  for  tion  of  the 
his  return,  had  broken  his  word  and  fled  to  France,    treaty  of 
Thereupon  he  honourably  returned  to  his  captivity,  Calals* 
and  died  in  England  in  1364.     Charles  of  Normandy  now  became 
Charles  v.    He  was  less  chivalrous  and  heroic,  but  more  prudent, 
than  his  father.    Under  his  rule  France  recovered  from  the  worst 
horrors  of  the  evil  days  after  Poitiers.     His  chief  trouble  was  with 
the  disbanded  soldiers,  who,  losing  their  occupation  with  the  peace, 
had  organized  themselves  into  formidable  armies  under  generals  of 
their  own  choice,  and  carried  on  war  on  their  own  account. 

19.  A  civil  war  in  Castile  gave  Charles  the  opportunity  of 
persuading  the  Free  Companies,  as  they  were  called,  to  abandon 
France  for  more  distant  lands.     A  revolt  had  broken  j^e  c}yu 
out  in  that  country  against  its  king  Peter,  infamous  war  in 

in  history  as  Peter  the  Cruel.  The  rebels  had  set  up  CastUe< 
his  half-brother,  Henry  of  Trastamara,  as  their  king,  and  Henry, 
despairing  of  his  position,  appealed  to  Charles  v.  for  help.  Bertrand 
du  Guesclin,  a  Breton  nobleman  who  had  won  a  great  reputation 
during  the  succession  war  in  his  native  duchy,  welded  the  scattered 
companies  into  an  army  and  led  them  over  the  Pyrenees.  English 
as  well  as  French  mercenaries  gladly  joined  under  his  banner,  and, 
with  his  help,  Henry  drove  his  brother  into  exile  and  became,  in 
1366,  Henry  11.  of  Castile.  The  deposed  tyrant  went  to  Bordeaux, 
where,  since  1363,  the  Black  Prince  had  lived  as  prince  of  Aquitaine, 
for  Edward  111.  had  created  his  new  possessions  into  a  principality 
and  conferred  it  on  his  son,  in  the  hope  of  conciliating  the  Gascons  by 
some  pretence  of   restoring    their    independence.      Peter  easily 


Burgos    y 
^Najera 


MEDITERRANEAN 
SEA 


1369.]  EDWARD  III.  221 

persuaded  the  prince  to  restore  him  to  his  throne  by  force,  and,  in  the 
spring  of  1367,  Edward  made  his  way  with  an  army  through  the 
pass  of  Roncesvalles  in  the  hope  of  reconquering  Cas-    The  Battle 
tile  for  his  ally.     Beyond  the  Ehro  at  the  village  of   of  Najera, 
Ndjera,  on  April  3,  he  met  Henry  of  Trastamara  and    1367' 
Du  G-uesclin  in  hattle,  and  won  a  complete  victory  over  them. 
After  this  he  restored  Peter  to  the  Castilian  throne  and  returned 
to  Aquitaine.     But  during  the  campaign  the  prince  contracted  the 
heginnings  of  a  mortal  sickness  and  lost  the  greater  part  of  his 
army  from  disease.   Henceforth  misfortune  dogged  his  whole  career. 
In  1368  Henry  of   Trastamara  returned  to  Spain,  defeated  and 
killed  Peter,  and  established  himself  permanently  as  king  of  Castile. 
Thus  the  whole  work  of  the  prince  in  Spain  was  undone. 

20.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  Castilian  expedition,  the  Black  Prince's 
rule  in  Aquitaine  had  been  fairly  successful.     It  was  popular  with 
the  towns,  and  especially  with  those  like  Bordeaux   jhe  revolt 
and  Bayonne,  which  had  been  for  a  long  time  subject  of  Aquitaine, 
to  the  English  dukes.    His  court  at  Bordeaux  was  one    1369< 

of  the  most  brilliant  and  magnificent  in  Europe.  Yet  Edward 
could  never  win  over  the  newly  ceded  districts,  which  had  abandoned 
their  French  nationality  with  great  reluctance,  and  were  eagerly 
awaiting  an  opportunity  for  revolt.  He  looked  with  suspicion 
upon  the  great  lords,  and  gave  them  much  offence  by  limiting  their 
privileges  and  excluding  them  from  his  confidence.  Things  became 
worse  when  the  expenses  of  the  Spanish  campaign  compelled  Edward 
to  impose  fresh  taxes  on  the  Gascons.  In  1368,  he  obtained  from 
the  estates  of  Aquitaine  a  new  hearth-tax.  The  mass  of  the  people 
paid  this  willingly,  but  the  greater  feudatories  availed  themselves  of 
its  imposition  as  a  pretext  for  revolt.  They  appealed  to  Charles  v. 
against  the.  tax,  and  Charles  accepted  their  appeal,  declaring 
that  his  rights  as  overlord  still  remained,  because  all  the  formalities 
which  should  have  followed  the  treaty  of  Calais  had  not  been  com- 
pleted. Citod  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris  in  1369,  the  Black 
Prince  replied  that  he  would  answer  the  summons  with  helmet  on 
his  head  and  sixty  thousand  men  at  his  back.  His  father  re- 
assumed  the  title  of  king  of  France,  and  war  broke  out  again. 

21.  The  new  struggle  was  fought  with  very  different  results  from 
those  of  the  earlier  campaigns.  Under  the  guidance  of  Charles  v. 
and  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  the  French  were  much  more  wisely 
directed  than  before.  They  had  learned  from  their  failures  how  to 
defeat  the  English  tactics,  and  they  had  the  great  advantages  of 
always  taking  the  offensive  and  having  the  people  of  the  country 


222  EDWARD  III.  [1369- 

actively  on  their  side.     Du  Guesclin's  policy  was  to  avoid  pitched 

battles  and  encourage  the  English  to  waste  their  resources  in 

fruitless  forays.     The  Black  Prince's  health  was  now 

the  English     so  ^a^  ^a*  ^e  couki  not  mount  his  charger,  but  directed 

power  in         his  army  from  a  horselitter.     His  last  martial  exploit 

France,  wag  ^he  recapture,  in  1370,  of  Limoges,  which  had 

1369-1377 

thrown  off  the  English  yoke.  The  whole  popu- 
lation was  put  to  the  sword,  and  a  few  gentlemen  alone  were 
saved  for  the  sake  of  their  ransoms.  Next  year  he  went  back  to 
England  for  good.  His  successors  were  equally  unfortunate.  In 
1373  his  brother,  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  marched  with 
an  army  from  Calais  to  Bordeaux,  devastating  France  from  end  to 
end.  John  could  not  force  the  French  to  fight  a  battle,  and  before  he 
reached  his  destination  half  his  army  had  perished  of  hunger  and  cold, 
and  in  petty  warfare.  With  the  help  of  their  Castilian  allies  the 
French  defeated  the  English  navy,  and,  by  depriving  their  enemies 
of  the  command  of  the  sea,  made  it  very  difficult  for  them  to  keep 
up  communications  between  England  and  the  armies  in  France. 
Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  French  leaders  was  Sir  Owen 
of  Wales,  a  grand-nephew  of  Llewelyn  ap  Griffith,  who  posed  as 
lawful  prince  of  Wales,  and  sought  to  stir  up  revolt  against  Edward 
in  his  native  land.  After  a  few  years  of  fighting,  the  English 
dominions  in  France  were  reduced  to  a  few  coast  towns,  and  at  last, 
despairing  of  success,  Edward  in.  made  a  truce  with  the  French, 
which  lasted  just  long  enough  to  allow  him  to  end  his  days  in 
peace.  The  only  towns  of  importance  still  remaining  in  English 
hands  were  Calais,  Cherbourg,  Brest,  Bayonne,  and  Bordeaux.  The 
wave  of  French  national  feeling  which  had  swept  the  English  out 
of  the  acquisitions  made  in  1360  had  almost  engulfed  Edward's 
hereditary  possessions  in  Gascony.  Crecy  and  Poitiers  were  com- 
pletely avenged. 

22.  At  home,  as  abroad,  there  is  the  same  contrast  between  the 
later  and  the  earlier  part  of   Edward  iii.'s  reign.     The  days  of 

prosperity  ended,  as  we  have   seen,   with  the  Black 

ta  EnSand.8   Death  of  1348  and  1349  >  and'  when  the  PeoPle  had 
partially  recovered  from   the  first  visitation   of  the 

plague,  others  befel  them  that  were  scarcely  less  severe.  The  years 
1362  and  1369  almost  rivalled  the  horrors  of  the  earlier  outbreak. 
Great  changes  resulted  from  these  plagues.  The  population  de- 
clined so  greatly  that  there  were  not  enough  labourers  left  to  till 
the  fields,  or  enough  priests  remaining  to  administer  spiritual  con- 
solations to  the  dying.     The  immediate  result  of  this  was  that 


-I377-]  EDWARD  III.  223 

every  sort  of  wages  rose.  The  increased  sums  paid  to  workers  had 
the  effect  of  raising  the  prices  of  most  commodities.  Yet  the 
plague  had  so  much  diminished  the  prosperity  of  the  country  that 
men  found  themselves  hardly  able  to  pay  the  prices  and  wages 
which  they  were  accustomed  to.  In  those  days,  if  anything  went 
wrong  it  was  thought  the  business  of  the  state  to  j^e 
set  it  right,  and  parliament,  in  1351,  passed  a  law  statute  of 
called  the  statute  of  Labourers,  which  enacted  that  Labourers, 

1351 

both  prices  and  wages  should  remain  as  they  had  been 
before  the  pestilence.  It  was  found  impossible  to  carry  out  thig 
law.  Labourers  would  not  work  unless  they  were  paid  the  wages 
they  asked  for,  and  employers  preferred  to  break  the  statute 
rather  than  see  their  crops  perish  in  their  fields  for  lack  of  harvest- 
men.  All  that  landholders  could  do  was  to  grow  those  crops  which 
needed  little  labour.  Corn-growing  was  therefore  abandoned  for 
sheep-farming  and  cattle-raising,  and  thus  the  amount  of  employ- 
ment in  the  country  became  permanently  less.  Besides  this,  much 
dissension  arose  between  employers  and  their  workmen.  The 
labourers  complained  of  the  harshness  and  cruelty  of  their  masters, 
and  the  masters  of  the  idleness  and  greediness  of  the  workmen. 
The  struggle  of  classes  which  resulted  from  this  culminated,  as  we 
shall  see,  in  the  Peasants'  Revolt  of  1381. 

23.  The  spirit  of  unrest  was  everywhere  in  the  air,  and  the 
same    generation    that    saw    the    social    and    economic    changes 
which  resulted  from  the  Black  Death,  witnessed  the 
beginning  of  religious  discontent  that  soon  threatened  Avignon 

to  break  up  the  majestic  unity  of  the  Western  Church,  the  Statutes 
From  1305  to  1377  the  popes  lived  at  Avignon,  and  of  Provlsors 
were  generally  Frenchmen  under  the  control  of  the  a  j36" 
French  king.  The  English  hated  the  French  so 
much  that  they  looked  with  distrust  upon  French  popes.  Even 
under  Henry  in.  there  had  been  a  great  outcry  against  papal 
exactions,  and  this  outcry  became  much  stronger  when  there  was 
a  danger  lest  the  money  raised  by  the  pope  from  English  benefices 
found  its  way,  indirectly,  into  the  pockets  of  our  French  enemies. 
The  system  of  papal  provisions,  by  which  the  pope  appointed  his 
nominees  to  English  benefices,  had  long  excited  deep  discontent. 
In  1351  a  law  was  passed  called  the  statute  of  Provisors,  which 
attempted  to  get  rid  of  the  abuse.  It  was  followed  in  1353  by 
another  anti-papal  measure,  the  statute  of  Praemunire,  which 
was  so  called  from  the  first  word  of  the  Latin  writs  issued  to 
enforce  the  law.     It  forbade,  under  heavy  penalties,  Englishmen 


224  EDWARD  III.  [1340- 

carrying  lawsuits  out  of  the  country,  and  though  the  papal  court 
was  not  specially  mentioned,  the  measure  was  clearly  aimed  against 
it.  If  these  laws  had  been  strictly  carried  out,  the  papal  authority 
in  England  would  have  been  almost  destroyed,  but  parliaments 
were  content  with  making  their  protest,  and  Edward  himself  set 
the  example  of  disregarding  his  own  laws  by  asking  the  pope  to 
make  his  friends  bishops  by  the  way  of  papal  provision.  There 
was  no  real  desire  to  question  the  papal  power  as  long  as  the  popes 
did  not  go  too  far.  Yet,  however  obedient  most  Englishmen  still 
were  to  the  pope's  spiritual  authority,  they  utterly  repudiated  the 
claims  to  feudal  supremacy  over  England  which  the  popes  still  made 
by  virtue  of  John's  submission.  Edward  ill.  absolutely  refused 
to  pay  the  tribute  which  John  had  offered  to  Innocent  in.,  and  in 
1366  parliament  declared  that  neither  John  nor  any  one  else  could 
put  England  into  subjection  without  the  consent  of  the  people. 
The  same  rising  national  spirit  which  resented  the  interference  of 
a  foreign  ecclesiastic  with  English  affairs  inspired  the  statute  of 
1362,  which  made  English  instead  of  French  the  language  of  the 
law  courts.  The  tongue  which,  since  the  Conquest,  had  almost 
ceased  to  be  the  language  of  courts  and  nobles,  was,  as  a  result  of 
the  hatred  of  all  things  French,  brought  back  into  greater  favour. 
The  age  of  Edward  in.  was  the  age  of  Chaucer  and  G-ower  and 
Wycliffe. 

24.  The  reign  of  Edward  in.  was  not  marked  by  any  great 
changes  in  the  constitution.  Parliaments  met  very  often,  and  the 
Edward  III.  king's  need  for  money  to  carry  out  his  foreign  wars 
and  his  Par-  made  him  willing  to  abandon  many  of  his  powers 
liaments.  ^  return  for  handsome  subsidies.  Thus,  in  1340, 
Edward  accepted  a  statute  which  abolished  the  royal  right  of 
laying  at  his  discretion  taxes  called  tallages  upon  the  royal  domain. 
In  1341,  as  a  result  of  his  conflict  with  Archbishop  Stratford, 
Edward  was  forced  to  recognize  the  claim  of  members  of  the  House 
of  Lords  to  be  tried  by  their  peers.  In  the  same  year  he  allowed 
parliament  to  nominate  his  ministers  and  examine  the  accounts 
of  the  national  revenue.  On  this  occasion,  however,  as  soon  as 
parliament  was  dissolved,  Edward  coolly  revoked  these  laws  as 
trenching  upon  his  prerogative,  and  succeeded  in  persuading  the 
next  parliament,  which  met  in  1343,  to  repeal  them.  The  French 
war  was  so  popular  that  at  first  parliament  had  willingly  granted 
Edward  supplies  to  carry  it  on,  and  Edward  was  shrewd  enough  to 
consult  the  estates  about  his  foreign  policy,  because  he  saw  that  if 
they  made  themselves  responsible  for  it  they  could  hardly  refuse  to 


-1376.]  EDWARD  III.  225 

pay  its  cost.  In  1348,  however,  parliament  answered  his  request 
for  advice  about  the  war  by  declaring-  they  were  too  ignorant  and 
simple  to  bo  able  to  counsel  him  in  such  high  matters.  After  the 
troubles  of  the  Black  Death,  the  war  became  less  popular,  and 
parliament  joyfully  hailed  every  effort  made  to  procure  peace. 

25.  Edward  and  Philippa  of  Hainault  were  the  parents  of  a 
large  family,  and.  the  king's  efforts  to  provide  for  his  children 
without  incurring  too  great  expense  for  himself  form  Edward's 
an  important  element  in  his  later  policy.  We  have  family 
seen  how  the  prince  of  Wales  was  amply  endowed  set"ement- 
with  the  new  principality  of  Aquitaine.  Besides  this,  the  Black 
Prince  held  Wales,  Chester,  and  Cornwall,  while  his  marriage 
to  his  cousin,  Joan  of  Kent,  the  heiress  of  Earl  Edmund  of  Kent, 
executed  in  1330,  provided  him  with  an  additional  English  earldom. 
Edward  introduced  a  new  grade  into  the  English  peerage  to 
increase  the  dignity  of  his  son,  by  making  the  Black  Prince 
duke  of  Cornwall.  It  was  by  the  creation  of  new  duchies  and 
by  rich  marriages  that  Edward  in.  provided  for  his  younger 
children.  His  second  son,  Lionel  of  Antwerp,  married  the  heiress 
of  the  great  Irish  family  of  Burgh,  earls  of  Ulster  and  Connaught, 
and  was  made  duke  of  Clarence.  After  his  marriage  Lionel  was 
sent  to  Ireland  to  represent  his  father.  He  found  the  English 
power  at  a  low  ebb,  since  Edward  Bruce,  brother  of  Robert,  king 
of  Scots,  had  made  a  valiant  attempt  to  set  himself  up  as  king  of 
Ireland  against  Edward  II.  Bruce  was  soon  slain  in  battle,  but 
English  influence  never  recovered  the  blow  he  had  dealt  to  it.  To 
revive  it  now  Lionel  passed  the  statute  of  Kilkenny  in  1366,  which 
strove  to  prevent  the  Norman  settlers  in  Ireland  from  adopting 
Irish  ways  and  making  alliance  with  the  native  Irish  chieftains.  The 
law  was  a  complete  failure,  and  Lionel  soon  returned  to  England 
in  disgust.  He  died  soon  after,  leaving  as  his  heiress  a  daughter, 
Phillipa,  whose  marriage  with  Edmund  Mortimer,  earl  of  March, 
great  grandson  of  the  traitor  Roger,  made  the  great  west  country 
house  of  the  Mortimers  the  representatives  of  the  second  line  of 
the  descendants  of  Edward  in.  The  king's  third  surviving  son, 
John  of  Ghent,  or  Gaunt,  was  married  to  Blanche,  heiress  of  her 
father,  Earl  Henry,  the  last  of  the  old  line  of  earls  of  Lancaster, 
and  John  was  made  duke  of  Lancaster.  The  eldest  son  of  John 
and  Blanche,  Henry,  earl  of  Derby,  the  future  Henry  nr.,  married 
one  of  the  heiresses  of  the  Bohuns  of  Hereford,  and  Henry's  uncle, 
Thomas  of  Woodstock,  afterwards  duke  of  Gloucester,  married 
the  other  Bohun  heiress.     Edward's  family  settlement  is  of  great 

Q 


226  EDWARD  III.  [1376- 

future  importance,  because  it  connected  the  royal  family  with  many 
of  the  chief  baronial  houses,  and  apparently  immensely  increased 
its  wealth  and  influence.  Its  ultimate  result,  however,  was  harmful 
to  the  power  of  the  crown,  as  the  descendants  of  Edward  in.  forgot 
their  kinship  with  the  king,  and  adopted  the  policy  of  opposition 
with  which  the  houses  into  which  they  intermarried  had  long  been 
associated. 

26.  Factions  among  his  nobles  and  dissensions  between  his  sons 
embittered  the  last  years  of  Edward's  reign.  The  Black  Prince 
The  court  an<^  Joari  °f  Gaunt,  who  had  disagreed  with  each 
and  con-  other  about  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  France,  trans- 
stitutional  ferred  their  rivalries  to  England,  and  became  the 
par  les.  heads  of  sharply  marked  parties  in  the  council  of 
the  old  king.  The  ill  feeling  which  parliament  had  shown  to  the 
papacy  in  its  legislation  included  within  its  scope  the  English 
church  as  well.  The  barons  were  jealous  of  the  power  of  the 
higher  clergy,  and  denounced  their  interference  in  politics.  Up 
to  this  time  some  of  the  chief  offices  of  state,  such  as  that  of 
chancellor,  had  almost  invariably  been  held  by  a  prominent  bishop. 
However,  in  1371,  a  group  of  courtiers  procured  the  removal  of  the 
king's  clerical  ministers,  and  substituted  laymen  for  them.  The 
chief  of  the  displaced  ministers  was  William  of  Wykeham,  bishop 
of  Winchester.  It  was  natural  that  he  and  the  other  bishops 
should  be  henceforward  in  opposition  to  the  government.  Before 
long  John  of  Gaunt  became  the  leader  of  an  anti-clerical  court 
party,  and  for  some  years  exercised  a  strong  influence  over  his  father, 
who  was  gradually  falling  into  his  dotage.  John's  chief  helpers 
were  Lord  Latimer,  a  London  merchant  called  Richard  Lyons,  and 
Alice  Perrers,  the  greedy  and  unscrupulous  mistress  of  the  old 
king.  Knowing  that  the  higher  ecclesiastics  were  bitterly  opposed 
to  him,  John  also  struck  up  an  alliance  with  a  famous  Oxford  teacher 
named  John  Wycliffe,  who  had  become  conspicuous  for  his  denun- 
ciation of  the  corruption  of  the  clergy,  and  for  teaching  that 
priests  should  live  lives  of  apostolic  poverty  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  politics. 

27.  The  rule  of  John  of  Gaunt  and  the  courtiers  was  neither 
honest  nor  successful,  and  an  active  opposition  was  formed  of  which 
The  Good  the  Black  Prince  and  the  Earl  of  March  were  the 
Parliament,    leaders.     Strong  feeling  arose  in  the  country  against 

•  the  men  who  had  lost  all  France  and  brought  Eng- 

land to  bankruptcy  and  shame.  This  indignation  found  its  expres- 
sion in  a  parliament  which  met  in  1376,  and  became  famous  as  the 


-I377-]  EDWARD  III.  227 

Good  Parliament.   Inspired  by  the  Black  Prince,  the  Earl  Edmund 

of  March,  and  the  bishops,  the  House  of  Commons  made  a  vigorous 

attack  on  the  courtiers.     It  chose  as  its  speaker,  or  spokesman 

before  the  king-,  Sir  Peter  de  la  Mare,  steward  of  the  Earl  of 

March,  a  man  who  had  boldness  enough  to  say  what  was  in  his 

mind  regardless  of  the  good- will  of  the  great.     It  accused  Latimer 

and  Lyons  of  taking  bribes,  and  the  House  of  Lords  condemned 

them  to  imprisonment.    These  are  the  first  examples  of  the  process 

called  impeachment,  by  which  political  offenders  were  accused  by 

the  Commons  before  the  Lords.     Parliament  also  removed  Alice 

Perrers  from  court. 

28.  In  the  midst  of  these  proceedings  the  Commons  lost  their 

strongest  support  by  the  death  of  the  Black  Prince.     Lancaster 

now  resumed  his  influence ;  the  Good  Parliament  was 

dismissed,  and,  in  1377,  a  fresh  parliament  carefully   (jauntand 

packed  with  John's  partisans  reversed  its  acts.   Parlia-   John 

ment  was  thus  silenced.     The  convocation  of  Canter-   Wycliffe, 

1376-1377 
bury  remained  bitterly  hostile  to  John.    Accordingly 

the  duke  met  its  opposition  by  calling  John  WyclifEe  to  his  aid. 

Wycliffe's   denunciations  of  the  rich  land-holding  prelates  were 

answered  by  an  accusation  for  heresy  being  brought  against  him. 

Summoned  before  Bishop  Courtenay  of  London  to  answer  the 

■charge,  WyclifEe  appeared  in  St.  Paul's,  supported  by  Lancaster 

and  Henry  Percy,  one  of  Lancaster's  chief  friends.     A  violent 

scene  took  place  in  the  cathedral  between  Lancaster  and  the  bishop. 

The  London  mob  took  the  part  of  Courtenay  against  the  courtiers, 

and  rose  in  a  riot,  pillaged  John's  palace,  and  forced   Death  of 

him  to  flee  from  London.      Soon   after  this   stormy   Edward  III., 

scene  Edward  in.  died,  on  June  21, 1377.     As  he  lay   1377# 

dying  his  courtiers  deserted  him,  and  Alice  Perrers  took  to  flight 

after  robbing  him  of  the  rings  on  his  fingers. 


CHAPTER  V 
RICHARD   II.   OF   BORDEAUX  (1377-1399) 

Chief  Dates : 

1377-  Accession  of  Richard  II. 

1378.  The  Papal  schism. 

1381.  Peasants'  Revolt. 

1384.  Death  of  Wycliffe. 

1388.  The  Merciless  Parliament. 

1396.  The  Great  Truce  with  France. 

1397.  Richard's  triumph  over  the  Lords  Appellant. 
1399.  Deposition  of  Richard  11. 

1.  As  the  Black  Prince  had  died  before  his  father,  his  only  son, 
Richard  of  Bordeaux,  a  hoy  ten  years  of  age,  succeeded  Edward  m. 
The  Rule  as  Richard  11.  No  regent  was  appointed,  but,  as  in 
of  John  the  latter  years  of  Henry  m.'s  minority,  the  council 

of  Gaunt.  ruled  in  the  king's  name.  This  meant  in  practice 
that  the  preponderating  influence  was  with  John  of  Gaunt.  The 
result  was  that  the  first  few  years  of  the  new  reign  witnessed  the 
continuance  of  the  bad  and  unpopular  government  which  had  dis- 
graced the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  in.  Heavy  taxes  were 
raised,  but  the  people  obtained  little  benefit  from  paying  them.  The 
nobles  quarrelled  fiercely  with  each  other,  and,  on  the  expiration  of 
the  truce  with  France,  the  French  plundered  the  English  coasts  and 
threatened  the  land  with  invasion.  Luckily,  however,  for  England, 
Charles  v.  died  in  1380.  His  son  and  successor,  Charles  vi.,  was 
a  boy  like  Richard,  and  the  French  soon  had  reason  to  say  with 
the  English,  "  Woe  to  the  land  when  the  king  is  a  child."  For 
some  years  the  Hundred  Years'  War  was  suspended  by  reason  of 
the  weakness  of  both  England  and  France. 

2.  It  was  a.  miserable  time  for  Europe  generally.  In  1378  the 
papacy  returned  from  Avignon  to  Rome,  but  the  pope  who  had 
The  Papal  the  courage  to  take  this  step  died  soon  after  he  reached 
Schism  and  Italy.  His  successor,  Urban  VI.,  was  an  Italian,  and 
Wycliffe.  likely  to  remain  in  Rome.  Thereupon  the  French 
cardinals,  who  wished  to  keep  the  pope  in  their  own  country, 
228 


1 38 1.]  RICHARD  II.    OF  BORDEAUX  229 

denied  the  validity  of  TJrban's  election,  and  chose  another  pope, 
named  Clement  vu.  Enrope  divided  itself  between  the  two  popes, 
and  as  the  French  and  Scots  favoured  Clement,  the  English 
supported  Urban.  The  result  of  this  Great  Schism  of  the  Papacy 
was  to  discredit  the  popes,  who  had  already  lost  much  ground 
during'  the  captivity  at  Avignon.  The  spirit  of  religious  unrest 
that  was  already  in  the  air  spread  widely,  and  led  men  to  look 
closely  into  their  beliefs.  John  Wycliffe  had  already  made  himself 
conspicuous  as  the  ally  of  John  of  Gaunt  against  the  over- wealthy 
prelates.  Since  the  scene  at  St.  Paul's  in  1377,  his  views  were  be- 
coming more  and  more  antagonistic  to  those  professed  by  the  Church. 
In  the  year  of  the  schism  he  began  to  raise  doubts  as  to  the  truth  of 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  or  the  change  of  the  bread  and 
wine  in  the  Holy  Communion  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ, 
which  the  whole  Church  had  accepted  for  many  centuries.  This 
open  avowal  of  heresy  lost  Wycliffe  the  support  of  Lancaster  and 
most  of  his  powerful  friends.  Henceforth  he  sought  to  appeal 
to  the  people  as  well  as  to  scholars  and  men  of  rank.  He  sent 
throughout  the  country  disciples  who  were  called  his  poor  priests, 
and  by  this  means  his  teaching  was  spread  all  over  the  land.  Up 
to  now  he  had  written  in  Latin  for  scholars,  but  he  henceforth  set 
forth  his  teaching  in  English.  He  denied  the  authority  of  the 
papacy  and  of  the  clergy,  and  taught  that  dominion  was  founded 
on  grace,  by  which  he  meant  that  power  and  property  could  only  be 
rightly  held  by  good  men.  He  also  encouraged  men  to  seek  for 
their  religion  in  the  Bible  only.  To  make  the  Bible  accessible,  he, 
with  the  help  of  his  friends,  translated  it  from  Latin  into  English. 
His  teaching  excited  bitter  hostility  among  the  clergy,  and  in 
1382  his  opinions  were  condemned  by  a  council  of  English  bishops. 
Wycliffe  still  had  many  friends,  and  was  very  dexterous  in  explaining 
away  his  opinions.  He  was  therefore  set  free,  and  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life  at  his  country  living  of  Lutterworth,  in  Leicestershire, 
where  he  died  in  1384.  His  influence  continued  after  his  death. 
His  followers,  called  Lollards,  or  babblers,  spread  widely,  and,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in  England,  there 
were  many  men  who  disbelieved  in  the  teaching  of  the  Church. 
3.  Four  years  after  Richard's  accession  discontent  came  to  a 

head  in  the  Peasants'  Revolt  of  1381.     The  causes  of   _. 

The  causes 

this  rising  were  numerous.     The  deepest  of  them  lay   Qf  the 
in  the  changes  which  had  effected  society  since  the    Peasants' 
time  of  the  Black  Death.     The  demand  for  labour   RevoIt' 
was  still  great,  and  the  free  labourers,  who  could  hire  themselves 


23O  RICHARD  II    OF  BORDEAUX  [1381. 

out  where  they  would,  were  bitterly  discontented  with  the  laws  which 
tried  to  keep  down  their  wages.  They  had  formed  associations  to 
defeat  the  statute  of  Labourers,  and  for  a  generation  there  had  been 
much  quarrelling  between  them  and  their  masters.  The  grievances 
of  the  free  labourers  were,  however,  small  as  compared  with  the 
troubles  of  the  serfs  or  villeins.  In  Norman  times  the  mass  of  the 
people  had,  as  we  have  seen,  become  villeins.  During  the  fourteenth 
century  the  number  of  villeins  was  steadily  decreasing,  as  many  ran 
away  from  their  lords,  and  many  were  set  free,  since  lords  had 
found  that  it  paid  them  better  to  cultivate  their  lands  with  free  labour, 
while  the  Church  taught  that  it  was  a  meritorious  act  to  enfran- 
chise a  bondman.  However,  the  strong  demand  for  labour,  which 
resulted  from  the  decline  of  population  after  the  pestilence,  had 
retarded  this  movement  towards  freedom.  When  it  became  very 
difficult  to  obtain  free  labour,  it  was  natural  that  the  lords  of  serfs 
should  exact  to  the  uttermost  the  rights  they  still  possessed  of  com- 
pelling their  bondmen  to  work  for  them  without  pay.  At  the  same 
time  the  villeins  became  more  unwilling  to  give  up  so  much  of  their 
time  to  their  lords,  when  they  saw  that  their  free  brethren  could 
earn  large  wages  without  difficulty.  The  result  was  that  the 
villeins  were  even  more  discontented  than  the  free  labourers,  and 
both  classes  alike  were  ripe  for  revolt.  Thus  the  unrest  and  dis- 
content of  Edward  iii.'s  time  still  continued.  It  was  increased  by  the 
struggles  in  the  boroughs  between  the  craftsmen  of  the  guilds  and 
the  rich  merchants,  who  kept  the  government  of  the  towns  in  their 
own  hands,  and  ruled  harshly  in  the  interests  of  their  own  class. 
Old  soldiers  who  had  come  back  from  the  French  wars  told  the 
poor  English  how  the  men  of  Flanders  had  shaken  off  the  yoke  of 
their  count,  and  had,  by  union  and  determination,  won  liberty  for 
themselves.  The  friars  still  wandered  through  the  land,  teaching 
that  Christ  and  His  apostles  had  had  no  property,  and  denouncing 
the  oppressions  of  the  rich.  Wycliffe's  "  poor  priests  "  were  now 
also  traversing  the  country,  maintaining  their  master's  doctrine 
of  dominion  founded  on  grace  and  declaring  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  a  Christian  to  deprive  unworthy  men  of  their  offices 
and  lands.  John  Ball,  an  Essex  priest,  made  himself  the  mouth- 
piece of  this  widespread  discontent.  "  We  are  all  come,"  said  he, 
"  from  one  father  and  one  mother,  Adam  and  Eve.  How  can  the 
gentry  show  that  they  are  greater  lords  than  we?"  On  every 
side  the  old  social  order  was  breaking  up,  and  men  were  ripe  for 
revolution. 

4.  Disgust  at  the  bad  government  of  John  of  G-aunt  and  the 


X38l]  RICHARD  II.   OF  BORDEAUX  23 1 

council  added  political  to  social  unrest.  Heavy  taxes  were  levied, 
though,  the  people  got  nothing  in  return  from  them.  Finally,  in 
1381,  the  imposition  of  a  new  poll-tax — that  is,  a  tax  ^e 
levied  on  each  individual  in  the  community",  brought  the  peasants' 
discontent  to  a  head.  The  Kentish  men  were  among  Revolt  of 
the  freest  and  most  turbulent  of  Englishmen.  There 
was  no  villeinage  in  Kent,  but  nowhere  was  the  indignation  at  the 
badness  of  the  government  so  deeply  felt.  Headed  by  Wat  Tyler, 
the  Kentish  men  refused  to  pay  the  poll-tax,  rose  in  revolt,  and 
marched  in  great  numbers  to  London.  At  the  same  moment  dis- 
turbances broke  out  all  over  England,  as  if  in  obedience  to  a  common 
command.  The  most  formidable  were  in  the  eastern  counties, 
where  the  numerous  serfs  of  great  abbeys,  like  Bury  St.  Edmunds 
and  St.  Albans,  rose  against  their  monastic  landlords  and  demanded 
their  enfranchisement.  Like  the  Kentish  freemen,  the  villeins  of 
the  eastern  shires  also  made  their  way  to  London.  The  rebels  soon 
took  possession  of  the  capital,  and  wrought  many  outrages.  They 
murdered  some  of  the  king's  ministers,  including  the  chancellor, 
Simon  of  Sudbury,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  They  burned 
John  of  G-aunt's  house,  the  Savoy  Palace  in  the  Strand,  and  de- 
clared they  would  have  no  king  named  John. 

5.  Richard  11.  was  only  sixteen  years  old,  but  he  showed  a 
courage  and  resolution  that  put  to  shame  the  weakness  of  his 
ministers.  One  day  he  met  the  rebels  from  the  The  s 
eastern  counties  at  Mile  End,  agreed  to  give  them  pression  of 
charters  of  freedom,  and  persuaded  the  majority  to  the  revolt, 
go  home.  The  Kentish  men,  however,  remained  in  arms,  and 
constantly  perpetrated  fresh  outrages.  Next  day  Richard  went 
with  William  Walworth,  the  mayor  of  London,  to  treat  with 
them  in  Smithfield.  Tyler,  the  rebel  leader,  behaved  with  great 
familiarity,  but  Richard  promised  to  accept  most  of  his  demands. 
Unluckily,  one  of  the  king's  followers  declared  that  Tyler  was  the 
greatest  thief  in  Kent,  and  Tyler  sprang  upon  him  with  his  dagger. 
The  mayor  strove  to  protect  the  courtier,  and  a  scuffle  ensued 
between  the  two,  in  which  Tyler  was  slain.  The  rebels  drew  their 
bows  at  the  king,  but  Richard,  riding  up  among  them,  declared, 
*  I  will  be  your  captain ;  come  with  me  into  the  fields,  and  you 
shall  have  all  you  ask."  His  presence  of  mind  saved  the  situation, 
and  gave  time  for  the  soldiers  to  surround  the  rebels  and  force 
them  to  lay  down  their  arms.  The  troubles  in  London  were  thus 
ended,  and  all  over  the  country  the  gentry,  plucking  up  courage, 
set  to  work  to  put  down  the  revolt  systematically.     The  cruelties 


232  RICHARD  II.    OF  BORDEAUX  [1381- 

worked  by  the  peasants  in  their  brief  moment  of  triumph  were  now 
more  than  revenged  on  them  by  their  victorious  masters.  Even 
the  king  took  part  in  punishing  the  rebels.  He  put  John  Ball  to 
death  at  St.  Albans,  and  revoked  the  charters  of  freedom  which 
he  had  issued  on  the  grounds  that  they  had  been  obtained  by 
violence,  and  that  he  had  no  power  to  interfere  with  the  lord's 
property  over  his  serfs.  When  parliament  met  it  approved  the 
king's  action,  and  declared  that  it  would  never  agree  to  the  libera- 
tion of  the  villeins.  However,  a  little  later,  the  marriage  of  the 
king  to  Anne  of  Bohemia,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Charles  iv., 
was  made  an  excuse  for  extending  a  general  pardon  to  all  the 
rebels.  Despite  the  apparent  failure  of  the  peasants,  the  revolt 
was  not  entirely  without  fruit.  It  taught  the  government  and 
the  gentry  that  it  was  dangerous  to  press  the  tenants  too  much, 
and,  though  for  a  time  it  probably  made  the  conditions  of  the 
villeins  worse,  it  led  in  the  long  run  to  the  restriction  of  villeinage. 
Many  landlords  found  that  it  was  easier  for  them  to  set  free  their 
peasants  and  to  accept  money  payment  in  lieu  of  their  accustomed 
services.  Within  a  hundred  years  of  the  Peasants'  Revolt,  vil- 
leinage had  almost  disappeared  from  England.  Besides  this 
something  was  done  to  remedy  the  misrule  against  which  the 
Kentish  men  had  so  loudly  protested.  John  of  Gaunt  was  so 
unpopular  that  power  slipped  away  quietly  from  him,  and  before 
long  he  betook  himself  to  Spain,  where  he  strove,  with  little  result, 
to  make  himself  king  of  Castile  by  reason  of  his  marriage  with 
Constance,  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Cruel.  His  failure  taught 
the  king's  council  some  measure  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  and  the 
country  became  somewhat  better  governed  in  the  years  succeeding 
the  Peasants'  Revolt. 

6.  The  good  hopes  excited  by  Richard's  courage  in  1381  were 
not  borne  out  by  the  events  of  the  next  few  years.  With  plenty 
The  baronial  °^  a^^^>  a  strong"  will,  and  a  high  courage,  Richard 
opposition  showed  a  passionate  and  hasty  temper,  and  a  greedi- 
and  Thomas  ness  for  power,  which  soon  brought  him  into  collision 
ceste°pU  ^"^    ^s    nowes-      He    was    self-willed,   crafty,   and 

revengeful,  and  his  love  of  pomp  led  him  to  waste 
large  sums  in  keeping  up  an  extravagant  court.  Distrusting  the 
nobles,  he  gave  his  chief  confidence  to  courtiers  and  favourites, 
who  carried  on  the  evil  traditions  of  the  court  party  which  had 
excited  the  wrath  of  the  Good  Parliament*  Prominent  among  his 
favourites  was  Robert  de  Vere,  earl  of  Oxford,  whose  ancestors  had 
held  that  dignity  since  the  days  of  Stephen,  and  whom  Richard 


'i 388. J  RICHARD  II.   OF  BORDEAUX  233 

made  duke  of  Ireland.  His  chief  minister  was  the  Chancellor, 
Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk,  whose  grandfather  had  been  a 
Hull  merchant,  and  who  had  obtained  his  wealth  by  trade.  Oxford 
and  Suffolk  soon  became  very  unpopular,  partly  through  their  own 
fault,  and  partly  because  they  were  looked  upon  as  the  causes  of 
the  weak  government  and  unconstitutional  rule  which  still  went 
on.  The  greater  part  of  the  nobles  disliked  them  exceedingly,  and 
joined  together  to  put  an  end  to  their  power.  Thus  the  party  of 
constitutional  opposition  was  reformed  to  meet  the  encroachments 
of  the  court  party.  Its  leader  was  Thomas  of  Woodstock,  duke  of 
Gloucester,  the  youngest  and  most  capable  of  the  king's  uncles. 
For  the  rest  of  his  life  Gloucester  withstood  .Richard  11.  as  Thomas 
of  Lancaster  had  withstood  Edward  11. 

7.  Trouble  began  in  1386,  when  parliament  demanded  the  dis- 
missal of  the  chancellor.     Richard  ordered  parliament  to  mind  its 
own  business,  and  insolently  said  that  he  would  not   Th   attaek 
dismiss  the  meanest  scullion  from  his  kitchen  to  please  on  the 

it.        Thereupon     the     angry    Commons    impeached  courtiers, 
Suffolk,   and   forced    Richard    to    submit.      A  com-  " 

mittee  of  eleven  nobles  was  appointed  for  a  year,  with  powers  so 
extensive  that  they  remind  us  of  the  lords  ordainers  of  Edward  il.'s 
time.  Richard  was  compelled  to  take  an  oath  to  accept  any 
ordinances  that  the  eleven  might  devise.  For  the  moment  the 
triumph  of  the  opposition  seemed  complete.  Their  administration 
threw  new  vigour  into  the  government.  They  revived  the  French 
war,  and,  in  1387,  one  of  their  number,  Richard  Fitzalan,  earl  of 
Arundel,  won  a  victory  over  the  French  fleet,  which  saved  England 
from  a  threatened  French  invasion. 

8.  Richard  was  no  weakling  like  Edward  u.,  and  soon  began  to 
take  steps  to  win  back  his  power.     He  released  Suffolk,  and  took 
counsel  with  his  judges  as  to  the  lawfulness  of  the  _,     .  _    . 
committee  of  eleven.     The  judges  declared  that  the  of  the 
commission  was  illegal  because  it  infringed  the  royal  courtiers, 
prerogative.     By  his  orders  the  duke  of  Ireland  raised    1388, 

an  army,  and  civil  war  between  the  king  and  the  opposition  broke 
out.  However,  Richard  had  acted  too  hastily  in  assertion  of  his 
independence.  In  December,  1387,  the  barons  scattered  Vere's 
troops  at  Radcot  Bridge,  over  the  upper  Thames  in  Oxfordshire. 
When  parliament  met  in  February,  1388,  the  king  was  once  more 
helpless  in  the  hands  of  the  opposition. 

9.  The  victors  showed  such  ruthlessness  that  this  parliament, 
which  was  altogether  on  their  side,  became  known  in  history  as  the 


234  RICHARD  II.    OF  BORDEAUX  [1388- 

Merciless  Parliament.   In  it  an  accusation  of  treason  was  raised  by- 
five  baronial  leaders  against  Suffolk,  Ireland,  and  other  chief  friends 

of  the  king".  The  charge  was  technically  called  an 
The  Merei-  appeal  of  treason,  and  the  five  lords  on  that  account 
ment  and  were  called  the  Lords  Appellant.  At  their  head  were 
the  Lords  Gloucester  and  Arundel,  the  hero  of  the  recent  victory 
t^8Rllant'      over  ^e  French.     The  other  members  were  Thomas 

Beauchamp,  earl  of  Warwick,  Thomas  Mowbray,  earl 
of  Nottingham,  and  Henry,  earl  of  Derby,  eldest  son  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  who  availed  himself  of  his  father's  absence  in  Spain  to 
identify  himself  with  the  traditional  policy  of  his  mother's  family, 
the  old  line  of  earls  of  Lancaster.  Parliament  gladly  accepted  the 
appeal,  and  the  lords  condemned  the  courtiers  as  traitors.  Suffolk 
and  Ireland  escaped  punishment  by  flight  abroad,  but  many  minor 
royalist  partisans  were  put  to  death.  Richard  avoided  deposition 
by  bending  before  the  storm.  He  was,  however,  strictly  subjected 
to  a  council,  and  in  this  body  the  Lords  Appellant  ruled  supreme. 

10. "Richard  never  forgot  nor  forgave  the  humiliations  inflicted 
on  him  by  the  appellants.   Experience  had,  however,  shown  him  the 
uselessness  of  hasty  action,  and  he  quietly  waited  for 
prudence  ^"s  reveng"e-      After  more  than  a  year  he  began  to 

reassert  himself.  On  May  3, 1389,  he  asked  Gloucester 
in  the  council  chamber  how  old  he  was,  and  was  told  that  he  was 
twenty-two.  "  Since  I  am  of  age,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  old  enough 
to  rule  my  people.  Hitherto  I  have  lived  under  governance,  now  I 
will  govern."  He  then  dismissed  the  appellants  from  power,  but 
he  prudently  called  into  office  "William  of  Wykeham,  the  old  bishop 
of  Winchester,  and  other  magnates  who  sympathized  with  the  con- 
stitutional party.  With  great  wisdom  he  made  no  attempt  to 
recall  his  exiled  friends,  and  before  long  restored  some  of  the 
appellants  to  their  places  on  the  council.  John  of  Gaunt  now  came 
back  from  Spain.  He  had  learnt  discretion  by  experience,  and  gave 
his  nephew  good  advice.  So  judicious  was  the  policy  of  the  crown 
that  the  appellants  had  no  chance  of  withstanding  Richard's  action. 
For  the  next  seven  years  quiet  and  good  government  was  main- 
tained at  home.  Old  laws,  such  as  the  anti-papal  statutes  of 
Provisors  and  Praemunire  were  revived,  and  useful  new  laws  were 
passed.  A  truce  was  made  with  the  French  and  Scots,  so  that 
England  enjoyed  peace,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 

11.  During  this  period  Richard's  first  wife,  Anne  of  Bohemia, 
died  without  children.  So  friendly  now  were  Richard's  relations 
with  Erance  that,  in   1396,   he    married    Isabella,   daughter    of 


-1397.1  RICHARD  I  J.   OF  BORDEAUX  2$$ 

Charles  vi.,  the  French  king,  and  made  a  trace  for  twenty-eight 
years.     Though  the  new  queen  was  only  a  child  of  seven,  French 
influence    henceforth  became    strong    in    Richard's 
councils.     Always  anxious  to  be  a  despot,  Richard   TruCePand 
became  eager  to  abandon  constitutional  courses  and    the  French 
make  himself  as  thoroughly  master  of  his  subjects  as   marriage, 
was  his  father-in-law.  the  French  king. 

12.  The  party  of  the  Lords  Appellant  seemed  hopelessly  broken 
up.  John  of  Gaunt's  influence  had  brought  Henry  of  Derby  round 
to  the  court  party,  and  Nottingham  also  had  de-  j^g  POyanst 
serted  his  former  friends.  Gloucester,  Warwick,  and  reaction, 
Arundel  still  persevered  in  their  ancient  policy,  and  1397' 
with  them  was  associated  Arundel's  younger  brother,  Thomas 
Fitzalan,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  commonly  called  Archbishop 
Arundel.  After  nine  years,  Richard's  wrath  against  the  appellants 
was  still  unsatisfied,  and  in  1397,  he  thought  he  was  strong  enough 
to  wreak  his  long-deferred  vengeance.  Rumours  that  Gloucester 
was  plotting  against  him  gave  Richard  an  excuse  for  action.  He 
suddenly  arrested  Gloucester,  Warwick,  and  Arundel,  and  a  group 
of  royalist  barons,  one  of  whom  was  Nottingham,  appealed  the 
three  prisoners  of  treason.  Their  trials  took  place  in  the  parlia- 
ment which  met  in  September.  This  body  was  carefully  packed 
by  the  king,  and  overawed  by  a  body  of  two  thousand  archers  from 
Cheshire,  wearing  the  king's  cognisance  of  the  white  hart.  The 
three  lords  were  condemned  as  traitors,  and  Arundel  was  beheaded. 
His  brother  the  archbishop  was  banished.  Warwick  was  pardoned 
in  return  for  an  abject  submission,  and  Gloucester  was  privately 
murdered  at  Calais,  where  he  had  been  confined  under  Nottingham's 
charge.  The  acts  of  the  Merciless  Parliament  were  repealed,  and 
the  estates  of  the  traitors  divided  among  the  king's  friends.  The 
turncoats,  Derby  and  Nottingham,  were  rewarded  for  their  com- 
plaisance by  being  made  dukes  of  Hereford  and  Norfolk.  The 
royalist  restoration  was  completed  at  a  second  session  of  the 
parliament,  held  at  Shrewsbury,  when  the  king  was  granted  a 
revenue  for  life,  and  a  committee  of  eighteen  persons  appointed 
to  deal,  after  the  dissolution,  with  petitions  which  had  not  been 
answered  during  the  session.  Richard's  enemies  saw  in  this  latter 
step  an  effort  of  the  king  to  carry  on  indefinitely  the  powers  of 
this  subservient  parliament  through  the  committee  of  eighteen, 
and  believed  that  he  was  resolved  to  do  without  parliaments  for  the 
future.  t 

13.  Richard's  position  was  now  so  menacing  that  the  new  duke 


236  RICHARD  II.    OF  BORDEAUX  [1398- 

of  Norfolk  took  the  alarm.     He  told  Hereford  that  Richard  had 
not  yet  forgiven  them  their  share  in  the  work  of  the  appellants,  and 
.       urged  him  to  unite  with  him  against  the  king.     Here- 
ment  of  f°r(l  told  the  whole  story  to  Richard,  and  Norfolk  de- 

Norfolk  and    clared  that  it  was  all  an  invention  of  Hereford's.     A 
H^qs  deadly  quarrel  henceforth  divided  the  two  old  associates, 

and  they  were  ordered  to  prove  their  truthfulness  by 
trial  by  battle.  The  fight  was  arranged  to  take  place  at  Coventry 
on  September  12, 1398.  Just  before  the  duel  began,  the  king  stopped 
the  fight  and  banished  both  combatants,  Hereford  for  ten  years, 
Norfolk  for  life.  But  while  Norfolk  was  treated  with  every  severity, 
Hereford  was  still  regarded  with  comparative  favour.  His  term  of 
exile  was  cut  down  to  six  years,  and  he  was  promised  that,  in  the 
event  of  his  father  dying,  he  should  forthwith  inherit  the  duchy 
of  Lancaster.  Thus  even  the  appellants  who  had  deserted  their  old 
side  came  within  the  scope  of  the  king's  vengeance.  Richard's 
triumph  was  now  complete.  He  ruled  England  with  the  help  of 
flatterers  and  favourites,  and  declared  "  that  the  laws  were  in  his 
mouth  or  in  his  breast,  and  that  he  alone  could  change  the  statutes 
of  his  realm."  His  Cheshire  archers  maltreated  his  subjects  at 
their  will,  and  a  veritable  reign  of  terror  proclaimed  the  reality 
of  the  new  despotism.  When  John  of  Gaunt  died,  early  in  1399, 
Richard  and  the  committee  of  parliament  withdrew  the  permission 
granted  to  Hereford  to  receive  his  father's  succession  in  his 
absence. 

14.  So  secure  did  Richard  now  feel  himself,  that  in  May,  1399, 
he  crossed  over  to  Ireland,  and  busied  himself  with  a  vigorous 
The  Lan-  attempt  to  restore  the  waning  power  of  England  in 
castrian  that  island.  In  July,  Henry  of  Hereford  and  Arch- 
revolution       bishop  Arundel  landed  with  a  small  force  at  Ravenspur, 

of  1399  

on  the  Humber.  Henry  declared  that  he  had  only 
come  to  claim  his  duchy  and  to  drive  away  the  favourites  who  had 
taught  the  king  to  play  the  despot.  Many  of  the  northern  lords 
flocked  to  his  standard,  among  them  being  Henry  Percy,  recently 
made  earl  of  Northumberland,  the  old  ally  of  John  of  Gaunt.  Henry 
then  marched  southwards  with  a  constantly  increasing  army.  Before 
long  he  was  joined  by  the  regent,  his  uncle  the  duke  of  York.  He 
captured  Richard's  chief  ministers  at  Bristol  and  put  them  to  death. 
With  his  growing  power  the  invader  enlarged  his  ambitions,  and 
began  openly  to  aim  at  the  crown.  Meanwhile  Richard  returned 
from  Ireland  and  marched  through  North  Wales  to  Conway.  These 
tidings  brought  Henry  northwards  again  to  Chester.     But  Richard 


-1 399- J  RICHARD  II.    OF  BORDEAUX  2tf 

had  alienated  every  class  of  his  subjects  as  signally  as  Edward  ir. 
had  done.  Finding"  that  he  had  no  backing,  he  submitted  to  his 
cousin  at  Flint,  whence  he  was  taken  to  London  as  a  prisoner. 
Parliament  then  met,  and  Richard  was  forced  to  surrender  the 
throne.  Next  day  his  abdication  was  read  in  parliament,  which 
had  assembled  in  a  great  hall  before  an  empty  throne.  Henry  of 
Lancaster  sat  in  his  place  as  duke,  but  before  long  he  rose  and 
claimed  the  throne,  as  being  descended  from  Henry  in.,  and 
"  through  the  right  which  God  had  given  him  by  conquest,  when 
the  realm  was  nearly  undone  for  default  of  governance."  Parlia- 
ment rapturously  applauded  this,  and  he  sat  down  on  the  throne  as 
Henry  nr.  Next  year  it  was  given  out  that  Richard  had  refused 
his  food,  and  died  of  self-inflicted  starvation  in  his  prison  at 
Pontefract.  There  is  not  much  doubt  but  that  his  end  was 
hastened  by  violence,  but  the  circumstances  of  his  murder  were  so 
obscure  that  his  partisans  long  believed  that  he  was  still  alive,  and 
an  impostor  who  assumed  his  name  was  for  a  time  treated  as 
Richard  by  the  Scottish  enemies  of  England. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BRITAIN    IN   THE  THIRTEENTH  AND 
FOURTEENTH   CENTURIES 

1.   In  the   beginning    of    the    thirteenth   century  the   Angevin 
despotism  was  at  the  highest  point  of  its  power.     It  was  broken 

down  by  the  calamities  of  the  reign  of  John,  and  re- 
eivUtaation      place,l  ^>J  something  quite  different  during  the  reigns 

of  John's  son  and  grandson.  The  fourteenth  century 
saw  the  working  out  in  detail  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  days 
of  Henry  m.  and  Edward  I.  The  result  of  this  process  was  that 
England  became  a  national  state,  governed  by  a  strong  monarch, 
who  was  in  his  turn  controlled  by  a  popular  and  representative 
parliament.  The  period  which  we  now  have  to  study  is  that  of  the 
formation  of  the  English  nation  and  of  the  English  constitution.  It 
was  in  these  days  when  the  state  of  society  which  we  call  mediaeval 
reached  its  culminating  point.  Not  only  were  the  state  and  the 
constitution  as  vigorous  as  the  times  permitted :  mediaeval  religion, 
science,  literature,  life,  trade,  and  society  alike  attained  their 
highest  perfection. 

2.  In  matters  of  state  the  king  still  governed  the  country,  and 
was  expected  to  use  all  the  power  which  the  constitution  gave  him. 
rhe  kinir         ^^  ministers  of  the  crown  were  chosen  by  him,  and 

were  responsible  to  him  alone.  It  was  only  when  a 
weak  or  incompetent  monarch  was  on  the  throne  that  the  barons 
took  the  executive  power  out  of  his  hands  and  transferred  it  to  such 
a  body  as  the  Fifteen  of  1258,  the  Lords  Ordainers,  or  the  Lords 
Appellant.  Yet  even  an  Edward  i.  was  expected  to  rule  with  some 
regard  to  the  opinion  of  his  subjects,  and  in  particular  the  views  of 
the  mighty  barons  who  claimed  to  be  the  natural-born  counsellors 
of  the  crown,  and  its  partners  and  fellow- workers  in  determining 
the  policy  of  the  nation.  After  the  reforms  of  Edward  i.  had  de- 
stroyed the  political  power  of  feudalism,  the  barons  found  it  in- 
creasingly expedient  to  work  through  the  means  of  parliament. 
238 


I2i6.]    THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  239 

It  is  as  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  as  expressed  by  parliament 
that  the  nobles  now  held  the  great  position  which  they  still 
retained  in  the  English  state. 

3.  Parliament  in  the  early  days  of  Henry  m.   was  merely 
another  name  for  the  Norman  Great  Council  of  the  tenants-in- 
chief.     Since  the  days  of  Simon  of  Montfort  it  became  The  Parlia- 
usual  to  strengthen  the  baronial  element  by  associating   ment  of 
with  it  the  representations  of  the  shires  and  boroughs.    *h®  Three 
After  Edward  i.'s  time  the  only  body  to  which  the 

name  of  parliament  rightly  belonged  was  the  representative 
assembly  of  the  three  estates,  and  after  1322  no  law  was  regarded 
as  valid  unless  it  had  been  approved  by  this  body.  By  the  reign  of 
Edward  ill.  the  lower  clergy  had  ceased  regularly  to  send  their 
representatives  to  parliament.  This  made  it  easy  for  the  higher 
clergy,  the  bishops,  and  abbots,  to  take  their  places  along  with  the 
secular  magnates.  The  result  was  the  creation  of  the  modern 
House  of  Lords,  which  thus  represented  both  the  estate  of  the 
nobles  and,  to  some  extent,  the  estate  of  the  clergy.  The  third 
estate  now  exclusively  formed  the  House  of  Commons.  Cut  off 
from  the  assembly  of  the  nation,  the  lower  clergy  were  content  to 
meet  in  their  clerical  assemblies,  which  were  summoned  for  each 
province  by  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York.  These  pro- 
vincial svnods  were  called  the  convocations  of  Canter-    _ 

Convoca- 
bury  and  York.     The  king  used  them  to  raise  taxes  yon# 

from  the  clergy,  but  properly  speaking  they  were  no 
part  of  parliament.     So  long  as  the  king  got  enough  money  from 
the  olergy,  he  was  indifferent  whether  it  was  voted  him  by  an 
ecclesiastical  or  a  political  assembly. 

4.  The  House  of  Lords  of  the  fourteenth  century  consisted  of 
the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal.  The  former  included  all  the 
archbishops  and  bishops,  and  a  considerable  number  of 

abbots  and  priors,  the  heads  of  the  more  important  Th® House 
monasteries.  For  most  of  the  middle  ages  the  clerical 
members  formed  a  majority  of  the  House.  The  lay  peers  were,  up 
to  the  reign  of  Edward  in.,  either  earls  or  barons.  The  earls  were 
seldom  more  than  a  dozen  in  number,  and  were  in  nearly  every 
case  men  of  vast  wealth  and  territorial  influence.  They  were  the 
natural  leaders  of  the  baronage,  and  were  still  looked  upon  as 
officials  as  well  as  mere  dignitaries.  The  lay  barons  of  the  four- 
teenth century  were  less  than  a  hundred  in  number,  and  were 
always  tending  to  become  less  numerous.  Both  earldoms  and 
baronies  had  become  by  this   time    strictly  hereditary.     Under 


240    THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  [1216- 

Edward  in.  new  grades  of  the  peerage  were  added,  such  as  duke, 
marquis,  and  viscount.  This  tended  somewhat  to  depress  the 
dignity  of  the  earl,  as  he  now  ranked  after  the  duke  and  the 
marquis,  and  the  number  of  earldoms  became  somewhat  greater. 

5.  The  House  of  Commons  consisted  of  two  knights  of  the 
shire,  chosen  by  the  county  court  of   each  English   county,  and 

of  two  citizens  or  burgesses,  elected  by  the  courts  of 
The  House       their  respective  cities  and  boroughs.     The  two  great 

palatine  counties  of  Cheshire  and  Durham  sent  no 
representatives,  as  they  were  so  fully  under  the  control  of  their 
earl  and  bishop  that  they  were  for  most  purposes  outside  England 
altogether.  Under  Edward  in.  Lancashire  also  became  a  palatine 
county,  but  having  already  sent  knights  and  burgesses  to  parlia- 
ment, it  continued  to  do  so  as  before.  Wales,  both  the  Principality 
and  the  March,  was  also  unrepresented  in  parliament,  save  on  two 
occasions  under  Edward  11.  Though  ruled  by  the  English  crown, 
"Wales  was  no  part  of  the  English  realm.  In  practice  the  sheriffs, 
who  returned  both  the  knights  and  the  burgesses,  had  a  good  deal 
to  do  with  determining  which  individuals  should  be  chosen.  The 
king  decided  which  boroughs  should  be  asked  to  appoint  repre- 
sentatives, and  as  the  sending  of  members  was  thought  a  burden 
rather  than  a  privilege,  towns  were  often  anxious  to  avoid  having  to 
make  an  election.  The  result  was  that  the  number  of  boroughs  was 
constantly  fluctuating.  As  parliament  became  stronger,  it  suited  the 
king's  interest  to  summon  burgesses  from  small  places  under  his 
control,  as  he  had  power  of  influencing  members  so  selected.  Thus, 
even  in  early  times  there  were  many  parliamentary  boroughs  which 
were  not  places  of  any  importance.  Both  counties  and  boroughs 
paid  wages  to  support  the  members  they  sent  to  parliament.  The 
knights  of  the  shire,  who  in  practice  represented  the  country  gentle- 
men or  smaller  landholders,  were  the  more  important  element  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  They  had  greater  wealth,  a  higher  social 
position,  and  were  more  interested  in  public  events.  The  citizens 
and  burgesses  were  generally  content  to  follow  their  lead.  But  even 
the  knights  were  not  always  capable  of  independent  action.  As 
a  rule,  the  opposition  to  the  crown  was  stronger  among  the  Lords 
than  the  Commons,  and  the  Commons  were  largely  in  the  habit  of 
looking  up  to  the  peers  for  guidance.  This  is  seen  very  clearly  in 
the  debates  of  the  G-ood  Parliament  of  1376. 

6.  The  powers  of  parliament  were  very  considerable.  It  was 
on  the  petition  of  the  estates  that  the  king  drew  up  the  statutes 
or  acts  of  parliament,  so  that  no  new  law  could  be  promulgated 


#1399-1  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  24 1 

except  on  their  initiative.  The  Commons  were  especially  con- 
cerned in  the  finances  of  the  nation.  As  most  taxes  were  paid 
by  them,  they  were  naturally  anxious  that  they  should 
have  control  over  the  king's  expenses.  By  the  four-  parliament 
teenth  century,  it  was  considered  unlawful  for  the  king 
to  raise  general  taxes  which  had  not  been  granted  by  the  Commons, 
though  the  clergy  in  their  convocation  also  granted  money  payable 
by  the  clergy  only.  The  Commons  also  had  the  right  of  petitioning 
the  crown  and  unfolding  all  their  grievances  and  complaints  against 
the  king's  government.  The  Lords  joined  in  most  of  this  work,  but 
they  also  exercised  judicial  functions,  in  which  the  Commons 
refused  to  take  any  part.  A  wise  king  took  care  to  keep  on  friendly 
terms  with  his  parliament,  and  even  strong  rulers  were  often  forced 
to  give  up  power  that  they  cherished  to  please  it. 

7.  The  old  institutions  of  the  twelfth  century  still  went 
on,  though  with  diminished  vitality.  Great  Councils  of  the  nobles 
still   sometimes    assembled,  but    as  they   could    not 

grant  money,  they  were  of  little  use  to  the  king,  council 
More  important  than  these  occasional  assemblies  was 
the  permanent  council  of  the  king,  called  sometimes  the  Consilium 
Ordinarium,  and  later  the  Privy  Council.  This  was  a  standing 
body  of  the  king's  ministers,  judges,  courtiers,  and  personal 
friends,  which  accompanied  him  in  his  constant  journeys,  and 
gave  him  advice  as  to  the  conduct  of  affairs  of  state.  As  many 
of  its  members  were  great  barons  and  bishops,  the  king's  council 
could  sometimes  take  up  a  fairly  independent  line,  though  it  was 
mainly  a  consultative  rather  than  a  directing  body.  With  the 
help  of  his  council  the  king  governed  the  country.  As  time  went 
on  the  council  began  to  encroach  upon  the  powers  of  parliament. 
In  particular,  it  exercised  considerable  judicial  as  well  as  adminis- 
trative authority.  Though  it  was  not  supposed  to  legislate,  it 
published  ordinances  that  every  one  had  to  obey,  and  which  were 
laws  in  everything  but  name.  An  able  king  made  his  council 
reflect  his  own  will.  Under  a  weak  king  or  during  a  minority, 
the  council  became  the  battle-ground  of  contending  factions,  and 
acted  very  much  as  it  liked. 

8.  The  law  courts  took  their  modern  shape  by  the  time  of 
Edward  1.  There  were  three  common  law  courts,  the  King's 
Bench,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  the  Court  of  Exchequer. 
The  first  and  third  of  these  were  descended  from  the  Curia  Regis 
and  Exchequer  of  Norman  times,  but  they  had  ceased  to  be  chiefly 
concerned  with  politics  and  finance,  and  were  now  mainly  busy 

K 


242  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES   [1216- 

with  holding  trials  and  pronouncing  judgments.  Cases  which  the 
common  law  could  not  deal  with,  or  cases  where  the  common  law 
was  too  harsh  and  narrow,  were  referred  to  the  Court  of  Chancery 
under  the  Chancellor.  This  gradually  became  what  was  called  a 
Court  of  Equity,  wherein  the  rigid  doctrines  of  the  common 
lawyers  were  brought  into  harmony  with  men's  natural  sense  of 
justice.  All  through  this  period  the  lawyers  were  powerful,  rich, 
and  numerous.  In  the  thirteenth  century  many  lawyers  in  the 
king's  courts  were  clergymen.  By  the  fourteenth  the  lawyers  had 
become  a  lay  profession,  with  a  strong  corporate  spirit  and  fixed 
traditions  of  their  own.  Great  schools  of  law  grew  up  in  London 
called  the  Inns  of  Court,  which  took  the  place  of  the  universities  as 
places  of  study  for  English  law.  Besides  the  king's  lawyers  and 
courts  there  were  still  the  lawyers  and  courts  of  the  Church,  which 
exercised  such  extensive  powers  that  the  king  and  his  lawyers 
looked  upon  them  with  the  utmost  suspicion. 

9.  The  religious  and  intellectual  movements  of  the  twelfth 
century  yielded  their  finest  fruits  during  the  period  now  before 
The  Church  xts-  The  Church  was  at  the  height  of  its  power 
and  the  and  influence  during  the  thirteenth  century.  Though 
Papacy.  many  individual  churchmen,  like  Langton  or  Grosse- 
teste,  were  patriotic  Englishmen,  the  Church  as  an  institution 
was  not  national.  It  was  the  chief  representative  of  that  cosmo- 
politan ideal  which  still  looked  upon  the  nations  of  the  civilized 
world  as  part  of  a  single  Christian  commonwealth.  Of  this  great 
power  the  pope  was  the  recognized  head,  and  for  nations  like 
England  the  only  head,  since  the  power  of  the  emperor  had 
never  been  real  outside  Germany  and  Italy,  and  after  the  fall  of 
Frederick  11.  had  ceased  to  be  effective  even  in  those  countries. 
The  pope  was  the  universal  bishop  of  Christendom,  and  for 
England  he  was,  for  most  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  feudal 
overlord  as  well.  Though  his  unlimited  authority,  especially  in 
politics,  at  last  provoked  a  strong  reaction,  there  was  no  one  at  this 
period  who  ventured  to  question  his  ecclesiastical  omnipotence. 

10.  A  great  religious  revival  in  the  early  years  of  the  thirteenth 
century  emphasized  the  strength  and  authority  which  the  Church 
St  Francis  s^  exercised  over  men's  minds.  Like  all  mediaeval 
and  the  religious  movements,  it  took  the  shape  of  a  new  develop- 
Mendicant      ment  of  monasticism.     Vast  as  had  been  the  influence 

of  the  Cistercians  and  Begular  Canons  in  the  monastic 
reformation  of  the  twelfth  century  (see  p.  154),  the  new  orders  had 
not  escaped  the  dangers  against  which  their  rules  had  been  a 


-I399-]  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  243 

protest,  and  their  very  wealth  and  authority  exposed  them  to  all 
the  temptations  of  pride  and  worldliness.  Against  all  the  evil 
tendencies  of  the  times  a  vigorous  reaction  was  embodied  in  the  life 
•and  work  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  A  young  Italian  gentleman, 
Francis  forsook  his  father's  heritage  and  devoted  his  life  to  the 
care  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  neglected.  He  gave  out  that  he 
had  wedded  the  lady  Poverty  as  his  bride,  and  taught  the  followers 
who  soon  gathered  round  him  that  they  must  literally  live,  like 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  lives  of  absolute  self-renunciation.  He 
thus  became  the  founder  of  a  new  order,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  the  Friars,  or  brothers,  or,  as  he  called  them  in 
his  humility,  the  Minorites,  or  Lesser  Brethren.  The  fame  of 
their  leader  also  caused  the  saint's  followers  to  be  called  Franciscans, 
while  the  rough  garb  of  undyed  wool  which  they  wore  also  led  the 
people  to  speak  of  them  as  the  Grey  Friars.  Francis'  first  principle 
was  that  of  absolute  poverty.  The  monks  had  taken  the  vow  of 
poverty,  but  they  interpreted  it  as  meaning  individual  poverty, 
and  the  monastery  could  hold  as  much  land  as  it  could  get,  though 
each  monk  could  possess  nothing.  To  Francis  this  was  not  enough, 
and  he  ordered  his  followers  so  to  understand  their  vow  that  they 
were  bound  to  corporate  as  well  as  individual  poverty.  They  were 
therefore  called  the  Mendicant  Friars,  because,  having  no  goods  of 
their  own,  they  gained  their  bread  by  begging  from  the  faithful. 
So  beautiful  was  the  character  of  St.  Francis,  and  so  wonderful  the 
work  of  his  followers,  that  many  other  orders  of  friars  were  formed 
upon  the  model  which  he  suggested.  The  chief  of  these  was  the 
Order  of  Preachers,  called  the  Black  Friars  from  the  black  hood 
they  wore  over  their  white  dress,  or  the  Dominicans,  from  their 
founder  St.  Dominic,  a  Spanish  canon  regular,  who  had  devoted 
his  life  to  preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  and  winning 
back  the  heretic  and  the  infidel  to  its  fold.  Inspired  by  Francis 
and  Dominic,  the  Mendicant  orders  worked  a  wondrous  change  for 
the  better  in  the  religious  life  of  Europe. 

11.  In  1221  the  Dominicans  first  came  to  England,  and  in  1224 
they  were  followed  by  the  Franciscans.  They  established  their 
first  convents  at  London  and  Oxford,  and  rapidly  spread  ,-n  p—,,. 
all  over  the  country.  Their  piety,  devotion,  and  ciscansand 
sincerity  soon  won  for  them  numerous  disciples  among  Dominicans 
all  ranks   of    Englishmen.     They  laboured  for   the   in  n  * 

salvation  of  souls,  the  care  of  sickness,  and  the  relief  of  distress. 
They  ingratiated  themselves  with  the  rich  as  well  as  with  the  poor. 
Henry  111.  and  Edward  1.  selected  friars  as  their  confessors,  and 


244  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES   [1216- 

Simon  of  Montfort  and  Grosseteste  were  among  their  chief 
supporters.  A  special  field  for  their  labour  was  the  crowded 
suburbs  of  the  greater  towns,  where  the  people  lived  in  ignorance, 
squalor,  and  vice.  They  erected  in  the  chief  towns  their  spacious 
but  plain  churches,  adapted  for  preaching  to  large  congregations. 
Unlike  the  monks,  who  withdrew  themselves  from  the  world,  they 
lived  in  the  world  and  tried  to  make  it  better.  They  had  many 
enemies,  as  for  example  the  lazy  parish  clergy  whose  work  they 
did,  and  the  monks  and  canons  who  envied  their  zeal  and  popularity. 
As  time  went  on  they  fell  away  from  their  early  activity,  and  often 
became  corrupt.  Yet  down  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the 
friars  remained  the  chief  teachers  of  religion  to  the  poor.  Hardly 
less  important  was  their  influence  on  the  thought  and  learning 
of  their  age.  A  large  proportion  of  the  professors  of  theology  at 
the  universities  were  Mendicant  Friars. 

12.  The  universities,  which  began  in  the  twelfth  century, 
became  exceedingly  flourishing  in  the  thirteenth.     In  the  reign  of 

Henry  in.,  Oxford  became  one  of  the  chief  centres  of 
versities         study  in  Europe,  and  a  second  English  university  had 

arisen  at  Cambridge,  though  this  was  less  important 
than  Oxford  for  the  rest  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Paris  still  remained 
the  greatest  university  of  the  West,  and  many  English  scholars 
still  studied  there.  All  classes  of  society  were  represented  among 
the  students.  There  were  rich  noblemen  living  in  their  own 
houses  with  a  band  of  servants,  while  many  scholars  were  so  poor 
that  they  had  to  beg  for  their  living.  There  was  plenty  of 
freedom  and  activity,  but  little  order  and  discipline.  All  the 
scholars  ranked  as  clerks,  and  had  the  privileges  of  clergy ;  but 
this  did  not  prevent  them  rioting,  drinking,  and  fighting  with 
the  townsfolk.  All  lectures  were  in  Latin,  and  the  teachers  were 
those  students  who  had  completed  their  courses,  and  so  became 
doctors  or  masters.  There  were  five  faculties,  or  branches  of 
study — Theology,  Civil  Law,  Canon  Law,  Medicine,  and  Arts- 
Most  scholars  began  with  arts,  that  is,  grammar,  philosophy,  and 
mathematics.  It  took  seven  years'  study  before  a  student  could 
become  a  Master  or  Doctor  of  Arts,  and  then  he  was  compelled  to 
stay  for  a  time  at  the  university  and  teach  others.  Some  Masters 
of  Arts  also  studied  in  one  of  the  other  or  higher  faculties. 

13.  After  the  coming  of  the  friars,  Oxford  became  much  more 
important  than  before.  In  particular,  the  friars  devoted  themselves 
to  the  study  of  theology,  which  worldly  men  neglected  in  favour  of 
law  and  medicine  because  these  opened  up  better  prospects  of  success 


-I399-]  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  245 

iff  their  careers.   The  chief  thinkers  in  philosophy  and  theology  were 
called  schoolmen.      Among  them  a  large  proportion   came   from 
Britain,  snch  as  Alexander  Hales,  Duns  Scotus,  William 
of  Ockham,  and  Robert  Kilwardby  and  John  Peckham,   schoolmen 
the  two  Mendicant  friars  who  became  in  succession  arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury  under  Edward  I.    The  example  of  Kilwardby 
and  Peckham   shows  how  the   Universities   opened   up  brilliant 
positions  for  poor  men  of  ability.   Never  were  men  of  learning  more 
powerful  and  influential  than  in  the  great  days  of  the  schoolmen. 

14.  As  time  went  on,  rich  men  gave  lands  and  money  to  the 
universities  to  help  forward  poor  students  and  unpopular  studies. 
In  particular,  small  societies  were  set  up  within  the 
universities    called    colleges,   where    buildings    were 

erected  in  which  scholars  could  be  supported  while  devoting  them- 
selves to  study.  The  first  important  college  was  Merton  College  at 
Oxford,  set  up  by  Walter  of  Merton,  chancellor  of  Henry  111.  In 
"the  fourteenth  century  there  were  many  such  foundations,  both  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.  By  this  time  the  universities  were  losing 
some  of  their  first  energy  and  freedom,  but  they  still  played  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  life  of  the  nation.  It  was  at  Oxford  that  John 
Wycliff e  first  taught  those  new  views  about  religion  which  were  to 
make  so  great  a  stir  all  over  Christendom.  But  the  times  were  not 
ripe  for  so  thorough-going  a  reformer  as  Wycliffe,  and  the  end  of 
"the  fourteenth  century  saw  the  Church  restored  to  much  of  its 
former  power. 

15.  Gothic  architecture,   like  the  universities,   began   in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  attained  its  full  glory  in  the  thirteenth.     At 
first  the  English  had  built  much  upon  the  lines  of   Gothic 
those  who  had  first  created  the  Gothic  style  in  France,   archl- 

but  under  Henry  m.  English  Gothic  struck  out  ways    tectupe- 
of  its   own.     The   so-called  Early   English  fashion   of   building, 
with  its  lancet  windows,  clustered  shafts,  square  east  ends,  and 
delicacy  of  detail  is  best  exemplified    in    Salisbury 
Cathedral,   which  altogether  dates    from  the    reign   Ea„usj. 
of  Henry   in.      A  comparison   between  it  and  the 
cathedral  of  Amiens,  the  chief  work  of  contemporary  French  art, 
will  well  illustrate  the  difference  of  plan  and  construction  between 
English  and  French  Gothic  of  the  best  period.     Tet  the  French 
tastes  of  Henry  in.  have  given  us  an  opportunity  of  studying  the 
French  style  in  our  own  land.     His  favourite  foundation  of  West- 
minster Abbey  reproduced  on  English  soil  the  towering  loftiness, 
the  vaulted  roofs,  the  short  choir,  and  the  ring  of  absidal  chapels 


-J-sL 


SOME    FOKMS   OF   MEDIEVAL  ARCHITECTURE. 

a.  Anglo-Saxon.  b.  Norman.  c.  Early  English. 

a.  Geometrical  Decorated.  e.  Flowing  Decorated.         f.  Perpendicular. 

{From  Parkers  "  Glossary  of  Architecture,"  1850.) 


-I399-]  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  247 

of  the  great  French  minsters.  As  the  century  advanced  some  of 
the  fashions  of  the  French  builders,  notably  as  regards  window- 
tracery,  were  taken  up  in  England.  The  early  days  of 
Edward  1.  mark  the  beginning  of  the  so-called  Decorated 
style.  The  earlier  form  of  this,  characterized  by  large  windows 
adorned  with  elaborate  tracery  marked  out  in  geometrical  patterns, 
is  well  exemplified  in  the  angel  choir  of  Lincoln,  built  about  1280 
to  contain  the  shrine  of  St.  Hugh,  who  himself  erected  the  westerly 
part  of  the  choir  of  the  same  cathedral.  Later  Decorated  is  called 
flowing,  because  the  patterns  of  the  window-tracery  take  wavy  or 
flowing  lines,  such  as  can  be  seen  in  the  nave  of  York  minster. 
In  Exeter  Cathedral,  which  is  almost  entirely  of  the  Decorated 
period,  we  can  best  study  the  development  in  succession  of  both  the 
geometrical  and  decorated  types  of  tracery.  Side  by  side  with  these 
changes,  the  building  as  a  whole  became  more  elaborately  decorated, 
and  the  mouldings  became  enriched  with  carved  flowers  and  delicate 
carved  leafwork.  As  time  went  on  the  decoration  became  exces- 
sive, and  masked  or  impaired  the  solidity  of  the  constructive  parts. 
When  ornament  thus  became  used  for  its  own  sake, 
the  spirit  of  Gothic  architecture  was  beginning  to  pendicular. 
decay.  By  the  reign  of  Edward  in.  the  last  and  most 
peculiarly  English  type  began.  This  is  called  the  Perpendicular 
style,  and  is  characterized  by  the  great  use  made  of  right  angles 
and  upright  lines,  and  in  particular  by  the  rigid  and  straight  lines 
of  its  window  tracery.  The  arches  became  gradually  flattened 
instead  of  pointed ;  the  windows  and  doors  became  square-headed  ; 
and  walls  were  enriched  by  flat  panelling  instead  of  the  arcading  of 
the  earlier  styles.  The  earliest  examples  of  Perpendicular  are  to 
be  seen  in  the  choir  of  Gloucester  Cathedral  and  the  nave  of 
Winchester  Cathedral,  both  built  under  Edward  BEL,  the  latter  by 
William  of  Wykeham.  It  is  a  noticeable  feature  of  both  these 
buildings  that  their  architects  did  not  erect  them  afresh,  but  recased 
and  adapted  the  old  Norman  buildings,  toning  down  and  hiding 
the  massive  romanesque  structure  by  their  new  work. 

16.   Castle-building    followed    similar    changes.       The    stern 
simplicity  of  the  Norman  castle  had  already  given  place  to  the 
newer  style  which  began  with  Chateau-Gaillard  in  Normandy,  and 
which  is  seen  in  its  perfection  in  the  castles  such  as   -rhe  con_ 
Carnarvon,  Conway,  Harlech,  and  Beaumaris,  erected    centric 
by  Edward  I.  to  ensure  the  subjection  of  the  moun-    castle' 
taineers  of  North  Wales.    The  castles  of  this  period  were  often  built 
after  what  is  called  the  concentric  fashion,  and  were  characterized  by 


248  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES   [1216- 

successive  lines  of  defence,  each  roughly  radiating  from  a  common 
centre.  The  keep,  the  special  feature  of  Norman  strongholds,  was 
suppressed  altogether,  and  replaced  by  many  lofty  towers  erected 
along  the  lines  of  the  successive  circuits.  The  most  perfect  ex- 
ample of  the  type  is  perhaps  found  in  the  castle  of  Caerphilly,  erected 
by  Gilbert,  earl  of  Gloucester,  Edward  i.'s  rival  and  son-in-law,  in  his 
Marcher  lordship  of  Glamorgan.  After  this  period  castle-building, 
unlike  church-building,  became  much  less  frequent.  By  the  four- 
teenth century  England  had  become  so  peaceable  that  noblemen 
had  no  longer  any  need  to  erect  castles  to  live  in,  but  could  look  to 
comfort  and  convenience  as  well  as  to  safety  from  attack.  The 
improved  condition  of  society  is  seen  in  the  greater  stateliness  and 
beauty  of  domestic  and  civil  architecture,  which  were  now  far  more 
important  than  in  previous  ages. 

17.  Arms  and  armour  became,  like  buildings,  more  complicated 

and  costly.     Great  pains  were  taken  to  perfect  the  machines  by 

which  castles  were   assaulted,  and  ponderous  instru- 

TllC  S16£T6~ 

train  and  ments,  such  as  the  trebuchet,  could  hurl  huge  stones  a 
the  be-  great  distance  by  means  of  an   elaborate  system  of 

ginnings         pulleys  and  counterpoises.    Before  the  middle  of  the 

fourteenth  century  the  use  of  gunpowder  became 
known,  and  the  earliest  artillery  was  designed.  These  cannons  were 
cumbrous  and  ineffective  weapons,  which,  if  sometimes  dragged 
about  on  a  campaign,  as  at  Crecy,  were  more  often  used  for  siege 
purposes  than  in  the  open  field.  Armour  changed  greatly  in 
character  during  the  fourteenth  century,  as  gradually  solid  plates 
of  steel  supplemented  the  chain-mail  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  knight  of  the  age  of  Edward  in.  covered  his 
armour  coa^  °^  ma^  w^1  a  breastplate  of  richly  embossed  and 

decorated  steel,  and  wore  brassards,  cuissards,jambards, 
and  other  plates  of  metal  to  protect  his  arms  and  legs.  Over  his 
armour  he  still  donned  a  surcoat,  which,  having  been  long  and 
loose  in  the  thirteenth  century,  became  short  and  close-fitting 
about  the  time  of  the  advent  of  plate-armour.  On  this  and  on 
his  shield  was  embroidered  or  painted  the  knight's  arms  or  device. 

Every  knightly  house  possessed  by  the  fourteenth 

century  its  hereditary  arms,  and  a  special  science 
called  heraldry  grew  up,  which  explained  the  differences  between 

the  arms  of  various  noble  families.  The  tournaments, 
ments.  which,  though   condemned  by  the  Church,  remained 

very  popular,  kept  the  knight  in  exercise,  and  gave 
him  chances  of  glory  even  in  peace  time.    After  Bannockburn 


-I399-]  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  249 

and  Crecy  had  rung  the  knell  of  the  ancient  fashion  of  fighting- 
on  horseback    in  the  field,   the  old-fashioned  tilting  on  horse- 
back with  lances  was  still  practised  in  the  tournament.     The 
tiltyard  did  much  to  spread  the  chivalry  which  was   chivalry 
so  marked  a  feature  of  the  age  of  Edward  in.     This  and  the 
was  further  kept  up  by  the   orders   of  knighthood,   Orders  of 
of  which  Edward's  Order  of  the  Garter  was  the  first   KnlKhthood- 
example.    All  knights  belonged  to  an  international  brotherhood 
of  arms,  and  if  their  pride  of  caste  made  them  often  contemptuous 
of  the  common  people,  it  did  good  service  in  promoting  kindly 
feeling   between  kings,  barons,  and  simple   country  gentlemen. 
There  was  no  royal  caste  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the 
country  squire,  who  was  a  knight,  had  much  in  common  with  his 
brother  knight,  the  king  or  the  great  earl.     Yet  social  distinctions 
no  longer  counted  for  much  in  serious  warfare.     The  archer  won 
battles  more  than  the  mail-clad  knight  and  squire. 
TJnlike  the  man-at-arms,  the  bowman  went  to  the  fight 
unprotected  except  by  his  steel  cap  and  leather  jerkin,  and  save  for 
his  long  bow  of  yew  and  his  arrows,  a  yard  long,  tipped  with  bright 
steel,  his  only  weapons  were  his  sword  and  buckler.     The  mobility 
thus  gained  compensated  to  some  extent  for  the  lack  of  protection 
afforded  by  body-armour. 

18.  Much  that  we  have  described  was  common  to  all  Western 
Christendom.     Every  country  had  its  representative  system  of 
estates,  its  king  and  barons,  its  lawyers,  churchmen, 
and  friars.     The  universities  knew  no  distinction  of   mopolitan 
nationality,   and    Gothic    architecture,    the    baronial   and  the 

castle,  the  equipment  of  the  warrior,  and  the  brother-   national 

ideals 
hood  of  chivalry  were  shared  equally  by  every  nation 

with  which  Englishmen  were  brought  into  contact.  Even  the 
national  movement  was  common  to  most  of  the  kingdoms  of  the 
West,  and  the  thirteenth  century  saw  the  growth  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  as  well  as  of  the  English  and  Scottish  nations.  Yet 
the  result  of  the  national  movement  was  to  separate  one  people 
from  another,  and  with  the  fourteenth  century  a  sharp  line  of 
demarcation  began  to  be  drawn  between  England  and  her  neigh- 
bours. The  English  and  French  states,  very  similar  in  the  days 
of  Edward  1.  and  Philip  the  Fair,  became  quite  different  under 
Edward  in.  and  the  early  Valois  kings.  The  common  English 
of  the  days  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  hated  the  French  with 
a  hatred  more  deadly  than  was  found  among  the  cosmopolitan 
knightly  class  that  took  the  lead  in  the  fighting  against  the 


250  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  [12 16- 

national  enemy.  In  such  circumstances,  though  the  bilingual 
habit  long  clave  to  the  upper  classes  in  England,  the  result  of  the 
process  was  in  the  long  run  the  restoration  of  English  to  its 
position  before  the  Conquest  as  the  everyday  language  of  all 
olasses  of  Englishmen  from  king  to  peasant.  Erom  this  flowed 
the  marvellous  development  of  English  literature,  which  was  one 
of  the  great  features  of  the  age  of  Edward  in. 

19.  The   thirteenth   century   was   not    a   very    literary    age. 
Though  many  books  were  written  by  Englishmen  in  Latin,  French, 

and  English,  few  of  them  had  any  serious  pretensions 
Latin  ^  high,  literary  rank.      The   grave  Latin  treatises 

produced  by  the  scholars  of  the  Universities  was  almost 
entirely  destitute  of  any  literary  charm.  It  was  a  great  age  for 
science  and  philosophy,  and  men  of  learning  cared  nothing  for  the 
form  of  the  matter  that  they  produced  in  their  books.  The  finest 
Latin  literature  was  that  of  the  chroniclers,  and  especially  of  the 
series  of  illustrious  historians  who  made  the  Benedictine  abbey  of 
St.  Albans  the  most  continuous  centre  of  historical  composition  in 

Britain.     Of  these,  the  best  is  Matthew  Paris,  who 

Pari?6*  wrote  the  history  o£  England  up  to  1258.  He  is, 
perhaps,  the  greatest  historian  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
having  a  vivid  though  prolix  style,  a  bold  and  independent  judg- 
ment, an  insatiable  curiosity,  and  a  sturdy  English  patriotism  that 
makes  him  the  forerunner  of  the  national  movements  of  the  days 
of  three  Edwards.  As  the  schoolmen  became  more  powerful,  even 
historical  literature  began  to  decline,  and  the  chroniclers  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  1.  are  but  sorry  successors  to  those  of  the  days  of 
Henry  n.  and  Henry  in.  Things  became  better  under  Edward  in., 
but  for  the  most  artistic  presentations  of  that  famous  reign,  we 
must  go  to  those  who  wrote  in  Erench  rather  than  in  Latin. 

20.  Never  was  French  more  used  or  better  written  in  England 
than  in  the  days  of  Henry  in.,  in  which  reign  French  words  first 

began  to  be  used  freely  in  the  English  language,  which 
literature        since  the  Norman  conquest  had  stubbornly  refused 

them  admission.  Moreover,  public  proclamations  and 
official  letters,  hitherto  mainly  issued  in  Latin,  are  often  published 
in  French,  which  by  the  time  of  the  Hundred  Tears'  War  began  to 
rival  Latin  as  the  international  tongue  of  the  statesmen,  diploma- 
tists, and  lawyers.  It  also  remained  the  most  usual  language  in 
which  men  composed  the  light  literature  of  song,  romance,  and 
chronicle,  which  was  written  to  amuse  the  upper  classes.  The  most 
vivid  description  of  Edward  iii.'s  reign  was  written  in  French  by 


-I399-]  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  25 1 

the  Hainault  clerk,  John  Froissart,  who  spent  many  years  at  the 
court  of  his  patroness  and  compatriot,  Queen  Philippa.  Froissart 
had  no  care  for  accuracy,  and  was  blind  to  the  deeper  j0hn 
movements  of  the  time;  but  in  wealth  of  detail,  in  Froissart, 
literary  charm  and  colour,  and  in  genial  appreciation  1333_?14°4. 
of  the  externals  of  his  age,  he  was  unsurpassed.  Nowhere  else  can 
be  read  so  vivid  a  picture  of  the  courts,  battles,  tournaments,  and 
feasts  of  the  knights  and  barons  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

21.  English  literature  was  mainly  represented  during  the  thir- 
teenth century  by  a  great  mass  of  translations  and  adaptations, 
which  showed  that  there  was  a  public  ready  to  read 
vernacular  books,  but  not  at  home  in  the  French    literature 
language.     Few  continuous  works  of  high  merit  were   in  the 
as  yet  written  in  the  native  tongue,  but  much  evidence    thirteenth 
of  deep  feeling  and  careful  art  lay  hidden  away  in 
half -forgotten,  and  anonymous  lyrics,  satires,  and  romances.     The 
language  in  which  these  works  were  written  was  steadily  becoming 
more  like  our  modern  English.    The  dialectical  differences  became 
less  acute ;  the  inflections  began  to  drop  away ;  the  vocabulary 
gradually  absorbed  a  large  romance  (French  and  Latin)  element,  and 
the  prosody  abandoned  the  forms  of  the  West  Saxon  period  for 
measures  that  show  a  close  connection  with  the  con- 
temporary  poetry  of    France.      With    the    age    of   literature 
Edward  in.,  the  time  of  triumphant  English  nation-   in  the 
ality,  a  really  great  literature  in  English  was  written,    fourteenth 
While    the    Frenchman     Froissart    was    the    chief 
literary  figure  of  Edward  m.'s  court  in  the  middle  period  of  his 
reign,  his  place  during  the  last  few  years  of  it  was  occupied  by 
G-eoffrey  Chaucer,  the  first  real  poet  of  the  English   Geoffrey 
literary  revival.     The  son  of  a  substantial  London   Chaucer, 
vintner,  Chaucer  held  minor  offices  at  court,  took  part   ?  13*0-1400. 
in  the  several  campaigns  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  and  served 
in  diplomatic  missions  to  Italy,  Flanders,  and  elsewhere.    His  early 
poems  reflected  the  modes  and  metres  of  the  current  French  tradition 
in  an  English  dress.    His  Italian  mission  may  have  first  introduced 
him  to  the  famous  Italian  poets — Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio — 
whose  works  he  admired  and  copied.     In  his  Canterbury  Tales,  he 
produced  the  most  consummate  work  which  any  Englishman  ever 
wrote  before  the  Elizabethan  age.     Though  he  was  a  court  poet, 
writing  to  amuse  lords  and  ladies,  he  depicted  every  phase  of  English 
life  with  unrivalled  insight,   knowledge  of  character,  delicacy  of 
humour,  and  profound  literary  art. 


252  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  [1216- 

22.  Chancer  wrote  in  the  tongue  of  the  southern  Midlands,  the 
region  wherein  were  situated  his  native  London,the  two  Universities, 

the  habitual  residences  of  the  court,  the  chief  seats  of 
ginnings  parliaments  and  councils,  and  the  most  frequented 
of  standard  resorts  of  commerce.  The  later  Middle  English  which 
English.  ke  use(j  prepared  the  way  for  the  Modern  English  of 

the  sixteenth  century.  For  the  first  time,  a  standard  English 
language,  the  King's  English,  came  into  being,  which  largely  dis- 
placed for  literary  purposes  the  local  dialects  which  had  hitherto 
been  the  natural  vehicles  for  writing.  The  dialect  of  the  south, 
the  descendant  of  the  tongue  of  the  West  Saxon  court,  became  the 
language  of  peasants  and  artisans.  That  a  greater  future  remained 
to  the  idiom  of  the  north  country  was  due  to  its  becoming  the 
speech  of  a  free  Scotland,  the  language  in  which  John  Barbour, 
archdeacon  of  Aberdeen,  commemorated  for  the  court  of  David  n. 
and  Robert  11.  the  exploits  of  Robert  Bruce  and  the  heroes  of 
the  Scottish  war  of  independence.  The  unity  of  England  thus 
found  another  notable  expression  in  the  oneness  of  the  popular 
speech,  while  the  development  of  the  northern  dialect  into  the 
Lowland  Scottish  of  a  separate  kingdom  showed  that,  if  England  were 
united,  English-speaking  Britain  remained  divided  against  itself. 

23.  Froissart  and  Chaucer  show  us  the  bright  sides  of  the 
England  of  Edward  in.  The  social  and  economic  troubles  of  the 
William  years  of  strain  and  stress  that  succeeded  the  Black 
Langland,  Death  are  shown  in  the  Vision  of  Piers  Plowman,  the 
1330-1400.  WOrk  of  William  Langland,  a  man  from  the  March 
of  Wales,  who  spent  his  life  mainly  in  London,  and  wrote  in  the 
language  of  the  city  of  his  adoption.  His  vigorous  and  purposeful 
verses  set  closely  before  us  the  miseries  of  the  poor,  the  corruptions 
of  the  Church,  the  greediness  of  the  lords  and  ladies,  the  unrest  and 
discontent  of  the  labouring  classes,  and  the  bitter  indignation  of 
the  masses  against  the  old  social  order  which  found  its  fullest 
expression  in  the  Peasants'  Revolt  of  1381.  Though  written  in 
archaic  diction  and  in  the  ancient  alliterative  metre,  Langland, 
even  more  than  Chaucer,  reflected  the  modernity  of  his  age.  A 
John  Wy-  still  more  modern  note  was  sounded  by  John  Wycliff e, 
eliffe,  1384,  the  first  Englishman  to  lead  a  revolt  against  the 
beginning  teachings  of  the  mediaeval  Church.  Wycliffe's  early 
of  modern  writings  were  in  Latin,  and  are  altogether  technical 
English  and  scholastic  in  their  character.  When,  after  the 
prose.  outbreak  of  the  papal  schism,  he  became  an  avowed 
heretic,  he  saw  that  it  was  not  enough  to  have  doctors  and  thinkers 


-1399-1  THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  253 

on  his  side,  but  that  he  must  make  an  appeal  to  the  people  of  Eng- 
land. Accordingly  he  began  to  employ  the  English  tongue,  and, 
Yorkshireman  though  he  was,  he  wrote  in  the  southern  language  of 
London  and  Oxford  rather  than  in  the  dialect  of  his  native  north. 
In  pithy  vigorous  tracts  and  sermons,  he  strove  to  take  the  English 
people  into  partnership  with  him  in  his  war  against  the  old  Church. 
Above  all,  he  inspired  his  followers  to  undertake  a  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  English,  and  probably  carried  out  a  part  of  the  work 
with  his  own  hands.  Wy  cliff  e's  English  Bible,  extensively  cir- 
culated by  his  poor  priests  and  other  Lollard  teachers,  became 
widely  read  and  eagerly  studied.  It  stands  to  English  prose  as 
Chaucer's  poetry  stands  to  English  verse.  With  these  works  the 
future  of  the  English  tongue  was  finally  fixed,  and  in  them  the 
national  movement  of  the  fourteenth  century  found  its  fullest  and 
completest  expression. 

Books  recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  the  Period 
1216-1399. 

The  first  four  reigns  of  this  period  are  covered  by  Tout's  History  of 
England,  1216-1377  (Longmans' '  Political  History  of  England,"  vol.  iii.),  and 
that  of  Richard  n.'s,  by  Oman's  History  of  England,  1377-1485  ("Political 
History  of  England,"  vol.  iv.).  Stubbs'  Constitutional  History,  vol.  ii., 
exactly  includes  this  portion  of  our  history.  Ecclesiastical  History  may  be 
studied  the  later  part  of  W.  R.  W.  Stephens'  History  already  referred  to, 
and  its  continuation  W.  W.  Capes'  History  of  the  English  Church  in  the 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Centuries.  For  particular  points  the  following  may 
be  consulted:  G.  VV.  Prothero's,  or  Charles  Be'mont's  Simon  de  Montfort 
(the  latter  in  French) ;  Little's  Mediceval  Wales;  O.  M.  Edwards'  Wales 
("  Story  of  the  Nations") ;  Tout's  Edward  I.  (Macmillan's  "Twelve  English 
Statesmen ")  ;  Warburton's  Age  of  Edward  III.  (Longmans'  "  Epochs  of 
Modern  History ") ;  R.  L.  Poole's  Wycliffe  (Longmans'  "  Epochs  of  Church 
History  ") ;  and  G.  M.  Trevelyan's  England  in  the  Age  of  Wycliffe.  The  latter 
part  of  Miss  Bateson's  Mediaeval  England  ("  Story  of  the  Nations  ")  illustrates 
the  social  history,  for  which  also  Chaucer's  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales, 
and  G.  C.  Macaulay's  abridgment  of  Froissart's  Chronicle  in  English  (Mac- 
millan's "Globe  Series"),  may  most  profitably  be  consulted.  Jusserand's 
English  Wayfaring  Life  in  the  Fourteenth  Century  (translated  by  Lucy  T. 
Smith),  and  the  same  writer's  Piers  Plotvman,  throw  light  on  important  aspects 
of  the  time.  Cunningham's  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce  :  Middle 
Ages,  shows  the  industrial  development  of  the  period.  G.  G.  Coulton's 
Chaucer  and  his  England  gives  a  lively  picture  of  late  fourteenth  century 
English  society.  Hilda  Johnstone's  Hundred  Years  of  History,  1216-1327,  gives 
a  useful  and  coherent  selection  of  translations  from  original  authorities.  Maps 
xviii.  (Edward  I.),  xix.  (Anglia  Sacra),  xxv.  (Scotland  c.  1300),  and  xxix. 
(Early  Ireland),  in  Oxford  Historical  Atlas. 


-54    THIRTEENTH  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES  [1399. 


BOOK  IV 

LANCASTER  AND    YORK  (1399-1485) 

1 

CHAPTER   I 

HENRY  IV.  (I399-I4I3) 

Chief  Dates : 

1399.  Accession  of  Henry  IV. 

1400.  Revolt  of  Owen  Glendower. 

1401.  Statute  de  heretico  comburendo. 
1403.    Battle  of  Shrewsbury. 

1408.     Battle  of  Bramham  Moor. 
1413.     Death  of  Henry  iv. 

1.  The  Lancastrian  revolution  of  1399  marks  the   end  of  the 
period  which  had  opened  with  the  granting  of  Magna  Carta  and 
the  beginnings  of  the  parliamentary  system.     That  time  had  seen 
the  growth  of  our  system  of  limited  monarchy  and  parliamentary 
control,   and  strong  kings  like  Edward  ni.  had  sought  to  evade 
rather  than  deny  their  constitutional  restrictions.     Alone  of  the 
fourteenth-century  kings,  Richard  11.  had  striven  to  break  down 
the  constitution  and  make  himself  a  despot.     On  his  utter  failure, 
the  throne  passed  to  the  man  whose  previous  career  and  ancestry 
alike  compelled  him  to  accept  the  constitution  and  rule  England 
as  a  limited  monarch.     With  Henry  iv.'s  succession,   _    _ 
the  constitutional  opposition,  whose  claims  had  so  often   stitutional 
been  upheld  by  the  House  of  Lancaster,  mounted  the   Revolution 
throne.    No  one  could  be  deceived  either  by  Henry's  °*1399* 
pretence  to  inherit  the  throne  from  Henry  in.  or  by  his  claim  to 
possess  it  by  right  of  conquest.     The  son  of  John  of  Gaunt  was 
not  even  the  nearest  heir  to  Richard  by  blood,  and  the  deposed 
king  had  acknowledged  the  earl  of  March,  the  grandson  of  Lionel  of 
Clarence,  as  presumptive  successor  to  the  crown.     But  the  growth 
of  the  parliamentary  system  had  made  the  hereditary  element  less 

255 


256  HENRY  IV.  [1399- 

important  than  ever.  Henry  owed  his  throne  to  the  choice  of  par- 
liament, which  sainted  in  him  the  avenger  of  the  Lords  Appellant, 
and  expected  him  to  rnle  after  a  constitntional  fashion.  The  first 
result  of  the  revolution,  then,  was  to  secure  the  triumph  of  the 
constitutional  cause.  Henry  iv.'s  parliaments  forced  him  to  redress 
their  grievances  before  they  would  grant  him  supplies,  and  under 
him  the  House  of  Commons  secured  for  all  time  the  exclusive  right 
of  initiating  taxation.  On  more  than  one  occasion  the  Commons 
forced  him  to  nominate  his  council  in  parliament.  If  this  custom 
had  become  permanent,  his  reign  would  have  anticipated  the  modern 
system  of  cabinet  government,  by  which  the  ministers,  formally 
chosen  by  the  king,  are  really  subject  to  the  approval  of  parliament. 
Moreover,  not  only  Henry  iv.,  but  his  son  and  grandson  also  ruled 
after  this  constitutional  fashion.  Under  the  Lancastrian  kings  the 
parliament  attained  the  greatest  power  that  it  ever  secured  before 
quite  modern  times. 

2.  Richard  11.  had  been  careless  of  the  Church  as  well  as 
neglectful  of  the  constitution.  Under  him  Lollardy  grew,  though 
Theeccle-  ^e  was  no  bollard;  and  he  was  bitterly  opposed 
siastical  to  the  orthodox  constitutional  prelates,  whose  in- 
reaction  ftuence  had  so  long  been  thrown  into  the  side  of  the 
of  1399.  opposition.  "With  Henry  of  Lancaster  archbishop 
Arundel  came  back  to  England,  and  was  restored  to  the  throne  of 
Canterbury.  He  was  the  strongest  of  the  conservative  prelates  of 
his  time,  and  soon  made  his  influence  felt  against  heretics  and 
enemies  of  the  Church.  Moreover,  Henry  iv.,  a  crusader  in  his 
youth,  was  the  most  devout  and  orthodox  of  kings.  The  result 
was  that  the  Lancastrian  revolution  was  as  much  an  orthodox 
reaction  from  the  lax  and  anti-clerical  spirit  that  had  prevailed  at 
Richard's  court,  as  it  was  a  constitutional  reaction  from  the  late 
king's  despotic  ways.  The  change  which  secured  the  rights  of 
parliament  brought  about  the  decline  and  fall  of  Lollardy.  In  1401 
Archbishop  Arundel  carried  through  parliament  a  statute  for  the 
burning  of  heretics  (de  heretico  comburendo),  by  which  persons  con- 
demned in  the  Church  courts  for  false  teaching  were  handed  over  to 
the  sheriff  of  the  county  to  be  burnt  alive.  The  first  victim  of  the 
new  policy  was  a  Lollard  priest  named  Sawtre.  Before  the  king 
died,  Lollardy  had  produced  many  martyrs ;  and  Wycliffe's  teaching 
was  not  firmly  enough  rooted  to  endure  the  fires  of  persecution. 

3.  It  was  easier  for  Henry  iv.  to  win  the  throne  than  to  keep 
it.  All  through  his  reign  he  was  beset  by  troubles  on  every  side. 
The  encroachments  of  his  parliaments  and  the  resistance  of  the 


1402.]  HENRY  IV.  .    2tf 

Lollards  were  not  the  worst  of  his  difficulties.     He  had  to  face 
a  constant  series  of  conspiracies  and  revolts  at  home,  the  persistent 
hostility  of  the  chief  foreign  powers,  and  the  unending  „         .„  , 
jealousies  of  rival  court  factions.     Though  he  had   character 
stooped  to  acts  of  treachery  and  violence,  he  was  on   and 
the  whole  a  high-minded  and  well-meaning  man,  and    difficulties, 
the  death  of  Richard  sat  heavily  upon  his  conscience.     Though  in 
the  end  he  overcame  his  worst  troubles,  he  wore  himself  out  in  the 
struggle. 

4.  After  the  accession  of  the  new  king,  parliament  reversed  the 
acts  of  the  Parliament  of  1397,  and  Richard's  friends  were  deprived 
of  their  new  titles  and  estates.     In  disgust  at  this,  the 
partisans  of  the  late  king  formed  a  plot  against  his   EjS^S U 
successor.     Their  plan  was  to  meet  at  Windsor  on 

Twelfth  Night,  1400,  on  pretence  of  holding  a  tournament.  Then 
they  were  to  seize  the  king  and  put  him  to  death,  and  restore 
Richard  to  the  throne.  The  design  was  betrayed,  and  the  chief  con- 
spirators fled  to  Cirencester,  where  the  townsfolk  forced  them  to 
surrender.  The  only  important  result  of  the  conspiracy  was  that 
it  taught  Henry  the  danger  of  allowing  Richard  to  remain  alive. 
A  short  time  after  its  failure  it  was  announced  that  Richard  was 
dead  at  Pontefract. 

5.  Serious  trouble  soon  broke  out  in  Wales,  where  Richard's 
party  was  still  strong,  and  where  the  tradition  of  national  inde- 
pendence still  lingered.     Difficulties  began  in  a  dis- 
pute between  the  Marcher  baron,  Lord  Grey  of  Ruthin,   Gjlndower 
and  a  neighbouring  Welsh  landlord,  Owen  ap  Griffith, 

lord  of  Glyndyvrdwy,  on  the  upper  Dee,  commonly  called  Owen 
of  Glendower.  Grey  had  taken  possession  of  certain  lands  which 
Owen  claimed,  and  Owen,  being  refused  all  redress  by  the  English 
law  courts,  recovered  the  districts  by  force  of  arms.  His  private 
war  against  Grey  soon  grew  into  a  formidable  rebellion.  Before 
long  Owen  assumed  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales,  and  set  vigorously 
to  work  to  restore  the  independence  of  his  country.  Every  part  of 
Wales  rallied  round  him.  Many  of  the  castles  of  the  king  and  his 
Marcher  lords  fell  into  his  hands,  and  two  expeditions  led  by 
Henry  in  person  against  him  proved  utter  failures.  At  last,  in 
1402,  he  occupied  Ruthin,  and  took  Grey,  his  enemy,  prisoner  into 
Snowdon.  A  few  months  later  he  defeated  Sir  Edmund  Mortimer, 
a  grandson  of  Lionel  of  Clarence,  and  uncle  of  Edmund,  earl  of 
March,  at  Pilleth,  near  Radnor,  and  also  took  him  prisoner.  A 
third  royal  expedition  to  Wales  was  as  unsuccessful  as  the  two 

s 


258     ,  HENRY  IV.  [1403- 

previous  ones.  On  Henry's  retirement,  Mortimer  made  peace 
with  Owen,  and  married  his  daughter.  It  was  now  given  out  that 
the  object  of  the  allies  was  to  restore  King  Richard  if  he  were 
alive,  and,  if  not,  to  procure  the  accession  of  the  earl  of  March, 
under  whom  Owen  was  to  reign  as  prince  of  Wales.  This  union  of 
the  Welsh  and  the  Mortimers  threatened  alike  the  English  power 
in  Wales  and  Henry's  position  in  England. 

6.  Henry  iv.  was  the  less  able  to  grapple  with  the  Welsh  revolt 
since  foreign  powers  regarded  him  with  great  hostility.  The 
Revolt  of  French  long  refused  to  recognize  him  as  king,  and 
the  Percies,  there  were  fierce  disputes  about  the  return  of  Queen 
1403.  Isabella,  Richard's  widow,  to  France.  The  Scots  were 
equally  hostile,  and  in  1402  invaded  England,  but  were  defeated  by 
Henry  Percy,  earl  of  Northumberland,  at  Humbleton,  where  many 
Scottish  lords  were  taken  prisoners.  Northumberland  and  the 
Percies  had  materially  helped  to  gain  Henry  his  throne,  but  they 
were  discontented  that  the  king  allowed  them  less  power  than 
they  had  hoped,  and  threw  a  large  share  of  the  trouble  and  expense 
of  fighting  the  Scotch  and  Welsh  on  to  their  hands.  Northumber- 
land's son,  Henry  Percy,  called  Hotspur,  by  reason  of  his  rash 
valour,  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Edmund  Mortimer,  and  was 
induced  by  him  to  make  common  cause  with  the  Welsh.  At  last, 
in  1403,  the  Percies  made  peace  with  the  Scots,  rose  suddenly 
against  the  king,  and  marched  from  the  north  to  join  the  Welsh 
and  the  Mortimers.  Henry  resolved  to  crush  the  rebellion  before 
the  Welsh  and  Percies  united  their  forces,  and  was  helped  in  this 
by  Glendower  rashly  choosing  this  moment  to  extend  his  power 
into  South  Wales.  When  Hotspur  approached  Shrewsbury  on  his 
way  to  join  Owen,  he  found  that  the  Welsh  were  far  away,  and 
that  the  border  city  was  occupied  by  the  king  with  a  strong  force. 
On  July  21,  the  battle  of  Shrewsbury  was  fought  at  Berwick,  three 
miles  to  the  north  of  the  town,  on  a  site  since  marked  by  the 
church  of  Battlefield,  erected  by  Henry  in  commemoration  of  the 
victory  which  he  won.  Hotspur  was  slain,  his  uncle,  the  earl  of 
Worcester,  and  his  ally,  the  Scotch  earl  of  Douglas,  were  taken 
prisoners.  A  -few  weeks  later  Northumberland,  who  had  remained 
in  his  Yorkshire  estates,  made  his  submission.  For  the  moment 
the  English  rebellion  seemed  suppressed. 

7.  Owen  Olendower  still  remained  in  arms.  A  fourth  expedi- 
tion of  Henry  proved  as  unsuccessful  as  the  rest.  Owen  now  made 
an  alliance  with  the  French,  and  a  French  fleet  came  to  Carmarthen 
Bay  to    help   him.      He    summoned   a   Welsh  parliament,    and 


-i4o8]  HENRY  IV.  259 

transferred  his  obedience  from  the  Roman  pope  acknowledged  in 
England,  to  the  Avignon  pope  recognized  by  the  French.  In 
1405  his  canse  was  helped  by  a  second  revolt  of  Qra^Ual 
Northumberland.  Thereupon  Owen,  Mortimer,  and  collapse 
Northumberland  made  a  treaty  by  which  they  divided  0'  tne 
England  into  three  parts,  of  whiA  each  confederate  rlsIn8rs' 
took  one  as  his  share.  Meanwhile  Henry's  troops  put  down 
Northumberland's  rising  at  Shipton  Moor,  in  Yorkshire.  North- 
umberland escaped,  but  Archbishop  Scrope  of  York,  who  had 
joined  him,  was  taken  prisoner  and  executed,  with  complete  dis- 
regard to  the  immunity  of  the  Church  from  secular  jurisdiction. 
Northumberland  fled  to  Scotland,  but  in  1408  he  once  more 
appeared  in  the  north,  and  again  rallied  a  force  round  him.  He 
was  again  defeated,  at  Bramham  Moor,  in  Yorkshire,  and  perished 
in  the  conflict.  After  his  death  Henry  had  no  more  trouble  with 
his  English  enemies.  Even  Owen  Grlendower  gradually  began  to 
lose  ground.  The  king's  son,  Henry,  prince  of  Wales,  bit  by  bit 
conquered  all  southern  and  central  Wales.  However,  Owen  held 
out  manfully  in  the  north,  and  was  still  in  arms  at  Henry  iv.'s  death. 
He  was  no  longer  a  prince,  but  a  fugitive  in  the  mountains.  In 
the  days  of  his  prosperity  he  had  shown  wonderful  courage  and 
skill  both  in  fighting  the  English  and  in  building  up  his  new 
principality.  He  now  showed  even  more  rare  gifts  in  bravely 
coping  with  adversity.  It  was  no  wonder  that  he  became  the 
great  hero  of  his  countrymen.  Wales  was,  however,  once  more  in 
English  hands,  and  stern  laws  kept  its  people  in  subjection. 

8.  As  Henry's  domestic  difficulties  decreased,  he  gradually 
became  able  to  take  up  a  firmer  position  abroad.  In  1406  a 
piece  of  good  luck  saved  him  from  further  difficulties 
with  the  Scots.  In  that  year  James,  the  son  of  anH  France 
Robert  in.,  king  of  Scots,  was  captured  by  English 
sailors  off  Flamborough  Head,  as  he  was  on  his  way  to  be  edu- 
cated at  the  French  court.  Within  a  few  months  his  father's 
death  made  Henry's  captive  king  James  1.  He  remained  for 
nineteen  years  a  prisoner  in  England,  where  his  presence  was 
a  guarantee  that  the  Scots  could  not  inflict  much  harm  on 
England.  Henry  was  equally  lucky  in  his  dealings  with  France, 
when  king  Charles  vi.,  Richard  u.'s  father-in-law,  went  mad  and 
was  quite  unable  to  restrain  the  fierce  faction  fights  that  now 
broke  out  between  the  two  parties  of  the  Burgundians  and  the 
Armagnacs.  The  former  faction  was  headed  by  the  king's  cousin, 
John  the  Fearless,  duke  of  Ihirgundy  and  count  of  Flanders,  who 


260  HENRY  IV.  [1406- 

was  not  only  the  mightiest  noble  in  France  bnt  also  aspired  to  the 
position  of  an  independent  prince.  The  rival  party  of  the 
Armagnacs  was  led  by  the  count  of  Armagnac,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  feudal  lords  of  the  south.  The  disputes  between  them  soon 
reduced  ^France  to  such  a  low  condition  that  Henry  had  nothing 
more  to  fear  from  her  hostility.*  Towards  the  end  of  his  reign  he 
was  able  to  revenge  himself  for  the  French  help  given  to  Glen- 
dower  by  sending  expeditions  to  France.  These  forces  at  one  time 
helped  the  Armagnacs,  at  another  the  Burgundians,  and  thus 
increased  the  confusion  in  that  country. 

9.  Thus,  after  long  struggles,  Henry  iv.  established  himself 
securely  in  his  throne.     But  he  wore  himself  out  in  the  conflict, 

_  and  after  1406  was  a  broken-down  invalid.     His  un- 

forts  and  fitness  to  govern  gave  opportunity  for  court  factions 
the  prince  to  revive  and  struggle  for  power.  Archbishop  Arundel, 
of  Wales.  w^0  ka(j  l011g  been  Henry's  chief  minister,  represented 
the  traditions  of  the  Lords  Appellant  and  the  old  constitutional 
party.  He  found  bitter  enemies  in  the  Beauf orts,  the  half-brothers 
of  the  king.  The  Beauforts  were  the  sons  of  John  of  Gaunt  by 
Catharine  Swynford,  who  became  the  duke's  third  wife  after  their 
birth.  This  marriage  gave  an  excuse  for  Richard  11.  legitimatizing 
Catharine's  children,  but  Henry  iv.,  when  he  confirmed  this  act, 
provided  that  they  should  not  be  regarded  as  competent  to  succeed 
to  the  throne.  The  eldest  of  the  brothers,  John,  became  earl  of 
Somerset,  while  Henry  became  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Thomas, 
the  third,  succeeded  Arundel  as  chancellor  in  1410.  The  Beauforts 
upheld  the  tradition  of  the  courtiers  with  whom  John  of  Gaunt 
had  himself  so  long  been  associated.  They  had  a  powerful  ally  in 
Henry,  prince  of  Wales,  a  high-spirited  and  able  young  man, 
who,  when  very  young,  had  won  much  credit  by  the  share  he  took 
in  putting  down  the  Welsh  rising,  but  had  caused  some  scandal  by 
his  wild  and  injudicious  pursuit  of  amusement  during  his  scanty 
leisure.  The  prince  was  ambitious,  and  showed  an  eager  desire  to 
profit  by  his  father's  illness  to  get  power  into  his  own  hands. 
Against  him  and  the  Beauforts  Arundel  strove  to  uphold  the  per- 
sonal authority  of  the  sick  king.  The  archbishop's  dismissal  and  his 
replacement  by  Sir  Thomas  Beaufort  was  the  work  of  the  prince.  It 
Death  of  was  believed  that  the  prince  wished  to  procure  his 
Henry  IV.,  father's  abdication,  and  the  king  was  bitterly  wounded 
1413.  by  his  son's  conduct.   Recovering  his  health  somewhat, 

Henry  restored  Arundel  to  the  chancellorship.  Soon  afterwards  he 
grew  worse  again,  and  died  in  1413,  when  only  forty-six  years  of  age. 


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CHAPTER   II 
HENRY  V.  (1413-1422) 


Chief  Dates : 

1413- 

Accession  of  Henry  v 

1414. 

Oldcastle's  Rising. 

1415. 

Battle  of  Agincourt. 

1417. 

End  of  the  Papal  Schism. 

1419. 

Conquest  of  Rouen. 

1420. 

Treaty  of  Troyes. 

1422. 

Death  of  Henry  v. 

1.  Henry  v.  was  crowned  king  on  Palm  Sunday,  1413.  "  As  soon 
as  he  was  crowned,"  wrote  a  chronicler,  "  suddenly  he  was 
Early  changed  into  a  new  man,  and  all  his  intention  was  to 

measures  of  live  virtuously."  He  had  not  shown  much  good 
Henry  V.  feeling  in  his  relations  to  his  father,  but  he  was  now 
eager  to  set  his  past  aside,  and  to  rule  wisely  as  the  chosen  king  of 
the  whole  nation.  He  strove  to  bury  the  old  feuds  by  releasing  his 
rival,  the  earl  of  March,  from  prison,  and  by  erecting  a  sumptuous 
monument  over  the  remains  of  Richard  11.  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
In  his  anxiety  to  put  a  complete  end  to  the  Welsh  revolt,  he  offered 
to  pardon  all  the  Welsh  in  arms  against  him,  including  Owen 
Grlendower  himself.  This  prudent  policy  proved  completely  suc- 
cessful. Owen  scorned  to  accept  pardon  from  his  supplanter,  and 
remained  unconquered  among  the  mountains.  His  followers, 
however,  made  their  submission,  and,  on  the  chieftain's  death  soon 
afterwards,  the  Welsh  troubles  were  completely  ended. 

2.  The  only  thing  which  Henry  did  that  showed  any  spirit  of 

revenge  was  his  removal  of  Archbishop  Arundel  from  the  chancery. 

.  Henry  Beaufort  became  chancellor  in  the  archbishop's 

and  the  place,   and  remained  the  new  king's   chief   adviser. 

Lollard  Henry,   however,   continued  to  work  cordially  with 

1 4! 4,g'  Arundel,  especially  when  the  archbishop  attacked  the 

Lollards.      The    most    powerful    supporter    of    the 

Lollards  was  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  a  knight  from  the  Welsh  March, 

who  had  become  Lord  Cobham  by  his  marriage  with  a  Kentish 

heiress.     He  was  an  old  friend  of  the  king,  and  had  fought  under 

him  in  several  campaigns,  but  Henry's  fierce  orthodoxy  made  him 

262 


1414J  HENRY   V.  263 

regardless  of  personal  ties  when  he  had  to  deal  with  heretics. 
Oldcastle  was  arrested,  and  convicted  of  heresy  before  Archbishop 
ArundeL  Soon  after  his  condemnation  Oldcastle  escaped  from  the 
Tower,  and  neither  king  nor  archbishop  could  find  out  his  hiding- 
place.  The  Lollards  had  long  suffered  severely  from  persecution, 
and  in  the  fall  of  their  leader  their  last  hopes  seemed  to  have 
vanished.  In  their  despair  they  formed  a  plot  to  capture  the  king 
at  Eltham,  while  a  Lollard  mob  mustered  in  St.  Giles'  Fields, 
to  the  west  of  London,  and  sought  to  divert  attention  from  the 
attack  en  Henry  by  an  assault  on  the  city.  Henry's  promptitude 
easily  frustrated  the  conspiracy.  He  left  Eltham  for  London,  and 
shut  himself  with  an  armed  force  within  the  capital.  Next  morn- 
ing, January  12, 1414,  he  surrounded  the  Lollard  gathering  at  St. 
Giles'  Fields,  and  easily  frustrated  their  designs.  Oldcastle  fled  to 
the  March  of  Wales,  where  he  lay  hiding  till  1417,  when  he  was 
captured,  taken  to  London,  and  hung  as  a  traitor.  With  his  execu- 
tion Lollardy  almost  disappeared  from  history.  Though  the  Lollard 
leaders  had  shown  great  constancy  in  persecution,  they  were  too 
few  in  numbers  and  held  too  extreme  views  to  have  much  influence 
over  the  nation  at  large.  Within  a  generation  the  Lollards  were 
almost  extinct.  Thus  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Lancastrian  kings 
secured  a  complete  triumph. 

3.  Henry  v.  was  above  all  things  a  soldier,  and  his  chief  anxiety 
was  to  revive  the  foreign  policy  of  Edward  in.     He  had  good 
reason  to  resent  the  hostility  of  France  to  the  House   Renewai  0# 
of  Lancaster,  and  the  deplorable  state  of  anarchy  into   the  claim  to 
which  France  had  now  fallen  offered  him  a  temptation,   the  French 
which  he  made  no  effort  to  resist,  to  profit  by  French  tnrone' 
misfortunes.      His  first   parliament    agreed   with   him    that  he 
should  renew  Edward  iii.'s  claim  to  the  French  throne,  though, 
even  if  Edward  iii.'s  title  to  France  had  been  a  just  one,  the  heir 
of  it  was  not  the  king,  but  the  earl  of  March.     Parliament  made 
Henry  a  liberal  grant  of  money  to  enable  him  to  enforce  his  claim. 
Besides  this,  it  passed  an  act  whereby  the  alien  priories — that  is, 
the  small  monasteries  of  foreign  monks  established  on  the  English 
estates  of  French  houses  of  religion — should  be  suppressed,  lest  the 
foreign  inmates  should  send  English  money  out  of  the  country  to  be 
employed  in  making  war  against  England.     This  law  is  worth 
remembering,  because  it  marks  the  first  occasion  on  which  parlia- 
ment ventured  to  suppress  religious  houses  and  lay  hands  upon  the 
property  of  the  Church.     Orthodox  as  were  Henry  and  his  parlia- 
ment, they  had  no  great  love  of  extreme  ecclesiastical  pretensions. 


264 


HENRY  V. 


LI4I5- 


4.  In  the  summer  of  1415,  Henry  went  down  to  Southampton 
to  embark  with  his  army  to  France.  His  departure  was  delayed 
The  fit  ky  the  news  that  his  cousin  Richard,  earl  of  Cam- 
expedition  bridge,  the  son  of  Edmund,  duke  of  York,  had  joined 
to  France,  a  plot  to  deprive  the  king  of  his  throne,  in  favour  of 
Edmund,  earl  of  March,  whose  sister,  Anne,  he  had 
married.  Earl  Edmund,  however,  repaid  Henry's  generosity  by 
refusing  to  join  the  conspirators,  and  repeating  all  that  he  knew  to 
the  king.  Cambridge  was  arrested,  and  condemned  to  immediate 
execution,  and  March  himself    sat  among    his    brother-in-law's 


THE   AGINCOUKT   CAMPAIGN. 


Emery  VallKr  x 


judges.     Immediately  afterwards  the  king  and  his  troops  crossed 
over  to  France,  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine. 

5.  In  France,  Henry's  first  step  was  to  besiege  Harfleur,  a  town 
which  was  then  the  chief  port  on  the  north  bank  of  the  estuary. 

Harfleur  made  a  heroic  resistance,  and  the  English 
Harfleur.        suffered  greatly  from  sickness  during  the  long  siege. 

When,  late  in  September,  the  place  at  last  surrendered, 
Henry's  army  was  so  much  weakened  that  all  he  could  do  was  to 
march  northwards  to  Calais,  by  as  direct  a  road  as  lay  open  to  him. 
He  proceeded  along  the  Norman  coast  as  far  as  the  Lower  Somme, 
where  he  reached  the  ford  of  Blanchetaque,  which  Edward  m.  had 
crossed  in  1346.     There,  however,  he  found  that  the  French  held 


l4i5-3  HENRY   V.  265 

the  bank  with  such  force  that  it  was  dangerous  to  attempt  the 
passage.  Accordingly,  he  marched  past  Abbeville  and  Amiens, 
up  the  left  bank  of  the  Somme,  which  he  at  last  succeeded  in 
crossing  a  little  higher  up  than  Peronne.  Here  he  again  resumed 
his  northward  progress,  which  was  uninterrupted  until  he  had  safely 
crossed  the  Ternoise  at  Blangy,  between  Saint-Pol  and  Hesdin. 
Once  over  the  river,  he  climbed  up  through  narrow  and  deep-sunk 
lanes  to  the  plateau  which  lies  north  of  the  stream,  and  took  up 
his  quarters  at  the  village  of  Maisoncelles.  There  he  perceived 
that  his  further  movements  was  blocked  by  a  great  French  army, 
which  held  the  flat  upland  immediately  to  his  north,  between 
the  villages  of  Tramecourt  and  Agincourt,  now  called  Azincourt, 
whose  hedges  and  enclosures  formed  natural  limits  to  the  battle 
ground  to  the  east  and  west. 

6.  The  war-worn  English  army  had  now  the  alternative  of 
retreating,  or  of  cutting  its  way  through  the  superior  forces  of  the 
enemy.  Henry  at  once  resolved  to  engage  in  battle,  and  j^q  battle 
his  soldier's  eye  saw  at  once  that  the  narrow  plateau  on  of  Agin- 
which  the  French  had  elected  to  fight  did  not  give  eourt« 
them  room  enough  to  employ  their  superior  numbers  to  advantage. 
By  the  morning  of  October  25,  his  troop3  were  ready  to  fight  a 
defensive  battle  after  the  accustomed  fashion.  Archers  and  men- 
at-arms  were  alike  dismounted,  and  the  former,  placed  on  the  wings 
of  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  army,  provided  themselves  with 
stakes  to  form  a  palisade  to  protect  them  from  the  French  charge. 
For  some  time  they  waited,  hoping  that  the  enemy  would  attack, 
but  instead  of  this  the  French  withdrew  somewhat  to  the  north. 
Thereupon  Henry  ordered  the  English  to  advance,  and  take  up  a  new 
position  between  Agincourt  and  Tramecourt,  within  bowshot  of 
the  foe.  This  act  of  daring  stirred  up  the' French  to  make  their 
long-deferred  attack.  The  bulk  of  their  army  was  also  dismounted, 
but  cavalry  forces  occupied  each  wing,  and  these,  galled  by  the 
English  arrows,  advanced,  in  the  hope  of  riding  down  the  English 
archers.  Protected  by  their  palisades,  the  English  bowmen  made 
light  of  the  assault,  and  soon  the  French  horsemen  were  retreating 
in  confusion.  By  this  time  the  French  men-at-arms  had  drawn  near 
to  the  English  centre.  The  soft  ground  was  muddy  from  recent 
rain,  and  the  heavily  armoured  French,  assailed  by  the  archers  on 
their  flanks,  found  their  action  much  impeded.  Seeing  that  the 
enemy's  forward  movement  was  checked,  the  archers,  flushed  with 
victory,  abandoned  the  palisades,  and  fell  on  the  French  with 
sword,  axe,  and  mallet  in  flank  and  rear.     Before  long  the  whole 


266 


HENRY   V. 


[I4I5- 


French  army  was  thrown  into  hopeless  confusion,  and  the  English, 
with  slight  loss,  won  an  overwhelming  victory.  "Next  day,  the 
conquerors  renewed  their  march  for  Calais,  and,  within  a  few 
weeks,  Henry  marched  in  triumph  through  London. 


The  dotted  lines  mark  the  hedges  enclosing  the  villages  ■ 


7.  Agincourt  won  for  Henry  as  great  a  position  in  Europe  as 
ever  Edward  in.  had  enjoyed.  One  good  result  that  flowed  from 
The  Council  ^s  was»  ^at  Henry  was  able  to  use  his  influence  to 
put  an  end  to  the  deplorable  schism  in  the  papacy, 
which,  since  1378,  had  scandalized  all  Europe.  The 
Emperor  Sigismund  was  very  anxious  to  restore  unity 
to  the  Church,  but  the  first  efforts  to  promote  it  had 
had  the  unfortunate  result  that  a  third  pope  was  elected 
while  the  other  two  popes  still  remained  in  office.  Sigismund  visited 
England,  where  Henry  gave  him  a  royal  welcome.  Partly  through 
their  efforts,  a  General  Council  of  the  Church  met  at  Constance. 
At  first,  it  seemed  likely  that  the  enmity  of  France  and  England 
would  make  peace  hopeless  among  the  assembled  councillors ;  but 
at  last  the  union  of  the  English  and  Germans  resulted  in  the 
deposition  of  all  three  popes,  and  the  appointment  of  Martin  v.,  a 
new  pope  whom  all  Europe  recognized.     The  council  also  tried  to 


of  Con 
stance,  and 
the  end  of 
the  Schism 
in  the 
Papacy. 


-1420.J  HENRY  V.  267 

remedy  the  abuses  of  the  Church.  In  this  it  was  not  very 
successful;  but  it  burnt  John  Huss,  a  professor  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Prague,  in  Bohemia,  who  had  studied  WyclifEe's  writings, 
and  had  striven  to  establish  in  his  own  land  the  views  that  the 
Lollards  had  upheld  in  England.  Thus  the  teaching  of  Wycliffe 
was  condemned  on  the  Continent  as  well  as  in  England.  The 
Hussites,  though  they  made  a  brave  fight,  were  put  down  like  the 
Lollards,  and  the  orthodox  party  triumphed  everywhere. 

8.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  had  not  resulted  in  the  capture  of  a 
single  castle,  and  from  1415  to  1417  all  the  lands  held  by  the 
English  in  northern  France  were  Calais  and  Harfleur.    The  con. 
Harfleur  itself,  which  Henry  wished  to  make  a  second    quest  of 
Calais,  was  in  some  danger.     However,  in  1417,  Henry    Normandy, 

'  1417—19 

led  a  second  expedition  into  France,  with  which  he  set 
to  work  to  effect  the  conquest  of  Normandy.  He  met  with  fierce 
resistance  at  every  step,  but  persevered  with  such  energy,  that,  by 
1419,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  duchy  was  in  his  hands.  The  last 
place  of  importance  that  resisted  him  was  Rouen,  which  surrendered 
early  in  1419,  after  a  long  and  famous  siege,  which  tried  the  skill  and 
endurance  of  Henry's  soldiers  far  more  than  the  fight  at  Agincourt. 

9.  Burgundians  and  Armagnacs  continued  their  feuds  even 
when  the  enemy  was  conquering  their  native  country,  and  it  was 
not  until  all  Normandy  was  in  English  hands  that  the  j^e  treaty 
two  factions  made  an  effort  to  unite  against  the  ofTroyes, 
invader.  At  last,  however,  it  was  arranged  that  142°* 
Charles,  dauphin  of  Vienne,  the  mad  king's  eldest  son,  who 
now  led  the  Armagnacs,  should  hold  a  conference  with  Duke 
John  of  Burgundy,  at  Montereau  on  the  Yonne.  The  meeting  took 
place  on  the  bridge,  and  was  signalized  by  the  treacherous  murder 
of  the  duke  by  the  Armagnacs.  A  great  wave  of  feeling  now 
turned  all  northern  France  from  the  bloodthirsty  Armagnacs. 
Philip  the  Good,  Duke  John's  son  and  successor,  at  once  made  a 
treaty  of  alliance  with  the  English.  Paris,  where  Burgundian 
feeling  was  very  strong,  gladly  followed  his  lead,  and  in  1420  the 
treaty  of  Troyes  was  signed  between  Henry  and  his  French  allies, 
by  which  the  foreign  invader  assumed  the  new  character  of  the 
partisan  of  the  Burgundian  faction.  By  it,  Henry  was  to  marry 
Catharine,  the  daughter  of  the  mad  King  Charles  vi.,  and  to  govern 
France,  as  regent,  for  the  rest  of  his  father-in-law's  life.  On 
Charles's  death,  Henry  and  his  heirs  were  to  succeed  to  the 
French  throne,  it  being  only  stipulated  that  France  should  still  be 
ruled  by  French  laws  and  by  French  councillors.     So  bitter  was 


268  HENRY  V.  [1421- 

the  feeling  against  the  dauphin,  that  a  large  number  of  Frenchmen, 
and  most  Parisians,  gladly  welcomed  the  victor  of  Agincourt  as 
their  ruler.  English  arms  had  won  Henry  only  one  glorious  victory 
and  one  province.  The  Burgundian  alliance  now  opened  up  the 
prospect  of  his  ruling  over  all  Prance. 

10.  The  treaty  of  Troyes  was  largely  accepted  in  the  north. 
However,  south  of  the  Loire,  where  Armagnac  feeling  predomi- 
The  battle  nated,  Charles  the  Dauphin  was  still  recognized,  and 
of  Bauge,        Henry's  pretensions  were  rejected.     While  Henry  re- 

1421,  turned  to  England  with  his  new  queen,  his  brother 
Thomas,  duke  of  Clarence,  strove  to  extend  the  sphere  of  Anglo - 
Burgundian  influence  in  Central  France.  In  1421  Clarence  was 
defeated  and  slain,  at  Bauge,  by  a  force  of  French  and  Scots. 

11.  It  was  clear  that  much  fighting  would  take  place  before 
the  treaty  of  Troyes  could  be  carried  out.  Henry  at  once  led 
_  a  third  expedition  into  France,  taking  with  him  the 
pedition  captive  king  of  Scots  in  the  hope  that  the  Scots 
and  death  of  would  hesitate  to  fight  against  their  own  sovereign. 
Hfpry  v-t       Henry  was  welcomed  by  the  Parisians  as  their  future 

king,  and  had  made  some  progress  with  his  difficult 
task,  when  he  was  carried  off  by  disease,  at  Yincennes,  in  August, 

1422,  when  only  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  before  disaster  had 
checked  his  wonderful  career  of  conquest.  He  was  one  of  the 
greatest  of  our  kings,  an  admirable  soldier,  an  able  general,  a 
wise  and  conciliatory  statesman,  and  a  highminded,  honourable 
gentleman.  He  was  strict,  austere,  grave,  and  cold.  His  inten- 
tions were  good,  but  he  wanted  insight,  sympathy,  and  imagination. 
He  found  it  easy  to  persuade  himself  that  whatever  he  wished  to 
do  was  right.  Thus  he  was  profoundly  convinced  that  his  pursuit 
of  power  and  glory  flowed  altogether  from  his  conviction  of  the 
lawfulness  of  his  claims  to  the  French  crown.  He  was,  however, 
wonderfully  efficient  in  carrying  out  anything  that  he  undertook. 
Though  he  could  be  cruel  to  those  who  stood  across  his  path,  he 
was,  for  the  most  part,  a  lover  of  justice,  a  kind  master,  merciful 
to  defeated  foes,  and  careful  of  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  his 
soldiers  and  subjects.  His  piety  was  sincere,  but  showed  an  un- 
lovely side  in  his  harshness  to  the  Lollards.  He  was  the  only  strong 
and  popular  king  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  and  Englishmen 
trusted  him  so  entirely  that  he  could  afford  to  play  the  part  of 
a  constitutional  ruler,  since  his  parliaments  always  gave  him  all 
that  he  asked  for.  His  glory,  undimmed  during  his  life,  shone 
with  even  brighter  lustre  through  the  disasters  of  the  next  reign. 


•1422.] 


HENRY   V. 


269 


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I- 


CHAPTER  III 
HENRY  VI.  (1422-1461) 

Chief  Dates: 

1422.  Accession  of  Henry  vi. 

1429.  Relief  of  Orleans. 

1431.  Death  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

1435.  Congress  of  Arras. 

1444.  Truce  of  Tours. 

1447.  Deaths  of  Gloucester  and  Henry  Beaufort. 

1450.  Revolt  of  Cade. 

1453.  Battle  of  Castillon. 

1455.  Battle  of  St.  Albans. 

1460.  York  claims  the  throne ;  battle  of  Wakefield. 

1461.  Deposition  of  Henry  vi. 

1.  On  Henry  v.'s  death,  his  only  son,  a  bahy  nine  months  old, 
succeeded  hun  as  Henry  vi.  A  few  weeks  later  the  little  king's 
grandfather,  Charles  vi.,  died  also.  Henry  was  thereupon  proclaimed 
Regency  of  ^n^  °^  Erance  as  we^  as  England.  It  was  hard 
Bedford  enough,  under   any  circumstances,  to   carry  out  the 

established,  conditions  of  the  treaty  of  Troyes,  and  this  policy  had 
now  to  be  executed  under  the  special  difficulties  of  a 
long  minority  in  both  realms.  The  English  parliament  made 
Henry's  elder  uncle,  John,  duke  of  Bedford,  protector  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  king's  chief  councillor;  but  as  John  also  became 
regent  of  France,  it  was  provided  that,  in  his  absence,  his  younger 
brother,  Humphrey,  duke  of  Gloucester,  should  hold  his  English 
office.  In  reality,  the  royal  power  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
council,  of  which  Gloucester  was  little  more  than  the  president. 

2.  Bedford  was  a  true  brother  of  Henry  v.,  and  showed  rare 
skill,  devotion,  and  magnanimity  in  carrying  out  the  hopeless 

,.  .,  task  which  lay  before  him.  He  was  wise  enough  to 
work  in  see  that  the  only  chance  "of  making  his  nephew  king 

France,  of  France  lay  in  close  alliance  with  Philip  the  Good 

1422-1428.  ^(j  Qjg  Burgundian  party.  He  showed  such  loyalty 
to  his  allies  that,  in  Paris  and  all  other  districts  of  northern 
270 


2426.]  HENRY  VI.  27 1 

France  where  the  Burgundians  were  influential,  his  nephew  was 
accepted  as  king  without  difficulty.  He  further  strengthened  his 
position  hy  an  alliance  with  the  duke  of  Brittany,  who,  after 
Burgundy,  was  the  most  powerful  of  the  great  French  feudatories. 
All  his  exertions  could  not,  however,  prevent  the  proclamation  of 
the  dauphin  as  Charles  vn.  in  central  and  southern  France ;  and, 
south  of  the  Loire,  the  only  district  that  acknowledged  Henry  as 
king  was  the  scanty  remnant  of  the  English  duchy  of  Aquitaine. 
Charles  vn.  was,  however,  hated  for  his  share  in  the  tragedy 
at  Montereau;  and  his  self-indulgent,  lazy,  and  unenterprising 
character  made  Tifm  ill-fitted  to  play  the  part  of  a  patriot  king. 
His  enemies  called  him,  in  derision,  the  "  king  of  Bourges,"  and 
he  seldom  went  far  from  the  region  of  the  middle  Loire,  where 
his  best  friends  were  to  he  found.  Bedford  and  Burgundy 
now  sought  to  extend  their  power.  In  1423  they  defeated  the 
Armagnacs  at  Cravant,  near  Auxerre,  in  Burgundy,  and  in  1424 
won  another  brilliant  victory  at  Verneuil,  in  upper  Normandy. 
As  the  Scots  continued  to  give  much  help  to  the  French,  Bedford 
released  the  captive  James  I.,  married  him  to  Jane  Beaufort,  the 
daughter  of  the  earl  of  Somerset,  and  sent  him  back  to  Scotland 
as  the  ally  of  the  English.  Bedford's  prudent  policy  was,  how- 
ever, sorely  hampered  by  the  folly  of  his  brother  Gloucester,  who 
made  himself  the  rival  of  Burgundy  by  marrying  Jacqueline  of 
Bavaria,  a  claimant  to  the  county  of  Hainault,  over  which  Duke 
Philip  also  had  pretensions.  The  Anglo-Burgundian  alliance 
seemed  on  the  verge  of  dissolution,  when  Duke  Humphrey  invaded 
Hainault,  and  waged  open  war  against  Duke  Philip.  However, 
in  1426,  Bedford  managed  to  patch  up  peace  between  them,  but 
it  was  long  before  the  old  cordiality  between  England  and  Bur- 
gundy was  restored.  The  natural  result  of  this  was  that  the 
cause  of  King  Henry  made  slow  progress  in  France.  Though 
Bedford  and  Burgundy  could  win  battles,  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  govern  the  country  which  they  conquered.  Northern 
France  fell  into  a  deplorable  condition  of  weakness  and  confusion. 
Things  were  even  worse  in  the  regions  which  acknowledged 
Charles  vii.  The  increasing  weakness  of  the  rival  factions 
threatened  all  the  land  with  the  prospect  of  long  years  of  anarchy. 
3.  In  England,  Duke  Humphrey  gave  almost  as  much  trouble  to 
Bedford  as  in  the  Netherlands.  He  was  a  showy,  vain-glorious, 
self-seeking  man,  who  made  constant  efforts  to  win  popularity. 
His  only  good  point,  however,  was  his  love  of  letters  and  patronage 
of  learned  men,    He  was  an  incompetent  politician,  and  under 


272  HENRY   VI.  [1422- 

his    presidency  the    council  was   rent    asunder   by  the   disputes 
of  rival  factions.     Gloucester  posed  as  the  leader  of  the  popular 
.  .  party,  while   his  uncle,   Henry  Beaufort,   bishop   of 

as  Protector  Winchester,  carried  on  the  traditions  of  the  court 
of  England,  politicians  with  which  the  Beauforts  had  been  identified 
1422-1429.  s'mce  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  Beaufort  was  a  wiser 
statesman  than  his  nephew,  and  had  more  influence  in  the  council ; 
while  Gloucester  was  popular  with  the  commons,  who  called  him, 
with  little  reason,  the  Good  Duke  Humphrey.  The  disputes  between 
the  two  rivals  destroyed  the  effectiveness  of  the  council,  and 
weakened  the  government  of  the  country.  More  than  once  Bedford 
was  forced  to  abandon  his  work  in  France,  and  betake  himself  to 
England  to  reconcile  his  brother  and  his  uncle.  He  never  succeeded 
in  establishing  real  cordiality  between  them.  When  the  pope  made 
Beaufort  a  cardinal,  Gloucester  demanded  that  he  should  be  driven 
from  the  council,  since,  as  cardinal,  he  was  the  natural  counsellor 
of  the  pope,  and  had,  therefore,  no  place  among  the  advisers  of  an 
English  king.  So  troublesome  did  Gloucester  remain,  that,  in 
1429,  it  was  thought  wise  to  crown  the  little  king.  Henry  was  only 
seven,  but,  after  this  ceremony,  it  was  imagined  that  he  was  com- 
petent to  rule  on  his  own  account.  Gloucester  ceased  to  be  pro- 
tector, and  power  fell  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  Beaufort. 
His  rival,  however,  was  still  strong  enough  to  put  grievous  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  effective  government. 

4.  The  restoration  of  the  Anglo-Burgundian  alliance,  and  the 
diminution  of  Gloucester's  influence  in  England,  enabled  Bedford 
The  siege  *°  undertake  fresh  steps  for  the  extension  of  his  power 
of  Orleans,  in  France.  He  now  resolved  to  attempt  the  conquest 
1428.  0£  j^Q  je£t  bank  0f  the  Loire,  where  Charles's  power 
chiefly  centred.  As  a  preliminary  to  this  he  began,  in  1428,  to 
besiege  Orleans.  This  town,  which  is  situated  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Loire,  commanded  one  of  the  few  bridges  that  then  spanned 
the  rapid  river.  It  was  the  natural  gate  of  the  south,  and  its 
reduction  would  have  been  a  deadly  blow  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
king  of  Bourges.  Charles,  however,  was  quite  unable  to  give  any 
help  to  the  hard-pressed  garrison,  and  it  looked  as  if  Orleans  would 
soon  be  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Anglo-Burgundian  alliance. 

5.  At  this  moment  of  extreme  depression  in  the  fortunes  of 
France,  there  occurred  one  of  the  most  wonderful  things  in 
all  history.  One  day  there  came  to  King  Charles's  court  at  Chinon 
a  simple  country  girl,  named  Jeanne  D'arc,  or,  as  the  English 
called   her,  Joan  of  Arc.      She  was  a  native  of    Domremi,  a 


-1429.]  HENRY  VI.  273 

village  on  the  banks  of  the  Meuse,  on  the  borders  of  Champagne 
and  Lorraine,  and  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  French  king- 
dom.    While  tending  her  father's  sheep  in  the  fields,  «rhe  miSsi0n 
she  had  long  pondered  over  the  evils  which  the  war  of  Joan 
had  brought  upon   France.     At   last,  as    she  firmly  of  Arc# 
believed,  God  revealed  'Himself  to  her  in  visions,  and  bade  her 
undertake  the  work  of  saving   France   from  the  foreigners,  and 
restoring  the  blessings  of  peace.    When  first  she  told  of  her  revela- 
tions every  one  mocked  at  her,  but  soon  her  faith  won  over  many 
to  believe  in  her  mission.     She  was  despatched  right  through  the 
enemy's  country,  from  Domremi  to  the  king's  court  at  Chinon. 
"  The  King  of  heaven,"  said  she  to  Charles,  "  bids  me  to  tell  you 
that  you  shall  be  anointed  and  crowned  in  the  church  of  Reims, 
and  that  you  shall  be  the  deputy  of  the  King  of  heaven,  who  is  also 
King  of  France."     Charles  vn.  had  little  belief  in  her  words,  but 
affairs  were  now  so  desperate  that  he  let  her  do  whatf  she  would. 
She  donned  armour  like  a  man,  and  rode  on  a  horse  at 
the  head  of  the  garrison  despatched  to  relieve  the  force   of  Orleans 
at  Orleans.     At  the  end  of  April,  1429,  Joan  fought 
her  way  into  Orleans,  where  her  presence  filled  the  discouraged 
soldiers  with  renewed  hope.     On  May  7  she  led  an  attack  on  the 
Tourelles — the   strongest   of    the   forts  which   the   English   had 
erected  to  shut  in  the  beleaguered  city.    The  Tourelles  were  taken, 
and,  next  day,  the  English  abandoned  the  siege,  and  withdrew  to 
the  north  of  the  Loire.     A  few  weeks  later  Joan  won 
a  pitched  battle  over  the   English  in  the  open  field   patay. 
at  Patay.      These  successes  broke  the   long  tide  of 
disaster,  and  the  courage  and  faith  of  Joan  again  made  Frenchmen 
have  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  country. 

6.  Joan  now  bade  the  English  quit  France  and  recognize 
Charles  as  king.  She  fulfilled  her  promise  by  conducting  Charles 
through  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country  to  Reims,  corona- 
where  she  stood  by  while  he  was  crowned  and  anointed  tion  of 
king.  Charles's  position  in  the  north  was  still  so  weak  Cnaples  v  • 
that  he  was  forced  to  retreat  beyond  the  Loire  immediately  after 
the  ceremony.  Yet  from  this  moment  his  position  in  France  was 
changed.  Up  to  now  he  had  been  the  discredited  leader  of  a 
faction ;  henceforth  he  was  the  divinely  appointed  monarch,  with 
an  indefeasible  claim  to  the  obedience  of  all  Frenchmen.  French 
patriotic  feeling,  long  suspended  through  the  baleful  effects  of 
party  strife,  once  more  asserted  itself  in  response  to  the  teaching  cf 
the  maid  of  Orleans. 

T 


274 


HENRY  VI. 


| 1429- 


Smery  IVaCker.sc. 

Burgundian 


English  Territory     WM  French 
Territory  other  than  English,  French  or Buraundian 
&  Battlefields 


FRANCE   IN   1429. 


-I43I-]  HENRY  VI.  2?$ 

7.  The  first  stage  of  Joan's  work  had  now  been  accomplished ; 
bnt  she  did  not  regard  her  mission  as  completed  nntil  she  had 
driven  the  English  out  of  France.  She  therefore  still  Martyrdom 
remained  with  the  army,  and  made  desperate  efforts  to  of  Joan  of 
win  ovor  the  north  to  the  patriotic  canse.  Victory,  ^rc' 1431* 
however,  had  made  her  over-confident.  Her  merit  lay  in  her  faith 
and  inspiration.  Now  that,  owing  to  her  success,  soldiers  sought 
her  advice  on  problems  of  generalship,  she  .naturally  made  bad 
mistakes.  She  failed  completely  in  an  attack  on  Paris,  and  rashly 
threw  herself  into  Compiegne,  a  place  which,  stirred  up  by  her 
patriotic  influence,  had  thrown  off  the  Burgundian  yoke  and  was 
now  besieged  by  Duke  Philip.  On  May  23, 1430,  she  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  as  she  was  returning  from  an  unsuccessful 
sally  on  the  defenders.  After  a  long  imprisonment,  Joan  was 
condemned,  by  a  French  ecclesiastical  court,  as  a  witch,  and  in 
1431  was  burned  to  death  at  Rouen.  She  had  done  such  great 
deeds  that  English  and  French  alike  believed  that  there  was  some- 
thing supernatural  about  her.  But  while  French  patriots  were 
convinced  that  she  was  a  maid  sent  from  God,  the  English  and 
Burgundians  professed  that  she  was  inspired  by  the  devil.  She 
died  so  bravely  that  the  more  thoughtful  of  her  English  foes  were 
convinced  of  her  nobility  of  purpose.  "  We  are  undone,"  said  they, 
"  for  this  maid  whom  we  have  burned  is  a  saint  indeed." 

8.  The  work  of  the  maid  of  Orleans  outlasted  her  martyrdom. 
The  whole  French  people  was  now  on  the   side  of  coronation 
Charles,  and  even  the  Burgundians  who  had  done  Joan    of  Henry  VI. 
to  death  began  to  feel  that  their  true  position  was  that  at  Paris, 

of  traitors  in  league  with  the  national  enemy.  In 
the  face  of  ever-increasing  difficulties,  Bedford  struggled  nobly 
to  uphold  the  English  power.  As  if  to  answer  the  hallowing  of 
Charles  at  Reims,  he  brought  King  Henry  to  France,  and  sought 
to  have  him  also  crowned  at  the  accustomed  crowning-place.  But 
the  patriotic  party  was  now  so  strong  in  Champagne  that  access 
to  Reims  was  impossible,  and,  after  long  delays,  Bedford  was 
forced  to  be  content  with  his  nephew's  coronation  in  the  cathedral 
of  Paris.  An  English  bishop,  Henry  of  Winchester,  performed  the 
ceremony,  and  even  the  faithful  Parisians  grew  discontented  at  the 
prominence  given  to  the  young  king's  English  councillors. 

9.  The  personal  relations  between  Bedford  and  Burgundy  now 
became  strained.  The  death  of  Bedford's  wife,  who  was  Duke 
Philip's  sister,  broke  the  closest  tie  between  them,  and  Bedford 
soon  committed  his  one  imprudence,  that  of  marrying  Jacquetta  of 


276  HENRY   VI.  [1435- 

Luxemburg,  a  vassal  of  Philip,  without  the  duke's  knowledge  or 
permission.     From  that  moment  the  English  power  in  France 

rapidly  declined.  The  end  came  the  quicker  since 
Arras  and  ^he  ^trigu63  of  Duke  Humphrey  once  more  forced 
death  of  Bedford  to  revisit  England.     When  he  went  back  to 

Bedford,         France   he  found  that,  outside   Normandy   and  the 

neighbourhood  of  Paris,  the  English  power  was 
almost  at  an  end,  Duke  Philip,  now  anxious  to  break  with  his 
English  allies,  summoned,  in  1435,  a  general  European  Congress 
to  meet  at  Arras,  in  the  hope  of  making  peace.  There  the  English 
were  offered  the  whole  of  Normandy  and  a  large  extension  of  their 
Gascon  duchy  if  they  would  conclude  peace  and  renounce  their  king's 
claim  to  France.  With  great  unwisdom,  Bedford  refused  these 
terms.  He  withdrew  from  the  congress,  and  died  soon  after. 
Burgundy  then  made  peace  with  Charles,  and,  in  1436,  Paris  opened 
its  gates  to  the  national  king. 

10.  The  war  still  lingered  on  for  many  years.  Though  success 
was  hopeless,  the  English  still  struggled  bravely,  and  the  French 
The  neace  were  stiU  so  weak  that  their  progress  was  compara- 
and  war  tively  slow.  Henry  vi.  was  now  reaching  man's 
parties  in  estate.  He  was  virtuous,  intelligent,  religious,  and 
England.  humble,  but  he  was  not  strong  enough,  either  in  mind 
or  body,  to  rule  England  effectively.  The  factious  strife  in  his 
council  went  on  as  much  as  ever,  and  the  parties  of  Gloucester  and 
Cardinal  Beaufort  still  contended  for  ascendancy.  Beaufort  was 
statesman  enough  to  see  that  the  wisest  course  for  England  was  to 
conclude  an  honourable  peace  with  France,  which  was  still  willing 
to  make  substantial  concessions  of  territory  in  return  for  Henry's 
renunciation  of  his  claim  to  the  throne.  Duke  Humphrey  bitterly 
opposed  this  pacific  policy,  and  won  a  cheap  popularity  by 
denouncing  all  concessions,  and  clamouring  for  the  continuance 
of  the  war.  The  young  king  was  sincerely  anxious  for  peace,  and, 
as  he  grew  up,  his  support  gave  Beaufort's  party  the  ascendancy  in 
the  council.  The  indiscretion  of  Eleanor  Cobham,  Gloucester's 
wife,  now  brought  about  a  further  diminution  of  the  duke's 
influence.  The  duchess  of  Gloucester,  knowing  that  her  husband 
was  next  in  succession  to  the  throne  if  Henry  should  die,  consulted 
witches  and  astrologers  as  to  the  best  way  of  hastening  that  event. 
By  their  advice  she  made  an  image  of  the  king  in  wax,  and  melted 
it  before  a  slow  fire,  believing  that,  as  the  wax  melted  away,  so  the 
king's  life  would  waste  away.  In  1441  the  duchess's  childish  form 
of  treason  was  detected.     Her  accomplices  were  put  to  death,  and 


-I447-J  HENRY  VI.  2J7 

Eleanor  herself  was  imprisoned  for  life  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  Not 
daring"  to  intervene,  Duke  Humphrey  "  took  all  things  patiently, 
and  said  little."  Henceforth  he  had  little  influence,  and  chiefly 
busied  himself  with  his  favourite  pursuit  of  literature. 

11.  In  1442  Henry  came  of  age,  and,  guided  by  Beaufort's 
advice,  pressed  forward  the  policy  of  peace.  William  de  la  Pole, 
earl  of  Suffolk,  a  soldier  who  had  fought  bravely  against 

the  French,  and  a  strong  supporter  of  Cardinal  Beau-   £ne  tru5f/r 
fort,  became  the  chief  agent  of  the  royal  policy.     In   an(j  the 
1444  he  negotiated  a  short  truce  at  Tours,  by  which  a   French 
marriage  was  arranged  between  Henry  and  Margaret   ^Pfffl&ee' 
of   Anjou,  the    daughter  of  Rene,  duke   of  Anjou, 
nominal  king  of  Sicily  and  Jerusalem,  and  actual  count  of  Provence 
and  duke  of  Lorraine.     The  house  of  Anjou  was  a  junior  branch 
of  the  French  royal  house,  and  Rene's   sister  was  the  wife  of 
Charles  vn.     In  1445,  Margaret,  a  high-spirited  girl  of  fifteen,  was 
brought  to  England  by  Suffolk,  and  married  to  Henry. 

12.  The  marriage  was  not  popular ;  Margaret  was  poor,  and  did 
not  even  bring  assured  peace  with  France  as  her  wedding  portion.  It 
was  necessary  to  renew  the  truce  from  time  to  time,  and   Deatns  0f 
the  English  were  forced  to  purchase  its  continuance   Gloucester 
by  the  surrender  of  the  few  posts  they  held  in  Maine   and  Beau- 
and  Anjou,  nominally  to  Margaret's  father,  really  to     or  ' 

the  French.  Suffolk  was  now  made  a  duke,  and  became  the  chief 
adviser  of  the  king  and  queen.  In  1447  he  procured  the  arrest  of 
Gloucester,  who  had  bitterly  opposed  the  French  marriage.  Soon 
after  his  apprehension  Duke  Humphrey  died.  He  had  long  been 
in  wretched  health,  and  his  death  was  in  all  probability  due  to  natural 
causes.  His  friends,  however,  persisted  in  believing  that  he  was 
murdered,  and  accused  Suffolk  of  the  crime.  In  the  same  year  his  old 
enemy,  Cardinal  Beaufort,  died  also.  He  was  the  shrewdest  statesman 
of  the  age,  and  his  policy,  though  unpopular,  was  undoubtedly  the 
right  one.  His  death  left  the  chief  burden  of  responsibility  on  Suffolk. 
His  nephew,  Edmund  Beaufort,  duke  of  Somerset,  now  represented 
the  family  tradition,  and  was  Suffolk's  most  prominent  ally. 

13.  The  weak  point  of  Suffolk's  position  was  that,  though  he 
had  staked  everything  upon  the  French  alliance,  he  had  made  no 
lasting  peace.  Yet  he  was  so  sure  that  peace  would  continue,  that 
he  neglected  the  commonest  precautions  for  securing  such  pos- 
sessions as  still  remained  in  English  hands.  His  ally  Somerset, 
who  was  governor  of  Normandy,  so  grossly  neglected  his  charge, 
that  it  was  not  unreasonable  that  doubts  should  be  cast  upon  his 


278  HENRY   VI.  [1449- 

honour.  Knowing  that  the  English  were  in  no  position  to  resist, 
the  French  broke  the  trace  in  1449,  and  invaded  Normandy, 
which  had  been  largely  in  English  hands  since  its 
Normandy  conquest  by  Henry  v.  thirty  years  before.  Somerset 
1449-1450,  made  a  poor  resistance,  and,  by  1450,  the  whole  of 
and  Gas-  Normandy  had  passed  over  to  the  French.  Next  year 
c  '     Gascony  was  attacked,  and  the  last  remnants  of  the 

Aquitanian  inheritance  renounced  English  sway  when  Bordeaux 
and  Bayonne  opened  their  gates  to  the  conqueror. 

14.  There  was,  however,  a  great  difference  between  Gascony  and 
Normandy.  In  Normandy  the  French  came  as  deliverers,  while  in 
The  Battle  Grascony  they  came  as  conquerors.  The  men  of  the 
of  Castillon,  south  had  no  complaint  against  the  rule,  of  their  English 
and  the  end  ^u]ieS)  and  the  government  of  Charles  vn.  proved  so 
Hundred  harsh  and  unpopular  that,  in  1451,  they  rose  in  revolt. 
Years' War,  John  Talbot,  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  an  aged  hero  who 
1453.  had  fought  in  every  war  since  the  rebellion  of  Owen 
G-lendower,  was  sent,  in  1452,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army 
from  England,  to  assist  the  revolted  Gascons.  On  his  arrival  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  district  round  Bordeaux  returned  to  the  English 
obedience.  On  July  17,  1453,  Shrewsbury  fought  the  last  battle 
of  the  war  at  Castillon  on  the  Dordogne.  The  French  held  a  large 
entrenched  and  palisaded  camp,  defended  by  three  hundred  pieces  of 
cannon.  The  Anglo- Gascon  troops  rashly  charged  these  formidable 
earthworks,  but  were  decimated  by  the  enemy's  fire  before  they 
reached  the  entrenchments.  Shrewsbury  himself  was  among  the 
slain,  and  on  that  day  the  English  duchy  of  Gascony  finally  perished. 
This  was  the  last  act  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War.  Henceforth 
Calais  alone  represented  the  English  king's  dominions  in  France. 

15.  The  disasters  in  France  created  a  strong  feeling  among  the 
English  against  the  incompetent  statesmen  who  controlled  her 
Murder  of  destinies.  In  the  parliament  of  1450,  Suffolk  was  im- 
Suffolk,  peached,  and  a  long  series  of  charges  brought  against 
1450.  j^jjj  jje  was  accused  of  corruption  and  maladminis- 
tration, of  betraying  the  kings'  counsel  to  the  French,  and  of 
conspiring  to  win  the  throne  for  his  son.  So  loud  was  the  outcry 
against  him,  that  Henry  vi.  dared  not  protect  his  favourite  minister. 
He  declared  the^ charges  against  him  not  proved,  but  strove  to 
appease  the  Commons  and  keep  the  duke  out  of  harm's  way  by 
banishing  him  from  England  for  five  years.  As  Suffolk  was  sailing 
towards  Calais,  his  vessel  was  intercepted  by  a  royal  ship,  called  the 
Nicholas  of  the  Tower,  which  was  lying  in  wait  for  him.     Carried 


1450.J  HENRY  VI.  2/9 

on  board  the  Nicholas  he  was  greeted  with  the  cry  of  "  Welcome, 
traitor!"  and  bidden  to  prepare  for  his  end.  Next  day  he  was 
forced  into  a  little  boat,  and  an  Irishman,  "  one  of  the  lowest  men 
in  the  ship,"  clumsily  cut  off  his  head  with  a  rusty  sword.  The 
headless  body  was  thrown  upon  the  English  coast,  that  all  might 
see  that  not  even  the  king's  favour  could  save  a  man  from  the 
judgment  of  the  commons  of  England. 

16.  The  murder  of  Suffolk  by  the  king's  own  seamen  showed 
that  the  government  was  unable  to  preserve  order.     A  few  weeks' 
later  the  incapacity  of  the  administration  was  further   Revolt  of 
proved  by  a  formidable  rising  of  the  commons  of  Kent.    Jack  Cade, 
Led  by  an  Irish  adventurer,  named  Jack  Cade,  who    145°- 

gave  out  that  he  was  an  illegitimate  son  of  the  last  earl  of  March, 
a  formidable  force  of  Kentish  men  marched  towards  London,  and 
set  up  a  fortified  camp  on  Blackheath.  They  defeated  the  king's 
troops,  and  Henry  was  forced  to  flee  before  them  from  London  to 
the  midlands.  On  his  retreat,  the  citizens  opened  their  gates  to  the 
rebels.  At  first,  Cade  kept  good  order,  but  his  followers  soon  got 
out  of  hand,  slew  the  king's  ministers,  and  began  to  rob  the  citizens 
of  their  property.  Many  of  the  Londoners  now  turned  against 
them,  and  there  was  a  formidable  fight  between  the  citizens  and  the 
rebels  on  London  Bridge.  At  last,  however,  the  Kentish  men  were 
persuaded  to  go  home  under  promise  of  a  general  pardon.  Cade 
now  endeavoured  to  excite  a  fresh  revolt  in  Sussex,  but  was  slain 
by  a  Kentish  squire.  His  death  ended  the  rebellion.  At  first 
sight  the  revolt  reminds  us  of  the  rising  of  1381,  but  the  only 
grievances  of  the  commons  of  Kent  in  1450  were  political.  Their 
rebellion  was  a  protest  against  the  maladministration  which  still 
prevailed  at  court.  Even  the  fall  of  Suffolk  had  taught  nothing  to 
the  king-  and  his  advisers,  and  the  only  way  to  clear  the  council  of 
Suffolk's  party  seemed  to  be  armed  resistance. 

17.  Cade  had  made  use  of  the  name  of  Mortimer ;  and,  soon  after 
his  death,  the  true  heir  of  the  Mortimers,  Bichard,  duke  of  York, 
came  to  London  from  his  Irish  estates,  and  assumed  Th         .tj 
the  leadership  of  the  opposition.     York  was  the  only   of  Richard, 
son  of  Richard,  earl  of  Cambridge,  whom  Henry  v.    duke  of 
had  executed  in  1415,  and  his  wife,  Anne  Mortimer,   York' 
sister  and  heiress  of  Edmund,  the  last  earl  of  March  of  his  house. 
From  his  grandfather,  Edmund  of  Langley,  third  surviving  son  of 
Edward  in.,  he  inherited  the  duchy  of  York,  but  his  real  importance 
was  due  to  his  having  inherited  from  his  mother  the  earldoms  of 
March  and  Ulster,  with  vast  estates  in  the  west  of  England  and  in 


280  HENRY   VI.  [1450 

Ireland.  Moreover,  Anne  Mortimer  was  the  heiress  of  Lionel, 
duke  of  Clarence,  so  that  her  son  represented  the  elder  line  of  the 
descendants  of  Edward  in.  •  Neither  York  nor  his  friends,  however, 
regarded  him  as  a  rival  to  Henry  vi.  as  king.  Duke  Richard's 
object  was  rather  to  renew  the  policy  of  Thomas  of  Lancaster  or 
Humphrey  of  Gloucester.  He  aimed  at  acting  as  the  leader  of  the 
constitutional  opposition,  and  his  chief  motive  was  to  drive  the  un- 
popular courtiers  from  the  king's  council,  and  help  Henry  to  rule 
more  firmly.  Henry  and  Margaret  were,  however,  childless,  and 
York  was  generally  looked  upon  as  the  nearest  heir  to  the  throne. 

18.  About  the  time  York  came  back  from  Ireland,  the  French 
conquest  of  Normandy  compelled  its  discredited  governor,  Somerset, 
Beeinni  to  return  to   England.     Despite  his  proved  incom- 

of  the  Wars  petence  and  possible  treachery,  Somerset  was  cordially 
of  the  Roses,  welcomed  by  king  and  queen,  and  forthwith  put  in  the 
place  which  Suffolk  had  once  occupied.  York  at  once 
demanded  the  dismissal  of  Somerset  from  the  king's  counsels. 
The  outcry  against  the  unpopular  duke  was  soon  increased  by 
the  tidings  of  the  loss  of  Gascony,  and  the  king,  who  was  weak 
and  peace-loving,  might  well  have  yielded  to  the  storm.  Margaret 
of  Anjou,  however,  possessed  the  vigour  and  manliness  which  were 
so  singularly  wanting  in  her  husband,  though  unluckily  she  never 
understood  England,  and  thought  only  of  protecting  her  friends 
against  their  enemies.  Through  her  support  Somerset's  position 
remained  unassailable.  At  last,  in  1452,  York  raised  an  army. 
He  was,  however,  anxious  to  avoid  civil  war,  and  dismissed  his 
forces  on  the  king's  pledging  himself  that  he  should  be  admitted 
to  the  council,  while  Somerset  should  be  imprisoned  until  he  cleared 
himself  of  the  accusations  brought  against  him.  Margaret  pre- 
vented her  husband  from  carrying  out  his  promise,  and  York  soon 
found  that  he  had  been  tricked.  In  1453  the  king  lost  his  reason. 
In  the  same  year  the  birth  of  a  son  to  Henry  and  Margaret — 
Edward,  prince  of  Wales — cut  off  York's  prospects  of  a  peaceful 
succession  to  the  throne,  while  the  tidings  of  the  battle  of  Castillon 
came  to  increase  the  distrust  generally  felt  for  the  negligent 
government.  For  a  time  the  council  carried  on  the  administration 
in  the  king's  name,  but  in  1454  parliament  insisted  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  regent,  and,  to  Margaret's  disgust,  the  Lords  chos6 
York  protector  of  England.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  the  king 
was  restored  to  health,  and  York's  protectorate  was  put  to  an  end. 
Somerset  was  restored  to  power,  and  York  was  even  excluded  from 
the  royal  council.     Irritated  at  this  treatment,  Duke  Richard  once 


-1455-1  HENRY   VI.  28 1 

more  appealed  to  arms.  In  1455  he  defeated  his  enemies  at  the  battle 
"f  St.  Albans,  where  Somerset  was  slain  and  the  king1  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner.  His  agitation  once  more  robbed  Henry  of  his 
reason,  and  for  a  second  time  York  was  made  protector. 

19.  The  battle  of  St.  Albans  is  generally  described  as  marking 
the  beginning  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  so  called  in  later  days 
because  the  house  of  York  had  a  white  rose  as  its   character  - 
badge,  and  the  house  of  Lancaster  was  thought  to  isticsofthe 
have  a  red  rose.     In  reality  the  red  rose  was  not  used  Wars  of 
till  later,  when  it  became  the  badge  of  the  Tudors,  who 

were  the  heirs  of  the  Lancasters.  The  phrase  Wars  of  the  Roses, 
then,  is  a  misnomer ;  but  it  is  one  so  generally  used  that  it  may 
be  allowed  to  stand.  Whatever  their  name,  these  wars  lasted  for 
thirty  years.  It  was  not,  however,  a  period  of  continued  fighting, 
and  affairs  were  not  much  more  disorderly  after  the  battle  of 
St.  Albans  than  before  it.  It  was  rather  a  period  of  short  wars, 
divided  by  longer  periods  of  weak  government.  The  ultimate 
cause  of  the  struggle  was  the  inability  of  Henry. vi.  to  govern 
England.  Part  of  this  was  due  to  Henry's  personal  incompetence, 
but  the  root  of  the  matter  lay  deeper.  The  long  war  with  France 
had  increased  the  greediness  and  ferocity  of  the  English  nobles, 
and  now  that  they  could  no  longer  win  booty  and  glory  abroad, 
they  began  to  fight  fiercely  with  each  other.  Nothing  but  a  strong 
king,  able  to  enforce  his  will,  could  remedy  this  state  of  things. 
Since  1399,  however,  parliament  had  been  so  powerful  that  the 
crown  had  not  enough  power  left  to  do  its  work.  The  Commons 
were  not  yet  strong  and  coherent  enough  to  take  the  lead,  and 
parliamentary  government  meant,  in  practice,  the  rule  of  a  tur- 
bulent nobility,  which  delighted  in  anarchy  and  was  too  proud  to 
obey  the  law.  The  majority  of  the  nobles  were  contented  with 
the  weak  government  of  Henry,  and  even  lent  a  steady  support 
to  Somerset.  The  Commons,  on  the  other  hand,  longed  for  the 
restoration  of  order,  and  upheld  the  cause  of  Richard  of  York 
because  they  thought  him  vigorous  enough  to  put  an  end  to  the 
prevailing  misgovernment. 

20.  Though  most  of  the  nobles  were  Lancastrians,  a  few  great 

houses  supported  the  Yorkists.      Conspicuous  among  these  was  the 

junior  branch  of  the  great  Yorkshire  family  of  the 

Nevilles,  earls  of  Westmorland.      The  head  of  this  T^H°-nSe 
.  .  of  Neville, 

was  Richard  Neville,  who  became  by  marriage  earl  of 

Salisbury,  and  whose  sister  Cicely  was  the  wife  of  Richard  of 

York.     His  eldest  son,  also  named  Richard  Neville,  became  earl  of 


282  HENRY   VI.  [1455- 

Warwick  by  bis  marriage  witb  tbe  beiress  of  tbe  Beaucbamps. 
Botb  father  and  son  bad  taken  a  prominent  sbare  in  winning  tbe 
battle  of  St.  Albans,  and  henceforward  they  were  the  chief  sup- 
porters of  the  Yorkists  (see  for  the  Nevilles  table  on  page  294). 

21.  The  second  protectorate  of  York  was  even  shorter  than  the 
first.     Early  in  1456  tbe  king  regained  his  wits,  and  York  was 

forced  to  resign.  The  death  of  Somerset  weakened  the 
tion  and  the  <lueeil's  party,  and  Henry,  always  honestly  anxious  to 
renewal  of  restore  peace,  allowed  York  to  keep  his  place  on  the 
the  strife,       council.     Both  factions,  however,  bitterly  hated  each 

other,  and  every  nobleman  went  about  with  a  band 
of  armed  followers,  even  when  attending  royal  councils.  The 
country  was  hardly  governed  at  all.  Private  wars  became  common, 
and  the  French  commanded  tbe  Channel  and  plundered  the  coasts. 
Amidst  the  general  confusion  Warwick  showed  himself  the 
strongest  man  in  England.  In  1458  he  gained  a  naval  victory 
over  the  French  which  saved  England  from  invasion.  Soon  after- 
wards he  quarrelled  with  Margaret  and  withdrew  to  Calais,  of 
which  he  was  governor,  leaving  the  queen  supreme.  Next  year 
(1459)  Margaret  strove  to  strengthen  her  position  by  an  attack 
on  Salisbury.  War  was  at  once  renewed.  Salisbury  defeated 
Lord  Audley,  the  queen's  commander,  at  Blore  Heath  in  Stafford- 
shire, near  Market  Drayton.  Soon  afterwards  Warwick  returned 
from  Calais.  The  two  Nevilles  joined  Richard  of  York  at  Ludlow 
the  centre  of  the  Mortimer  estates.  Thereupon  the  king  proceeded 
to  the  Welsh  March,  and  showed  such  activity  that  he  scattered 
the  Yorkist  forces  without  having  to  fight  a  battle.  York  took 
refuge  in  Ireland,  while  Warwick  and  Salisbury  fled  to  Calais. 
After  this  flight  a  packed  parliament  at  Coventry  attainted  all 
the  Yorkist  leaders.    The  triumph  of  the  king  seemed  complete. 

22.  Henry's  sudden  burst  of  energy  did  not  last  long.  The 
next  year,  1460,  Warwick  and  Salisbury  came  back  to  England, 
York  claims  and  with  them  came  Edward,  earl  of  March,  the 
the  throne,     duke  of  York's  eldest  son.     On  July  10  they  fought 

and  won  the  battle  of  Northampton,  when  Henry  was 
taken  prisoner.  York  now  returned  from  Ireland,  and,  when  parlia- 
ment assembled  in  October,  churned  tbe  throne  as  the  nearest  kin  of 
Edward  ni.  through  Lionel  of  Clarence.  Tbe  lords  of  parliament 
courageously  rejected  this  claim,  but  agreed  to  a  compromise,  which* 
Henry,  to  spare  further  bloodshed,  also  accepted.  By  this  Henry 
was  to  keep  the  throne  till  his  death,  but  York  was  declared  his 
successor,  and  was  to  act  as  protector  for  the  rest  of  the  king's  lif e. 


-1461.]  HENRY   VI.  283 

23.  After  the  battle  of  Northampton,  Margaret  had  fled  to 
Wales  with  her  son  Edward.     She  was  bitterly  indignant  with  her 
husband  for  his  weak  abandonment  of  the  rights  of   The  fall  of 
their  child,  and  resolved  to  earry  on  the  struggle   Henry  VI., 
against  Duke  Richard.     With  that  object  she  made    1460-1461« 
her  way  to  Scotland,  where  she  obtained  substantial  help  at  the 
price  of  the  surrender  of  Berwick.    She  was  still  in  Scotland  when 
the  Lancastrian  lords  of  Yorkshire  rose  in  revolt  against  the  rule 
of  York.     In  December,  Richard  hurried  to  the  north  to  suppress 
the  rebellion.     He  kept  his  Christmas  at  his  castle  of  Sandal,  near 
Wakefield,  which  the  enemy  threatened  to  besiege.     York  scorned 
to  be  "  caged  like  a  bird,"  and  on  December  30  marched  out  of 
Sandal  to  offer  battle  to  the  superior  forces  of  the  Lancastrians. 
The  fight  which  ensued,  called  the  battle  of  Wakefield,   Battle  of 
cost  him  his  army  and  his  life.     Salisbury,  who  was    Wakefield, 
taken  prisoner,  was  beheaded  next  day,  and  York's   *4«fc 
younger  son,  the  earl  of  Rutland,  was  butchered  after  the  fight 
by  one  of  the  Lancastrian  lords.     Thereupon  Margaret  hurried 
from  Scotland  and  joined  her  victorious  partisans.    At  the  head  of 
the  fierce  warriors  of  the  north,  she  made  her  way  to  London.    As 
she  approached  the  capital,  Warwick  went  out  to  intercept  her  at 
St.  Albans,  taking  the  king  with  him.     On  February   Seeond 
17, 1461,  the  second  battle  of  St.  Albans  was  fought,  in   Battle  of 
which  Warwick  was  completely  defeated  and  Henry  fell  St.  Albans, 
into  his  wife's  hands.   The  wild  north  countrymen  were, 
however,  so  much  out  of  hand  that  even  the  reckless  Margaret  feared 
to  lead  them  on  to  London  lest  they  should  wreak  such  atrocities  as 
should  permanently  alienate  the  citizens  from  her  cause.     While 
she  hesitated,  Edward,  earl  of  March,  now  duke  of  York  by  his 
father's  death,  effectively  rallied  his  party.     A  fortnight  before 
Margaret's  victory,  he  had  scattered  the  Lancastrians  of  the  west 
at  the  battle  of  Mortimer's  Cross,  near  Leominster.   Battle  of 
Thereupon  he  hastened  towards  London  at  the  head  of   Mortimer's 
a  great  army  of  Welshmen  and  Marchers  from  his  own  Cross,  1461. 
estates.     He  joined  Warwick's  beaten  troops  on  the  way,  and  nine 
days  after  the  battle  of   St.  Albans,  took  possession  of  London. 
Soon  after,  Warwick's  brother,  George  Neville,  bishop  of  Worcester, 
the  Yorkist  chancellor,  declared  to  the  citizens  that  Edward  might 
rightly  claim  the  crown.     On  March  4,  Edward  seated  himself  on 
the  royal  throne  in  Westminster  Hall  and  asked  the  people  if  they 
would  have  him  as  king.     A  shout  of  "  Yea,  yea  !  "  rose  from  the 
assembly,  and  henceforth  the  pretender  ruled  as  Edward  iv. 


284 


HENRY   VI. 


L1461. 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  YORK,  INCLUDING  THE  MORTIMERS 
AND  STAFFORDS 


Roger  Mortimer, 

1st  earl  of  March,  d.  1330, 

great-grandfather  of 


Edward  III. 

("See  table  on  page  254). 


(3) 


(5) 


(6) 


Edmund  Mortimer, 
earl  of  March,  d.  1381. 


Lionel  of  Antwerp, 

duke  of  Clarence, 

m.  Elizabeth  de 

Burgh. 

m.    Philippa. 


Edmund  of 
Langley, 
duke  of  York, 
d.  1401. 


Roger  Mortimer, 

earl  of  March, 

d.  1398. 


Sir  Edmund 
Mortimer,  m. 
daughter  of 
Owen  Glendower. 


Elizabeth 
Mortimer, 
m.  Henry 

Percy, 
"Hotspur." 


I 
Edmund  Mortimer 
earl  of  March, 
d.  1424. 


Anne  Mortimer  m.  Richard,  earl  of 
Cambridge, 
d.  1415. 


Thomas  of  Woodstock 
duke  of  Gloucester, 
m.  heiress  of 
Bohuns. 

I 
Anne 
m.  Edmund  Stafford, 
great-grandparents  of 
Henry  Stafford, 
duke  of  Buckingham, 
d.  1483. 
I 
Edward  Stafford, 
duke  of 
Buckingham, 
d.  1521. 


Richard,  duke  of  York,  m.  Cicely  Neville 

d.  1460.  (see'table  on  page  294). 


1 

Edward,  earl 

1 
Edmund, 

1 
George, 

1 
Richard, 

Margaret, 

of  March, 

earl  of 

duke  of 

duke  of 

m.  Charles, 

Edward  iv., 

Rutland, 

Clarence, 

Gloucester. 

the  Rash 

1461-1483, 

d.  1460. 

d.  1478. 

Richard  hi., 

duke  of 

m.  Elizabeth 

kj.  Isabella 

1483-1485. 

Burgundy 

Woodville 

Neville 

m.  Anne 

(see  table 

(for  her  family 

(see  table 

Neville 

on  page  269) 

see  table  on 

on  page  294). 

(see  table 

page  299). 

1 

on  page  294). 

Edward  v., 
1483. 


Richard,  duke 
of  York, 
d.  1483. 


Elizabeth, 

m.  Henry  vii. 

1485-1509. 

Henry  viii., 

1509-1547 

(see  table  on  page  419). 


Catharine, 

m.  Edward 

Courtenay, 

earl  of 
Devonshire. 

Henry  Courtenay 
marquis  of  Exeter 
d.  1538. 


Persons  not  mentioned  in  the  text  in  italics. 


CHAPTER   IV 
EDWARD   IV.   (1461-1483) 

Chief  Dates : 

1461.    Accession  of  Edward  iv.  and  battle  of  Towton. 
1464.     Battles  of  Hedgeley  Moor  and  Hexham. 

1470.  Restoration  of  Henry  vi. 

1471.  Battles  of  Barnet  and  Tewkesbury. 
1475.     Treaty  of  Picquigni. 

1478.     Death  of  Clarence. 
1483.     Death  of  Edward  iv. 

1.  Edward  iv.  was  only  nineteen  years  old  when  lie  became  kings 
but  had  already  shown  himself  to  be  a  born  general  and  leader  of 
men.  He  was  exceedingly  tall  and  good-looking,  and  E(jwapd  IV 
his  winning  manners  made  him  personally  popular.  He  and  the 
was  inclined  to  carelessness  and  self-indulgence,  but  Yorkist 
whenever  he  spurred  himself  to  take  action,  he  showed  par  y* 
wonderful  decision  and  vigour.  Though  pleasure-loving,  greedy, 
and  cruel,  he  was  just  the  strong  man  needed  to  save  England 
from  anarchy.  He  owed  his  throne  to  his  wisdom  in  the  camp 
and  in  the  cabinet,  and  few  Englishmen  concerned  themselves  as 
to  whether  he  were  the  nearest  heir  of  Edward  m.  All  those 
parts  of  England,  and  all  those  classes  of  society  to  which  peace 
and  good  order  mattered  most  were  his  partisans.  The  townsman, 
the  trader,  and  the  artisan,  the  whole  of  the  south  and  east,  then 
the  richest  part  of  the  country,  were  in  his  favour.  The  Londoners 
strongly  supported  him.  Besides  these,  Edward  owed  much  of  his 
triumph  to  the  steady  backing  of  Warwick,  who,  after  his  father's 
death,  united  in  himself  the  Beauchamp  and  Montagu  inheritances. 
Warwick  had  enormous  estates  all  over  the  country,  and  could  raise 
an  army  of  his  own  tenants  in  the  west  midlands.  Gentlemen  of 
good  estate  thought  it  an  honour  to  wear  his  livery  and  display  his 
badge  of  the  bear  and  ragged  staff.  Men  called  him  the  King- 
maker, because  he  had  done  so  much  to  win  Edward  the  crown. 
His  services  to  Edward  were  even  more  signal  than  those  which  the 
Percies  had  rendered  to   Henry  rv.      Another  great  source  of 

285 


286 


EDWARD  IV. 


[1461- 


strength  to  the  new  king  were  his  own  vast  estates,  and  especially 
the  enormons  territories  which  he  inherited  from  the  Mortimers. 

2.  Many  still  regretted  the  rule  of  Lancaster.  There  was 
still  much  sympathy  for  the  gentle  and  unoffending  king,  and 
Battle  of  every  tenant  of  the  broad  estates  of  the  house  of 
Towton,  Lancaster  felt  personal  devotion  to  his  cause.    Outside 

1461.  j^g  hereditary  lands,  Henry's  chief  supporters  were 

the  fierce  barons  of  the  north,  who  had  profited  by  his  weakness 
to  build  up  their  own  power.     All  the  great  names  of  the  north 


ag» 


Emery  Wilier  sc. 


BATTLE   OF  TOWTON. 


country,  such  as  Clifford  and  Percy,  were  on  his  side,  including 
even  the  senior  branch  of  the  house  of  Neville,  which  held  the 
earldom  of  Westmorland.  The  natural  antagonism  of  the  Princi- 
pality and  the  March  made  the  Welsh  good  friends  of  Henry. 
Accordingly,  when,  after  Edward's  proclamation,  Margaret  hurried 
with  her  husband  to  the  north,  the  Lancastrian  partisans  were 
still  able  to  fight  desperately.  Edward  at  once  followed  Mar- 
garet to  Yorkshire,  and,  on  Palm  Sunday,  1461,  the  decisiye  battle 
of  the  war  was  fought  between  the  northern  and  southern  armies 


-1464.]  EDWARD  IV.  287 

at  Towton,  three  miles  south  of  Tadcaster,  in  Yorkshire.  The 
Lancastrians  were  stationed  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  rising 
ground  overlooking  the  depression  called  Towtondale,  between  the 
villages  of  Towton  and  Saxton.  Their  left  extended  to  the  main 
road  from  the  south  to  Tadcaster  and  York,  while  their  right 
stretched  towards  the  Cock  beck,  a  tributary  of  the  Ouse.  A 
blinding  snowstorm  blew  into  their  faces,  and  almost  prevented  the 
armies  seeing  each  other.  On  such  a  day  there  was  little  opportunity 
for  manoeuvring,  and  even  archery  was  ineffective.  Nevertheless, 
Edward  marshalled  his  inferior  forces  with  such  consummate  skill 
that  the  Lancastrians  lost  the  chief  advantages  derived  from  their 
strong  position  and  numerical  superiority.  The  southerners  fought 
their  way  bit  by  bit  up  the  slopes  of  the  hill,  and  finally  drove  the 
northerners  in  panic  flight  from  the  field.  The  slaughter  was 
terrible.  Many  fugitives  were  drowned  in  the  swollen  Cock,  and 
the  snow  along  the  York  road  was  stained  with  their  blood.  Henry 
and  Margaret  fled  to  Scotland,  and  their  open  alliance  with  England's 
traditional  enemies  robbed  them  of  their  last  chance  of  the  throne. 

3.  For  the  next  nine  years  Edward  iv.  was  monarch  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name.  He  returned  to  London,  and  was  crowned  king.  His 
brothers,  George  and  Richard,  were  made  dukes  of 

Clarence  and  Gloucester,  and  parliament  attainted  5*25E|iw 
Henry  and  the  chief  Lancastrian  partisans.  Even 
now  Margaret  did  not  lose  heart.  She  sought  help  from  the 
French  as  well  as  the  Scots,  and  for  the  next  four  years  her 
attempts  to  stir  up  risings  in  the  north  made  Edward's  throne 
insecure.  The  last  of  these  efforts  was  in  1464,  and  was  crushed 
by  the  Yorkist  victories  of  Hedgeley  Moor  and  Hexham.  Henry  vi., 
who  had  joined  the  rebels,  narrowly  escaped  capture  in  the  pursuit 
that  followed  the  latter  battle.  The  Scots  now  abandoned  him, 
and  made  a  long  truce  with  Edward.  For  more  than  a  year  the 
deposed  king  hid  himself  away  amidst  the  wild  moorland  that 
separates  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire.  At  last  he  was  captured  near 
Clitheroe,  in  Bibblesdale,  and  taken  to  London.  Misfortune  and 
harsh  treatment  soon  robbed  him  of  his  small  wits ;  but,  as  long  as 
his  son  lived  and  was  free,  it  was  the  obvious  interest  of  Edward 
to  keep  him  alive. 

4.  No  sooner  had  Henry's  captivity  secured  the  throne  for 
Edward  iv.  than  difficulties  arose  between  the  new  king  and  his 
own  partisans.  Warwick  expected  to  keep  him  in  constant  con- 
trol. The  earl  secured  for  his  brother  George  the  archbishopric 
of  York,  and  placed  his  other  brother,  John,  in  the  earldom  of 


288  EDWARD   IV.  [1468- 

Northumberland,  forfeited  by  the  Percies  through  their  obstinate 
adhesion  to  Lancaster.  Now. that  peace  was  restored  at  home, 
Th  n  file  f°reig"11  policy  again  became  important,  and  Warwick, 
and  the  adopting  the  traditions  of  the  Beanf  orts,  urged  Edward 

Woodville  to  make  an  alliance  with  France,  which  was  then  ruled 
marriage.  ^  j^Q  crafty  and  politic  Louis  XL,  who  had  succeeded 
his  father,  Charles  vu.,  in  1461.  Louis  was  anxious  to  win  Edward's 
support,  because  he  was  engaged  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  with 
the  House  of  Burgundy,  now  ruled  by  Charles  the  Rash,  son  of 
Philip  the  Good.  The  Burgundian  power  extended  over  the  whole 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  its  duke  rivalled  the  king  of  France, 
and  surpassed  the  emperor  in  wealth,  power,  and  importance. 
Accordingly,  Louis  proposed  that  Edward  should  wed  Bona  of 
Savoy,  the  sister  of  his  queen.  Warwick  eagerly  supported  this 
proposal,  and  prepared  to  embark  for  France  to  bring  about  the 
match.  Before  he  could  start,  Edward  publicly  announced  that  he 
was  already  married.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Woodville,  daughter 
of  Lord  Rivers,  and  widow  of  Sir  John  Grey,  who  had  perished, 
fighting  for  Lancaster,  in  the  second  battle  of  St.  Albans.  The 
lady  was  poor,  and  her  family  was  insignificant,  but  her  beauty 
attracted  the  king,  who  was  very  glad  to  inflict  a  public  slight  on 
the  too-presumptuous  Warwick  by  ostentatiously  putting  him  into 
a  false  position.  Edward  soon  broke  with  the  French  and  made  an 
alliance  with  Charles  of  Burgundy,  who,  in  1468,  married  Margaret, 
the  king's  sister.  In  his  anxiety  to  free  himself  from  the  control 
of  the  Nevilles,  Edward  strove  to  raise  up  in  the  kinsmen  of 
the  new  queen  a  party  devoted  to  himself  and  bitterly  hostile  to 
Warwick  (see  table  on  page  299).  Her  father  became  Earl 
Rivers,  her  brothers  and  sisters  made  rich  marriages,  and  soon  a 
family  party  arose  whose  wealth,  arrogance,  and  want  of  ancestral 
dignity  made  them  bitterly  hated  by  the  old  nobles. 

5.  Warwick   lost  all   his  influence  at  court,  and  his  brother, 
the  archbishop  of  York,  was  driven  from  the  chancery.     In  deep 

disgust,  the  king-maker  sought  for  an  ally  against  the 
Welles  and  king,  and  found  one  in  Edward's  vain  and  worthless 
Robin  of  brother,  George,  duke  of  Clarence,  who  fully  shared 
1I?4fiqSdale,      Warwick's    jealousy    against    the    queen's    kinsmen. 

Warwick  had  no  son,  and  his  two  daughters,  Isabella 
and  Anne,  were  likely  to  divide  his  great  possessions.  In  1470 
Warwick  married  Isabella,  his  elder  daughter,  to  Clarence,  and 
lured  his  son-in-law  into  treason  by  holding  out  hopes  of  putting 
him  on  his  brother's  throne.     In  1469  Warwick's  kinsfolk  and 


-i47o.]  EDWARD  IV.  289 

dependents  stirred  up  a  popular  rising  against  Edward.  The 
rebels,  commanded  by  a  knight  who  took  the  false  name  of  Robin  of 
Redesdale,  defeated  the  king's  troops  at  Edgecote,  near  Banbury, 
and  beheaded  the  queen's  father,  whom  they  took  prisoner.  Edward 
was  reduced  to  such  distress  that  he  surrendered  to  Archbishop 
Neville,  and  remained  for  a  time  at  the  mercy  of  his  foes.  Next 
year  (1470)  the  tide  turned.  There  was  another  rising  of  the  Neville 
partisans,  headed  by  Sir  Robert  "Welles.  Edward  put  this  down 
with  promptitude  at  Stamford,  where  the  insurgents  threw  off  their 
coats  to  run  away  with  such  haste  that  men  called  the  day  Lose 
Coat  Field.  Welles,  taken  prisoner,  confessed  that  there  had  been 
a  plot  to  make  Clarence  king.  Edward  then  sought  to  lay  hands 
upon  his  enemies,  and  Warwick  and  Clarence  took  ship  for  France. 

6.  Louis  xi.  gave  the  exiles  a  cordial  welcome.  The  French 
king  was  anxious  to  weaken  Charles  of  Burgundy  by  driving 
Edward  from  the  throne,  and  was  shrewd  enough  to  Aii«anee  f 
•see  that  Warwick's  best  way  of  winning  back  his  Warwick 
position  in  England  was  by  effecting  a  reconciliation  &nd  Mar- 
between  him  and  the  Lancastrians.  After  much  6-aret. 
difficulty,  Louis  managed  to  make  an  alliance  between  Warwick 
and  Margaret  of  Anjou,  who,  since  her  husband's  captivity,  had 
lived  in  France.  It  was  arranged  that  her  son,  Edward,  prince  of 
Wales,  should  marry  Anne  Neville,  Warwick's  younger  daughter, 
and  Warwick  promised  henceforward  to  be  faithful  to  Henry  vi. 
Louis  then  equipped  a  small  expedition,  and  sent  Warwick  and 
Clarence  to  England.  In  September  they  landed  at  Plymouth, 
and,  profiting  by  Edward's  absence  in  the  north,  marched  to 
London,  and  brought  back  Henry  vi.  from  the  Tower  to  the 
throne.  Edward,  unable  to  resist,  fled  to  the  Netherlands,  where 
he  took  shelter  with  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  the  Rash.  Thus 
Warwick  once  more  proved  his  right  to  his  title  of  king-maker. 
He  was  now  monarch  in  all  but  name,  for  misfortunes  had  reduced 
Henry  to  permanent  imbecility.  The  restored  monarch  was  now. 
we  are  told,  "  like  a  sack  of  wool,"  and  "  as  mute  as  a  crowned  calf." 

7.  Henry's  vi.'s    nominal    restoration   to   power    lasted    from 
October,  1470,  to  May,  1471.     In  March,  1471,  Edward  iv.  landed 
at    Ravenspur,    on   the    Humber,    where    Henry    of   Therestora- 
Lancaster    had    landed   in    1399.     Englishmen    who    tion  of 
had  been  too  apathetic  to  save  him  from  his  dfi-feat,    Henry  VI., 
stood  aside  with  equal   indifference  while  he  strove  "        * 
to  win  back  power.     At  first  Edward  gave  out  that  he  had  only 
^returned  to  claim  his  father's  duchy  of  York,  but,  as  followers 

U 


290 


EDWARD  IV. 


[1470- 


gathered  round  Mm,  lie   openly  announced  that  lie  wished  to 
regain   the  throne.     Before   long  he  was  joined  by  his  brother 


Emery  WaUcer  sc. 

Clarence,   who    saw  that   "Warwick's  alliance  with  the   Lancas- 
trians was  fatal  to  his  personal  ambitions.     The  brothers  then 


-147 1.]  EDWARD  IV.  29 1 

pushed  south  for  London,  which  opened  its  gates  to  them  on 
April  11.  Thereupon  Henry  vi.  was  put  back  in  the  Tower,  and 
Edward  was  once  more  recognized  as  king.  Edward  then  marched 
out  of  London,  and  on  Easter  Sunday,  April  14,  gave  battle  to 
Warwick  at  Barnet,  ten  miles  to  the  north  of  the  capital.  The 
fight  took  place  in  a  thick  mist,  so  that  everything  depended 
upon  hard  hand-to-hand  fighting.  Warwick  and  his  brother  John, 
marquis  of  Montagu,  were  slain  on  the  field,  and  the  death  of  the 
king-maker  consummated  the  triumph  of  the  Yorkists.  With  all 
his  vigour  and  energy,  Warwick  had  shown  no  striking  capacity 
either  as  a  soldier  or  as  a  statesman.  His  chief  motive  of  action 
was  the  acquisition  of  power  for  himself  and  his  family.  He  is 
the  last  conspicuous  embodiment  of  the  great  baronial  class  whose 
turbulence  had  reduced  England  to  anarchy. 

8.  Margaret,  who  had  hitherto  tarried  in  France,  landed  in  the 
west  of  England  along  with  her  son  on  the  fatal  Easter  Day 
which  witnessed  the  ruin  of  her  cause.  Yet  even  jh&  Battle 
now  a  considerable  force  from  the  south-west  and  ofTewkes- 
from  Wales  rallied  round  her.  Edward  hastened  to  bupy>  1471. 
check  her  progress,  and  on  May  4  the  Lancastrians  stood  at  bay  at 
Tewkesbury.  Edward  easily  won  the  day,  and  took  Margaret  and 
Edward  prisoners.  The  young  prince  of  Wales  was  barbarously 
butchered,  and  the  same  fate  befel  the  duke  of  Somerset,  the  third 
head  of  the  house  of  Beaufort  who  had  lost  his  life  in  the  civil 
wars.  Margaret  was  taken  by  her  captors  to  London,  and  was 
kept  in  prison  for  the  next  five  years,  after  which  she  was  suffered 
to  go  home  to  Prance  to  die.  Immediately  after  Edward's  arrival 
in  London,  it  was  given  out  that  her  husband  had  died  in  the 
Tower,  "  out  of  pure  displeasure  and  melancholy."  It  was  generally 
believed  that  he  was  murdered,  and  rumour  made  Edward's  brother, 
Richard  of  Gloucester,  specially  responsible  for  the  crime.  In  truth, 
after  his  son's  death,  Henry's  life  was  no  longer  valuable  to  Edward, 
so  he  ordered  him  to  be  slain  without  delay.  Of  all  the  cruel  deeds 
of  this  pitiless  time  none  was  more  wanton  than  the  death  of  the 
harmless  and  saintly  king. 

9.  Edward  reigned  in  peace  and  without  a  rival  for  the  rest  of 
his  life.  His  position  was  much  stronger  than  in  the  earlier  period 
of  his  rule,  and  he  soon  felt  himself  able  to  revenge  himself  on 
Louis  xi.  for  abetting  Warwick.  In  1475  he  agreed  to  unite  with 
his  brother-in-law,  Charles  of  Burgundy,  in  a  combined  attack  on 
France.  Parliament  gladly  voted  a  liberal  subsidy,  and  Edward 
marched  out  of  Calais  at  the  head  of  a  large  and  brilliant  force. 


292  EDWARD  IV.  [1475" 

Much  to  his  disgust,  Charles  joined  him,  not  with  an  army,  but 
almost  alone.  The  duke  of  Burgundy  had  unwisely  gone  to  war  in 
Edward  IV  Germany,  though  his  French  rival  was  still  unbeaten. 
Burgundy,  Edward  and  Charles  disliked  each  other  already,  and 
and  France.  Charles's  lack  of  faith  gave  the  English  king  a  good 
excuse  for  deserting  so  untrustworthy  an  ally.  Louis,  eager  to  win 
England  to  his  side,  was  lavish  in  promises,  and  at  last  the  two  kings 
held  a  meeting  on  the  bridge  of  Picquigni,  a  village  on  the  Somme, 
between  Abbeville  and  Amiens.  So  distrustful  were  they  of  each 
other  that  they  kept  themselves  apart  by  a  wooden  partition,  and 
talked  through  a  grating.  In  the  treaty  of  Picquigni  Louis  bought 
peace  with  England  by  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  and 
a  promise  to  marry  his  son  to  Edward's  daughter.  Edward  then 
returned  home,  leaving  Charles  to  his  fate.  Two  years  later,  in 
1477,  the  rash  duke  of  Burgundy  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Nancy, 
in  the  course  of  an  unsuccessful  war  which  he  had  foolishly  pro- 
voked with  the  Swiss.  Louis  XL  now  annexed  Burgundy  to 
France,  but  could  not  prevent  the  Netherlands  going  to  Mary, 
Charles's  daughter,  though  not  by  his  English  wife,  Margaret  of 
York.  Mary  married  the  Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria,  and 
we  shall  soon  hear  again  of  her  descendants.  Even  after  this 
check,  Louis  XL  was  so  powerful  that  he  had  no  longer  any  need 
to  humour  the  king  of  England.  Just  before  the  death  of  both 
kings  in  1483,  Louis  repudiated  the  marriage  arranged  at 
Picquigni,  and  ceased  paying  subsidies  to  keep  England  quiet. 
Edward  was  so  much  mortified  that  the  French  believed  he  died 
of  grief  at  the  news  of  this  breach  with  France.  But  for  his  death 
a  renewal  of  war  would  have  probably  ensued. 

10.  Edward  was  the  strongest  ruler  of  England  since  Edward  in. 
He  was  popular  with  the  people,  and  especially  with  the  merchants, 
Home  policy  because  he  kept  the  nobles  in  good  order  and  sternly 
of  Edward      put  down  private  war.     He  ruled  in  a  very  different 

fashion  from  that  of  the  Lancastrians.  He  looked 
on  parliaments  with  suspicion,  and  summoned  them  as  seldom 
as  he  could.  When  he  wanted  money  he  did  not  always  go  to 
parliament,  but  often  asked  his  subjects  to  give  him  what  was 
called  a  benevolence.  This  was  nominally  a  free  gift  offered  by 
the  subject  to  the  king,  but  in  reality  those  who  were  asked  to 
give  a  benevolence  dared  not  refuse  to  pay  it.  Edward  did  not, 
however,  risk  the  popularity  which  he  loved  by  exacting  too  large 
sums  from  his  subjects. 

11.  Clarence  soon  began  once  more  to  excite  the  suspicions  of 


-1483.]  EDWARD  IV.  293 

the  king.  He  had  been  fully  pardoned  for  his  treachery  in  1470. 
He  was  made  earl  of  Warwick  and  Salisbury,  and  hoped  to  secure 
for  himself  the  whole  inheritance  of  his  father-in-  f 

law,  the  king-maker.  He  found,  however,  a  rival  for  clarence 
the  Warwick  estates  in  his  younger  and  abler  brother,  1478,  and 
Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester.  Anne  Neville,  War-  Edward  IV., 
wick's  younger  daughter,  was  the  widow  of  the 
unfortunate  son  of  Henry  vi.  In  1472  she  was  prevailed  upon 
to  marry  Richard  of  Gloucester,  the  reputed  murderer  of  her  first 
husband.  Henceforward  the  two  brothers  were  rivals  for  the 
Neville  and  Beauchamp  lands,  and  Clarence  became  very  dis- 
contented when  Edward  assigned  the  larger  portion  of  them  to 
his  brother.  Things  grew  worse  when  Isabella  Neville  died, 
and  Clarence  sought  to  upset  his  brother's  good  understanding 
with  Prance  by  a  proposal,  which  came  to  nothing,  that  he  should 
marry  Mary  of  Burgundy,  the  heiress  of  Charles  the  Rash. 
Clarence  now  had  against  him  the  king,  Gloucester,  and  the 
powerful  kinsmen  of  the  queen.  In  1478  he  was  accused  of 
treason,  attainted  in  parliament,  and  condemned  to  execution. 
Edward  was  afraid  to  slay  Clarence  openly,  and  put  him  privately 
to  death  in  the  Tower.  It  was  believed  at  the  time  that  he  was 
drowned  in  a  butt  of  Malmsey  wine.  Five  years  later,  in  April, 
1483,  Edward  iv.  died. 


294 


EDWARD  IV. 


[1483. 


GENEALOGY  OF   THE  NEVILLES 

John  Lord  Neville  of  Raby, 
d.  1388. 

Ralph  Neville,  1st  Earl  of  Westmorland, 
d.  1425. 


John  Neville, 

1 
Richard  Neville, 

1 

Cicely, 

ancestor  of  the 

earl  of  Salisbury, 

m.  Richard, 

earls  of  West- 

m 

heiress  of  Montagus, 

duke  of  York, 

morland,  elder 

d.  1460. 

d.  1460  (see 

and  Lancastrian 

table  on 

branch  of  the 

page  284). 

family. 

Richard  Neville, 

1 
John  Neville, 

George 

earl  of  Warwick 

sometime 

Neville, 

and  Salisbury,  the 

earl  of 

bishop  of 

king-maker,  d.  1471 

Northumberland 

Worcester 

m.  heiress  of 

and  marquis 

and  arch- 

Beauchamps. 

1 

0 

f  Montagu. 
.  (1)  Edward, 

bishop  of  York. 

1 
Isabella, 

1 
Anne,  m 

m.  George, 

prince  of  Wales, 

duke  of  Clarence. 

d.  1471,  (2)  Richard, 

i 

duke  of  Gloucester, 
Richard  in.,  d.  1485. 

| 

| 

Edward, 

Margaret, 

earl  of 

countess  of 

Warwick, 

Salisbury, 

d.  1499. 

d.  1541. 
Reginald  Pole, 

cardinal  and  arch- 

bishop of  Canterbury, 

d.  1558. 

Persons  not  mentioned  in  the  text  in  italics. 


CHAPTER  V 
EDWARD  V.   AND   RICHARD   III.  (1483-1485) 

Chief  Dates :  I 

1483.     Reign  of  Edward  v.    Accession  of  Richard  in. 
1485.     Battle  of  Bosworth  and  death  of  Richard  in. 

1.  Edward  iv.  left  two  sons.  The  elder,  who  was  only  twelve  years 
old,  now  became  Edward  v.,  and  his  younger  brother,  Richard,  had 
already  been  made  duke  of  York.  By  the  late  king's 
will,  the  guardianship  of  the  young  king  went  to  his  1483  " 
uncle,  Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester,  who  was  at  once 
acknowledged  as  lord  protector  by  the  council.  Richard  had  kept 
on  good  terms  with  the  queen's  kinsmen,  and  they  doubtless  expected 
to  share  power  with  him.  The  chief  of  the  queen's  family  were  her 
brother  Antony  Woodville,  Earl  Rivers,  and  her  two  sons  by  her  first 
marriage,  Thomas  Grey,  marquis  of  Dorset,  and  Sir  Richard  Grey. 
At  the  moment  of  his  accession  the  young  king  was  at  Ludlow,  in 
the  custody  of  his  uncle  Rivers  and  his  half-brother,  Richard 
Grey.  Fearful  lest  Gloucester  should  put  an  end  to  their  influence, 
they  formed  a  plan  with  the  queen  for  Edward's  immediate  corona- 
tion, hoping  that  this  would  put  an  end  to  Gloucester's  protectorate, 
and  make  the  Woodvilles  and  Greys  masters  of  the  kingdom.  '  The 
upstart  kjnsmen  of  the  queen  were,  however,  very  unpopular,  and 
were  particularly  disliked  by  the  old  nobles,  whom  they  had  driven 
from  the  court  and  council  of  the  late  king.  The  most  important 
of  the  old  nobles  was  Henry  Stafford,  duke  of  Buckingham,  a 
descendant  of  Thomas  of  Woodstock,  the  son  of  Edward  in.,  and 
the  representative  of  the  great  house  of  the  Bohuns.  Buckingham, 
-though  married  to  a  sister  of  the  queen,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  her 
policy.  He  made  common  cause  with  Gloucester,  and  the  two 
allies  showed  great  vigour  in  striking  against  their  enemies.  As 
-the  young  king  was  riding  from  Ludlow  to  London,  escorted  by 
Uivers  and  Richard  Grey,  Gloucester  and  Buckingham  fell  upon 
shim,  took  Rivers  and  Grey  prisoners,  and   secured  the  persona] 

295 


296  EDWARD    V.   AND  RICHARD  III.  [1483- 

custody  of  Edward,  whom  they  brought  to   London.     In  great 
alarm  Queen  Elizabeth  fled  for  sanctuary  to  Westminster  Abbey. 

2.  Gloucester's  first  move  was  so  successful  that  it  encouraged 
him  to  go  further  and  aim  at  the  crown.  He  found  a  fresh 
The  deposi-  difficulty  when  some  of  the  nobles,  who  had  cordially 
tion  of  supported  him  against  the  Woodvilles,  refused  to  join 
Edward  V.  with  him  in  this  further  step.  At  the  head  of  this 
party  was  Lord  Hastings,  a  prominent  friend  of  Edward  iv.,  and, 
up  to  now,  a  conspicuous  ally  of  Gloucester.  Gloucester  showed 
the  same  vigour  against  Hastings  that  he  had  shown  against  the 
Woodvilles.  On  June  13  he  accused  Hastings  of  treason,  during  a 
meeting  of  the  council.  After  a  stormy  scene,  Gloucester  struck 
his  fist  sharply  on  the  table,  whereupon  soldiers  rushed  in,  dragged 
Hastings  out,  and  at  once  cut  off  his  head  on  a  log  of  timber. 
Rivers  and  Grey  were  now  executed,  and  Dorset  only  saved  his  life 
by  flight  beyond  sea.  The  queen  was  persuaded  to  surrender  the 
duke  of  York  to  the  protector,  who  forthwith  shut  him  up  in  the 
Tower,  where  the  king  was  already  in  safe  custody.  The  protector's- 
next  step  was  to  win  over  the  Londoners  to  his  side.  Next  Sunday, 
June  22,  his  partisan,  Dr.  Shaw,  brother  of  the  mayor,  delivered  a 
sermon  at  St.  Paul's  on  the  text,  "  Bastard  slips  shall  not  take  deep 
root."  The  preacher  declared  that  Edward  iv.  had  made  a  contract 
to  marry  another  lady  before  he  had  wedded  Elizabeth  Woodville, 
and  that  therefore  his  marriage  with  her  was  invalid.  As  a  result 
of  this,  the  young  king  and  his  brother  were  illegitimate.  Doubts 
were  also  cast  on  the  lawful  birth  of  Edward  r\\  and  Clarence,  and 
the  duke  of  Gloucester  was  declared  to  be  the  rightful  heir  to  the 
crown.  The  Londoners  heard  this  strange  tale  in  silence ;  but, 
two  days  later,  Buckingham  repeated  Shaw's  statements  in  the 
Guildhall  to  the  mayor  and  chief  citizens.  The  majority  of  his 
audience  was  still  unmoved,  but  a  few  of  the  retainers  of  the  two 
dukes  raised  shouts  of  "  King  Richard ! "  and  their  cry  was  sup- 
posed to  be  evidence  that  the  city  had  declared  itself  in  favour  of 
the  protector.  Parliament  met  next  day,  and  begged  Richard  to 
accept  the  throne.  After  a  sham  pretence  of  reluctance,  Gloucester 
fell  in  with  their  wishes.  On  July  6  he  was  crowned  Richard  in. 
in  Westminster  Abbey.  After  this  event  nothing  more  is  known 
as, to  the  fate  of  the  deposed  Edward  v.  and  his  brother  Richard 
of  York.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  they  were  murdered  in  the 
Tower  by  their  uncle's  orders. 

3.  In  the  sordid  revolution  which  made  Richard  in.  king,  Buck- 
ingham  had  played    the   part   of  a    king-maker.     Richard    now 


-1485.]  EDWARD    V.  AND  RICHARD  III.  297 

overwhelmed  him  with  favours,  and  even  promised  to  surrender  to 
him  the  half  of  the  Bohun  estates  which  Henry  iv.,  in  the  right  of  his 
mother,  had  brought  to  the  crown.  Yet  Buckingham  Richard  III. 
soon  became  discontented,  and  his  inordinate  ambition  and  Buck- 
made  him  look  still  higher.  In  August  he  fled  from  ln»nam- 
court,  and  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  at  Brecon.  At  first  he  thought 
of  claiming  the  throne  for  himself,  but  in  the  end  he  was  prudent 
enough  to  unite  with  the  remnants  of  the  Lancastrian  party,  which 
was  still  strong  in  Wales.  At  the  head  of  a  considerable  force  of 
Welshmen,  Buckingham  marched  as  far  eastwards  as  the  Severn. 
But  the  river  was  in  flood,  and  he  could  not  effect  a  passage  over  it. 
This  check  soon  proved  fatal  to  his  hopes.  His  forces  melted  away, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  flee  in  disguise.  Before  long  he  was  tracked 
to  his  hiding-place,  and  on  November  2  was  beheaded  in  the  market- 
place of  Salisbury. 

4.  Early  in  1484  Richard  met  his  parliament.  It  attainted 
Buckingham  and  the  other  enemies  of  the  king,  and  passed  many 
useful  acts,  conspicuous  among  which  was  a  statute  Rjehard 
declaring  benevolences  illegal.  Its  proceedings  show  III.'s  policy, 
that  Richard  was  making  a  bid  for  popular  favour,  1483-1485. 
and  striving  to  pose  as  a  constitutional  Yorkist  king.  He  was 
anxious  to  remove  the  bad  impression  created  by  the  crimes 
through  which  he  had  won  his  way  to  the  throne,  and  he  was 
so  able  a  man  that  he  might  very  well  have  become  a  good  ruler 
and  a  useful  king  if  he  had  had  the  chance  of  developing  his  policy. 
However,  his  power  rested  on  too  narrow  and  personal  a  basis.  He 
could  not  conciliate  the  Lancastrians,  and  he  had  hopelessly  set 
against  himself  most  of  the  supporters  of  York.  He  could  expect 
no  faithful  service  from  the  selfish  nobles  who  had  helped  him  to 
the  throne,  and  constant  intrigues  and  conspiracies  made  his  position 
insecure.  Moreover,  domestic  troubles  further  clouded  his  prospects. 
His  only  son  and  his  wife  died.  Thereupon  he  thought  of  making 
his  heir,  Edward,  earl  of  Warwick,  the  son  of  Clarence.  Richard 
also  proposed  to  marry  his  own  niece  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of 
Edward  iv.  and  Elizabeth  Woodville.  Before  this  scheme  could 
be  carried  out,  a  fresh  revolt  cost  him  his  crown  and  his  life. 

5.  After  the  murder  of  Henry  vi.  and  his  son,  the  main  branch 
of  the  house  of  Lancaster  had  become  extinct.     The  only  repre- 
sentative of  the  line  of  John  of  Gaunt  had  now  to  be   Th    B 
sought  in  the  house  of   Beaufort,  whose  legitimate    forts  and 
descent  was  more  than  doubtful.     Even  the  house  of    the  Tudors. 
Beaufort  was  extinct  in  the  male  line,  when  the  last  of  the  dukes 


298  EDWARD    V.   AND  RICHARD  III.  '[1485. 

of  Somerset  was  put  to  death  on  the  battlefield  of  Tewkesbury.  It 
was,  however,  still  represented  by  the  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort, 
daughter  of  John  Beaufort,  first  duke  of  Somerset,  and  now  the 
heiress  of  all  the  Beaufort  claims.  From  her  cradle  the  Lady 
Margaret  had  been  a  great  heiress,  and  she  had  been  married  by 
Henry  VI.  to  his  half-brother,  Edmund  Tudor,  earl  of  Richmond. 
Richmond's  father,  Owen  Tudor,  was  a  Welsh  gentleman  who  had 
neither  high  rank  nor  great  possessions.  He  was  good-looking, 
plausible,  and  attractive,  and  won  the  heart  of  Henry  vi.'s  mother, 
Catharine  of  France.  To  the  great  scandal  of  the  court,  Catharine, 
the  widow  of  a  king  of  England  and  the  daughter  of  a  king  of 
France,  took  this  Welsh  squire  for  her  second  husband,  and  had  by 
him  two  sons.  The  elder  of  these  was  the  Edmund  Tudor,  earl  of 
Richmond,  who  was  married  to  the  Lady  Margaret,  while  the 
younger,  Jasper,  became  earl  of  Pembroke.  Edmund  Tudor  had 
long  been  dead,  but  his  son  by  Margaret,  Henry  Tudor,  inherited 
the  earldom  of  Richmond,  and  was  now,  for  the  lack  of  a  better,  the 
only  possible  head  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  to  which  all  the 
Tudors  were  entirely  loyal.  Both  Henry  Tudor  and  his  uncle 
Jasper  had  long  been  living  in  exile  in  Brittany.  The  split  in  the 
house  of  York,  consequent  on  Richard's  usurpation,  had  revived 
the  hopes  of  the  Lancastrians,  so  that  Henry  Tudor  now  became 
an  important  personage.  Though  Margaret  was  still  alive,  Henry 
was  regarded  as  the  only  possible  Lancastrian  monarch.  Bucking- 
ham, when  he  revolted  from  Richard,  declared  himself  in  favour 
of  Richmond's  claims  to  the  throne,  and,  after  Buckingham's  fall, 
all  who  wished  to  put  an  end  to  Richard's  power  looked  to  the  exile 
in  Brittany  as  the  most  likely  instrument  of  their  wishes. 
Prominent  among  Richard's  supporters  were  the  brothers  Thomas 
and  William  Stanley,  the  heads  of  a  rising  house  which  had  already 
attained  a  great  position  in  south-west  Lancashire.  Like  Bucking- 
ham, the  Stanleys  were  disloyal  to  Richard,  and  Thomas,  the  elder, 
was  now  the  husband  of  the  Lady  Margaret,  Richmond's  mother. 
While  still  remaining  in  Richard's  confidence  they  intrigued  with 
the  Breton  exiles. 

6.  In  1485,  Richmond  and  Pembroke  left  Brittany 

f  Bofworth   ^or  France,  where  Charles  viii.,  who  had  succeeded  his 

and  the  father,  Louis  xi.,  in  1483,  received  them  with  favour, 

death  of         and  helped  them  with  men  and  money.     In  the  sum- 

?485ardI11"   mer    the^  crossed    0Yer    from   Harfleur   to   Milford 

Haven,  where  they  landed   at  the  head  of  a   small 

army.    The  Welsh  flocked  in  large  numbers  to  their  countryman's 


1485] 


EDWARD    V.   AND  RICHARD  III. 


299 


standard,  so  that  Henry  Tudor  was  strong  enough  to  march 
through  Wales  into  the  Midlands  and  challenge  Richard's  throne. 
On  August  22  the  decisive  battle  between  Henry  and  Richard  was 
fought  at  Market  Bosworth,  in  Leicestershire.  During  the  struggle 
William  Stanley  deserted  Richard  for  Henry,  and  this  settled  the 
fortunes  of  the  day.  Richard  perished,  fighting  desperately  to  the 
last.  When  the  field  was  won,  Thomas  Stanley,  who  had  taken  no 
part  in  the  action,  came  up  and  joined  the  victor.  At  the  end  of 
the  fight,  the  crown,  discovered  in  a  hawthorn  bush,  was  placed  by 
Thomas  Stanley  on  his  stepson's  head.  Henceforth  the  Lancastrian 
exile  was  King  Henry  vn. 

GENEALOGY  OF  THE  GREYS  AND  WOODVILLES 

Richard  "Woodville,  earl  Rivers,  d.  1469, 

m.  Jacquetta  of  Luxemburg, 

widow  of  John,  duke  of  Bedford. 


Wo 


Anthony  Woodville, 

earl  Rivers, 

d.  1483. 


Elizabeth  Woodville, 

m.  (1)  Sir  John  Grey, 

d.  1461. 

(2)  Edward  iv., 

d.  1483. 


Catharine  Woodville, 
m.  Henry  Stafford, 
duke  of  Buckingham, 
d.  1483  (see  table 
on  page  284). 


(1)  (1)  (2) 

Thomas  Grey,  Sir  Richard  Edward  v. 

marquis  of  Grev,  d.  1483. 

Dorset,  d.  1501.  d.  1483. 


.(2) 
Richard, 
duke  of 

York, 
d.  1483. 


I 

(2) 
Elizabeth, 
m.  Henry 


Thomas  Grey, 

marquis  of  Mary  m.  Charles  Brandon, 

Dorset,  d.  1530  duke  of  Suffolk, 

(commander  in 

Spain,  1512). 

Henry  Grey,  marquis  of  Dorset  and 

dttke  of  Suffolk,  d.  1554,  m.  Frances  Brandon. 


Henry  viii. 

(see  table  on 

page  419). 


Lady  Jane  Grey. 


Lady  Catharine  Grey. 
Lord  Beauchamp. 


IS 


CHAPTER  VI 
BRITAIN   IN  THE   FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

1.  The  fifteenth  century  in  England  witnessed  no  great  changes 

in  the  constitution.     We  have  seen  how,  in  the  earlier  part  of  it, 

The   o  ^e  Ijancastrian  rulers  were  so  completely  controlled 

stitution         hy  their  parliament  that  in  a  fashion  their  government 

in  the  seems  to  anticipate  our  modern  cabinet  system.     But 

teentn         ^ne  times  were  too  rough  to  make  such  a  method  of 
centupy. 

government  practicable.    The  supremacy  of  parliament 

meant  in  effect  the  increase  of  the  power  of  the  nobility,  and  the 
rule  of  the  nobles  meant  constant  factions  and  threatened  anarchy. 
The  Lancastrian  constitutional  experiment  perished  in  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses,  and  the  result  of  the  failure  was  the  restoration  of 
a  strong  monarchy  under  Edward  iv.,  who  prepared  the  way  for 
the  still  stronger  rule  of  the  Tudors.  With  the  decay,  alike  in 
numbers  and  in  power,  of  the  baronial  aristocracy,  one  characteristic 
feature  of  mediaeval  English  society  was  removed. 

2.  The  Church,  like  the  nobility,  had  seen  its  best  days.  It 
had  escaped  the  threatened  danger  of  Lollardy,  and  seemed  out- 
wardly as  powerful  as  ever.  N" ever  was  it  more  wealthy 
*  or  magnificent,  and  never  did  churchmen  take  a  more 
prominent  share  in  the  national  life.  But  it  had  lost  the  old 
vigour  and  spiritual  force  which  had  marked  the  Church  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Its  characteristic  leaders  were  political 
ecclesiastics,  who  spent  their  days  in  the  service  of  the  State,  and 
received  their  reward  from  the  wealth  of  the  Church.  In  the 
days  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  it  had  been  thought  impossible 
for  the  same  man  to  be  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  king's 
minister.  In  the  fifteenth  century  it  became  a  regular  custom  to 
make  the  southern  primate  lord  chancellor.  The  State  had  no 
longer  anything  to  fear  from  the  restlessness  or  the  encroachments 
of  the  Church,  for  the  Church  in  its  half-conscious  weakness  leant 
upon  the  support  of  the  State,  and  had  little  wish  to  assert  itself 
against  the  secular  power.  There  was  little  energy  and  small  wish 
for  reform,  though  the  abuses  of  the  Church  were  great,  and  a  few 
«arnest  men  were  still  found  who  were  anxious  to  make  things 
300 


1485.]        BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY         3OI 

better.  It  was  not  so  much  the  corruption  as  the  worldliness 
of  the  Church  that  was  so  conspicuous.  There  were  few  spiritual 
leaders  of  the  people,  and  the  most  active  and  public-spirited  of  the 
bishops  were  those  who  lavished  their  wealth  on  pious  foundations, 
on  erecting  magnificent  colleges  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  in 
building  schools  to  supply  them  with  scholars. 

3.  In  the  universities  also  there  was  the  same  want  of  life  and 
freshness.    After  the  silencing  of  Wycliffe,  Oxford  sank  back  into 
orthodoxy,  but  showed  little  energy  and  produced  few   Tne  unl. 
noteworthy  writers  or  thinkers.     Both   Oxford   and    versities 
Cambridge  were  adorned  with  magnificent  buildings,    and  learn- 
great  and  well-endowed  colleges,  and  stately  and  well-      e' 
stocked  libraries.     Conspicuous  among  these  new  foundations  were 
New  College,  at  Oxford,  the  creation  of  Bishop  "William  of  Wyke- 
11:1111 .  and  King's  College,  at  Cambridge,  which  was  established  by 
Henry  vi.     Both  the  bishop  and  the  king  founded  great  schools  in 
connection  with  their  colleges,  to  supply  them  with  students.   Wyke- 
ham  thus  set  up  Winchester  school,  and   Henry  vi.  Eton.     But 
though  such  measures  rendered  the  means  of  study  more  accessible, 
the  spirit  that  inspired  study  was  seldom  very  strong.     The  best 
thought  and  literature  were  outside  the  universities,  which  remained 
the  homes  of  the  decaying  scholasticism  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

4.  Deficient  as  was  the  fifteenth  century  in  strenuous  purpose  and 
high  ideals,  its  history  is  in  no  wise  altogether  a  history  of  decline. 
Despite  the  fierce  fighting  at  home  and  abroad,  Eng-    pP0SDep}tv 
land  did  not  altogether  stand  still.     The  quarrels  of   ©f  the 
kings  and  nobles  affected  but  little  the  life  of  the    fifteenth 
ordinary  man.     Even  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses   centupy« 
the  simple  Englishman  managed  to  till  his  farm  and  sell  his  goods, 
with  little  regard  to  the  clash  of  party  strife.     Farmers  throve  by 
reason  of  good  harvests  and  improvements  in  cultivation.     Villein- 
age steadily  died  out  because  it  was  more  profitable  to  cultivate  the 
soil  by  means  of  free  labour.    In  particular,  the  constant  demand  for 
English  Vool  from  the  Netherlands  made  sheep-farming  a  profit- 
able business  for  farmer  and  landlord  alike.     All  classes  prospered 
through  the  increase  of  trade  and  the  beginnings  of  our  foreign 
■commerce ;  when  Edward  iv.  began  to  bring  back  order  and  strong 
government,  progress  became  rapid.     Population  increased  greatly, 
though  it  was  still  not  very  high,  and  England  probably  numbered 
at  the  end  of  our  period  about  four  million  inhabitants. 

5.  In  the  towns  trade  was  brisk  and  increasing.     It  was  the 
time  of  the  greatest  influence  of  the  craft-guilds.     These  were  clubs 


302         BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY      [1399- 

ot  societies  formed  by  members  of  each  of  the  chief  trades  practised 
within  a  town.     They  served  as  benefit  societies  to  shield  their 

members  from  misfortunes,  and  as  social  clubs  which 
and  traded      celebrated  holidays  by  feasts,  processions,  and  solemn 

services  in  church.  Besides  thus  encouraging  self- 
help  and  good-fellowship,  they  kept  prices  steady,  watched  over  the 
quality  of  the  articles  produced,  and  protected  the  guild  brethren 
from  undue  competition  and  the  cutting  down  of  profits.  Foreign 
commerce  was  on  the  increase,  and  at  last  a  fair  proportion  of  it 
was  falling  into  English  hands.  In  earlier  days  the  Easterlings, 
or  merchants  from  the  Hanse  towns  of  Northern  Germany,  the 
Venetians,  and  other  Italians,  had  the  bulk  of  English  commerce 
in  their  own  hands.  Since  the  great  naval  victories  of  Edward  111. 
Englishmen  took  more  readily  to  the  sea.  Shipbuilding  developed, 
and  numerous  commercial  treaties  opened  up  foreign  ports  to 
English  enterprise.  The  English  merchants  formed  societies  for 
mutual  assistance.  Of  these  the  most  famous  was  the  society  of 
the  Merchant  Adventurers,  which  set  up  its  factories  in  the  Scan- 
dinavian kingdoms,  and  began  to  compete  successfully  with  the 
Hanse  merchants  for  the  trade  of  the  Baltic  and  North  Sea. 
London  was  crowded  with  ships,  and  flourished  exceedingly.  Bristol, 
the  chief  western  port,  prospered  on  account  of  the  Irish  trade,  and 
obtained  a  large  share  of  the  commerce  with  Iceland,  whose  stormy 
seas  were  a  rare  school  of  seamanship.  The  export  of  wool,  still 
our  chief  product,  was  mainly  conducted  through  Calais,  the  seat 
of  the  staple,  and  now  a  thoroughly  English  town.  As  the  open 
door  through  which  English  wool  was  exported  to  the  clothing 
towns  of  the  Netherlands,  it  was  as  important  in  commerce  as  it 
was  in  politics  as  the  gate  which  opened  up  France  to  the  invasion 
of  English  armies. 

6.  The  increased  prosperity  of  the  towns  and  country  alike  was 
seen  in  the  increasing  number  and  splendour  of  the  churches  and 
Late  Per-  pnblic  buildings.  A  large  number  of  stately  and  mag- 
pendicular  nificent  parish  churches  were  erected  all  over  the  land, 
apehitec-         They  were  built  in  the  Perpendicular  style  of  Gothic 

architecture,  which  continued  to  be  the  one  fashion  of 
building  until  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  later  Per- 
pendicular buildings  were  even  more  costly  and  spacious  than  those 
of  the  reign  of  Edward  in.,  and  were  infinitely  more  numerous.  One 
feature  of  the  style  was  the  erection  of  beautiful  and  richly  adorned 
towers ;  others  were  the  magnificent  timber  roofs,  or  the  fantastic 
and  elaborate  stone  vaulting,  in  which  ornament  and  decoration 


-I485.I      BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY         303 

were  pursued  for  their  own  sake.  The  culmination  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fan  tracery  of  the  vaults  of  Henry  vi.'s  chapel  of 
King's  College,  Cambridge,  or  Henry  vn.'s  chapel  at  the  east  end 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  both  characteristic  buildings  of  the  period. 
Though  this  style  is  less  pure  than  the  earlier  Gothic,  it  is  still 
very  rich,  impressive,  and  magnificent.  Nor  were  churches,  colleges, 
and  monasteries  the  only  structures  which  men  now  set  up.  Private 
houses  were  now  built  in  a  more  durable  and  comfortable  fashion, 
and  even  the  warlike  nobles  gave  up  erecting  gloomy 
castles  for  their  abodes,  preferring  in  their  stead  large,  ?j2?5jjf|I? 
well  -  lighted,  and  roomy  mansions,  which,  though 
following  the  lines  of  the  old  castles,  and  capable  of  standing  a 
siege,  were  built  with  a  primary  regard  for  the  comfort  of  those 
living  in  them  rather  than  with  the  view  of  keeping  out  the  enemy. 
Magnificent  specimens  of  the  castellated  mansions  of  the  nobles  of 
this  period  are  to  be  seen  in  the  ruined  houses  of  Tattershall,  in 
Lincolnshire,  and  Hurstmonceaux,  in  Sussex,  both  of  which  belong 
to  the  reign  of  Henry  vi.  They  are  both  remarkable  as  being 
among  the  earliest  brick  buildings  erected  in  England  since  Roman 
times.  By  the  end  of  the  century  the  fashion  of  building  in  brick 
had  become  common,  and  made  it  easier  to  erect  substantial  houses 
in  districts  where  stone  was  scarce  or  bad. 

7.  New  styles  in  dress  and  customs  showed  how  general  was  the 

change  of  taste.     Armour  became  more  costly  and  elaborate  than 

ever,  and  efforts  were  made  to  strengthen  it  in  such 

a  fashion  as  would  protect  the  wearer  from  bullets  and   Apmoup  and 

„  weapons, 

arrows  as  well  as  from  the  thrust  or  cut  of  lance  or 

sword.  The  use  of  firearms  became  more  general,  and  light  hand- 
guns, the  predecessors  of  the  later  musket,  were  beginning  to  come 
into  use.  Yet  the  long-bow,  now  at  its  prime,  was  still  generally 
preferred  in  England  to  these  clumsy  and  uncertain  weapons.  It 
was  abroad  rather  than  at  home  that  new  experiments  were  now  made 
in  the  art  of  war.  The  French  adopted  the  use  of  artillery  more 
readily  than  the  English,  and  it  was  by  reason  of  the  excellence 
and  number  of  their  cannon  that  they  discomfited  the  long  uncon- 
querable English  archer,  notably  at  the  battle  of  Castillon,  which 
closed  the  Hundred  Tears'  "War. 

8.  The  literature  of  the  fifteenth  century  reflects  the  general 

character  of  the  age.     Since  the  death  of  Chaucer  there  was  no 

more  poetry  of  the  highest   rank,  but  the  stvle  of   .. 

Literature- 
Chaucer  was  imitated  by  a  whole  school  of  versifiers, 

who    wrote    fluently,   freely,   and  vigorously,   though  with  little 


304         BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY      [1399- 

originality  or  artistic  gift.  The  best  poetry  of  the  time  is  to  be 
found  in  the  large  number  of  anonymous  ballads,  some  of  which 
are  of  a  high  order  of  excellence.     Another  feature  was  the  growth 

of  a  popular  drama,  which  was  chiefly  represented  by 
Poetpy&na     religious   dramas   called  Mysteries,  or  Miracle-plays, 

wherein  enacted  stories  from  Scripture,  or  sermons 
in  verse,  setting  forth  the  mysteries  of  the  faith.  It  became  the 
custom  for  the  townsmen  to  amuse  themselves  on  holidays  by 
witnessing  miracle-plays  of  this  kind,  acted  in  temporary  theatres 
erected  in  the  streets  and  public  squares.  We  have  still  extant  the 
cycles  of  dramas  that  delighted  the  citizens  of  Chester,  York,  and 
Wakefield  during  this  period. 

9.  Prose  was  better  than  poetry.  There  was  a  larger  reading 
public,  but  it  was  not  very  particular  as  to  the  quality  of  what  it 

read  so  long  as  it  was  amusing  or  instructive.  The 
monastic  chronicles  became  few  and  feeble,  as  the 
vigour  of  the  religious  life  declined  ;  but  as  a  compensation  great 
men  began  to  employ  private  historiographers,  who  set  down  in  prose 
or  verse  the  deeds  of  their  patrons.  These  men  were  sometimes  the 
heralds  or  chaplains  of  their  employers,  and  sometimes  foreigners, 
especially  Italians,  who  were  brought  into  the  country  by  noblemen 
and  prelates  anxious  to  show  their  sympathy  for  the  wider  and 
fuller  literary  movements  of  lands  beyond  the  sea.  Humphrey,  duke 
of  Gloucester,  was  the  most  bountiful  and  broad-minded  of  these 
noble  patrons  of  letters.  He  had  in  his  pay  an  Italian  who  called 
himself  Titus  Livius,  and  wrote  at  his  master's  bidding  a  Latin  life 
of  Henry  v.  The  Percies  employed  an  Englishman  named  John 
Harding  to  compose  a  metrical  history  of  their  house,  wherein  he 
took  good  care  not  to  minimize  the  glories  of  the  distinguished  family 
to  which  he  owed  his  bread.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  greater  extension 
of  knowledge  and  the  spread  of  the  practice  of  composition  that  we 
have  for  the  first  time  collections  of  private  and  familiar  correspond- 
ence, which  give  us  a  much  more  vivid  idea  of  what  ordinary  men 
thought  and  said  than  can  be  gathered  from  the  stiff  and  formal 
official  letters  of  state  which  alone  survive  from  earlier  ages. 
Conspicuous  among  such  collections  are  the  Paston  Letters,  the 
correspondence  of  a  pushing  and  rising  family  of  Norfolk  squires, 
which  give  us  far  the  best  picture  that  we  have  of  the  state  of 
society  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

10.  The  increased  demand  for  books  led  to  the  existence  of  a 
large  class  of  scriveners  and  stationers,  whose  business  was  to  copy 
out  and  sell  volumes  for  which  there  was  a  constant  popular 


-1485.]      BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY        305 

demand.     The  skill  shown  by  these  men  was  great,  and  they  multi- 
plied books  with  as  much  faithfulness  and  quickness  as  were  possible, 
so  long  as  every  fresh  example  had  to  be  written  out  by 
hand.     But  the  impossibility  of  producing  books  by  the   ^adine0 
laborious  process  of  copying  them  out  in  manuscript 
set  men's  brains  to  work  to  devise  means  of  multiplying  them  by 
mechanical  devices.     In  the  course  of  this  century  the  invention  of 
printing  was  soon  to  make  obsolete  the  painful  art  of  the  scrivener. 

11.  The  first  books  produced  by  mechanical  means  were  what 
were  called  block-books.     In  these  the  matter  which  had  to  be 
reproduced  was  written  on  flat  blocks  of  wood,  and  xhe  inven- 
then  the  rest  of  the  surface  of  the  block  was  cut  away   tlon  of 

so  that  the  pattern  written  stood  out  in  relief,  and  Prin"nff« 
when  smeared  over  with  oily  ink,  could  be  pressed  or  printed  upon 
pieces  of  paper,  much  as  wood- cuts  were  multiplied  in  later  times. 
This  method  was  only  possible  for  short  works  of  considerable 
circulation,  since  it  was  slow  and  costly,  and  the  blocks  were  useless 
save  for  the  one  purpose  for  which  they  were  designed.  For  about 
a  century,  however,  block-books  were  the  only  alternatives  to  manu- 
scripts, until  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  ingenuity 
of  John  G-utenberg,  a  citizen  of  Mainz,  in  Germany,  devised  the 
method  of  casting  movable  types  in  metal  to  correspond  to  the 
various  letters  and  characters.  These  types  could  then  be  set  up  to 
represent  any  combination  of  letters,  and  when  the  copies  needed 
were  printed  off,  the  type  could  be  distributed  and  rearranged  to 
make  a  fresh  book.  Gutenberg's  great  invention  soon  spread  all  over 
Europe,  and  that  the  more  rapidly  since  the  first  book  he  printed, 
a  Latin  Bible,  issued  in  1455,  was  of  such  extraordinary  beauty  as 
to  rival  or  surpass  the  best  type  of  manuscript.  The  result  of  the 
spread  of  printing  was  that  books  became  suddenly  cheapened  and 
multiplied,  and  that  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  reading  and  study. 

12.  In  Edward  iv.'s  time  printing  was  brought  into  England 
by  a  Kentishman  named  William'  Caxton,  a  shrewd  and  successful 
merchant,  settled  for  many  years  in  Flanders,  who 

learnt  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  Germany  the  new   caxton 
art  about  which  all  interested  in  books  were  talk-   the  first 
ing.     He  bought  types  from  a  Flemish  printer,  and,   En8flistt 
about    1474,    produced    with    them    at   Bruges,    in 
Flanders,  the    first  printed   books   in   English.      These  were  a 
romance  called  a  Recuyell  of  the  Histories  of  Troy,  and  a  treatise 
on  The  Game  and  Play  of  Chess.     In  1477,  Caxton  went  back  to 
England,  and  set  up  his  press  under  the  shadow  of  Westminster 


306         BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY       [1399- 

M>bey,  where  lie  printed  and  published  many  books,  both  in  English 
and  Latin.  Carton  was  not  only  a  good  business  man  but  a  com- 
petent scholar,  who  wrote-  prefaces  to  his  books  and  translated 
many  of  them  into  English.  Edward  iv.  and  Richard  ill.  and 
the  more  cultivated  nobles  were  his  patrons.  After  his  death 
in  1491,  his  press  went  to  his  pupil,  Wynkyn  de  Worde.  Other 
men  followed  their  example,  and  before  the  end  of  the  century,  the 
art  of  printing  was  firmly  established  in  England.  So  powerful 
was  the  press  by  this  time,  that  the  king  and  the  Church  would 
allow  only  those  books  to  be  printed  which  had  obtained  a  licence. 

13.  One  feature  of  this  period  is  the  growth  of  an  independent 
English-speaking  state  in  Scotland.     So  constant  was  the  hostility 
of  the  northern  and  southern  kingdoms  that  it  was 
In  the  ^°  Fran06  rather  than  to  its  neighbour  that  the  little 

fifteenth  Scottish  kingdom  looked  for  support  and  guidance.  It 
century.  wag  characteristic  that,  for  example,  Scottish  buildings 
which  in  earlier  ages  had  been  erected  after  the  same  fashion  as 
those  in  England,  now  followed  the  French  rather  than  the 
English  style.  Thus  there  is  hardly  any  Perpendicular  Gothic 
in  Scotland,  though  builders  were  as  busy  beyond  the  Tweed  as 
in  England  during  the  late  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 
The  Scottish  churches  of  this  time  follow  in  preference  the  Flam- 
boyant or  late  Gothic  of  Prance,  which  differs  in  some  ways  more 
widely  from  contemporary  English  art  than  any  other  mediaeval 
style.  A  comparison  of  the  Flamboyant  churches  of  Melrose  or  St. 
Giles,  Edinburgh,  with  the  English  churches  of  the  same  date,  will 
show  how  deeply  divided  against  itself  English-speaking  Britain 
had  become.  It  was  the  same  with  domestic  architecture,  where  the 
Scottish  barons  erected  for  themselves  imitations  of  French  castles 
rather  than  English  manor-houses.  When  in  1508  the  art  of 
printing  was  tardily  introduced  into  Scotland,  it  was  in  France  that 
the  earliest  Scottish  printers  learnt  their  craft.  In  law,  in  the 
same  way,  the  Scots  looked  to  France  and  the  Roman  Civil  Law 
rather  than  to  the  customary  law  of  England,  which  was  originally 
common  to  all  parts  of  the  English-speaking  race.  In  literature, 
also,  the  court  speech  of  Edinburgh  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  old 
Northumbrian  dialect,  and  not  the  Midland  tongue  which  Caxton, 
like  Chancer,  adopted  as  the  most  appropriate  for  English  literary 
speech.  Yet  the  ties  of  common  language  still  counted  for  some- 
thing. James  L,  a  cultivated  and  intelligent  king,  brought  back 
from  his  long  English  captivity  a  sincere  love  for  Chaucer's  poetry, 
and  perhaps  wrote  the  poem,  called  the  Kingis  Quhair,  in  the  style  of 


-1485.]      BRITAIN  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY       307 

the  southern  master.  From  this  time  the  fashion  of  Chancer  took 
a  deep  hold  on  Scottish  men  of  letters.  All  through  the  fifteenth 
century  Scots  poets,  like  Robert  Henryson,  set  forth  in  the  northern 
form  of  English  spirited  imitations  and  adaptations  of  Chaucer's 
themes  and  metres,  which  show  that  there  was  more  true  poetic 
spirit  to  the  north  than  to  the  south  of  the  Tweed.  The  reigns 
of  the  early  Stewart  kings  witnessed  in  this,  and  in  many  other 
ways,  a  wonderful  growth  of  civilization*  order,  and  prosperity. 
Historians  of  the  school  of  Barbour  described  the  stirring  deeds  of 
the  heroes  of  the  War  of  Independence,  and  a  wandering  minstrel 
called  Blind  Harry  wrote  a  rude  poetic  romance  on  the  exploits  of 
Wallace,  the  great  popular  hero  of  the  north.  The  same  period 
also  witnessed  the  establishment  of  three  Scottish  universities  at 
St.  Andrews,  Aberdeen,  and  Glasgow,  so  that  the  northern  scholar 
had  no  longer  to  leave  his  own  land  to  obtain  a  learned  education. 
Save  in  the  wild  Highlands  beyond  the  Forth,  where  the  un- 
changing Celtic  civilization  still  went  on  without  a  rival,  Scotland, 
like  England,  was  becoming  awake  to  the  new  issues  that  were 
soon  to  excite  the  interest  of  all  Europe. 

14.  The  changes  which  we  have  sketched  show  that  fifteenth- 
century  Britain  was  by  no  means  standing  still,  though  it  was  not 
now,  as  it  had  been,  fully  abreast  of  the  Continent.   «rneend 
Everywhere  the  Middle  Ages  were  slowly  dying  away,   of  the 
It  was  an  age  of  discoveries,  of  new  inventions,  of   Middle 
greater  love  of  knowledge,  and  of  a  wider  interest  in    Ages* 
man  and  nature.    Before  long,  Columbus  was  to  make  his  way  to  the 
new  world  called  America.     It  was  already  the  time  of  the  Revived 
of  Letters,  or  the  Renascence'^-th&t  is,  the  new  birth  of  learning 
and  thought.     None  of  the  new  movements  had  as  yet  reached 
Britain,  but  elsewhere,  and  especially  in  Italy,  there  had  been  won- 
derful progress  made   in   many  directions.      Even  in   our  island 
some  men  were  beginning  to  be  interested  in  the  new  tendencies. 
Those  who  read  deeply  began  to  think  for  themselves.    When  men 
began  to  think  for  themselves,  modern  times  were  already  at  hand. 
Books  recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  the  Period  1399-1485 

Oman's  History  of  England,  1377-1485,  in  Longmans'  Political  History  of 
England,  vol.  iv. ;  Stubbs'  Constitutional  England,  vol.  iii.,  which  includes 
the  best  survey  of  the  political  history  of  the  period ;  James  Gairdner's  Houses 
of  Lancaster  and  York  (Longmans'  Epochs  of  Modern  History)  ;  A.  G.  Bradley's 
Owen  Glyndwr  and  C.  L.  Kingsford's  Henry  V.  (both  in  Heroes  of  the  Nations) ; 
Oman's  Warwick  the  King  Maker,  a  spirited  sketch  (Macmillan's  Men  of 
Action).  For  Caxton  and  his  successors,  see  E.  G.  Duff's  Early  Printed  Books, 
ch.  viii.-xr.  The  Paston  Letters,  edited  with  valuable  introductions  by  James 
Gairdner,  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the  political  and  social  history  of  the  period. 


BOOK  V 

THE   TUDQRS  (1485-1603) 

CHAPTER  I 
HENRY  VII.  (1485-1509; 

Chief  Dates : 

1485.  Accession  of  Henry  vn. 

1487.  Imposture  of  Lambert  Simnel. 

1492.  Treaty  of  Etaples ;  beginning  of  Warbeck's  imposture. 

1494.  Poynings'  Law. 

1496.  The  Magnus  Intercursus. 

1499.  Execution  of  Warbeck  and  Warwick. 

1503.  Marriage  of  James  iv.  and,  Margaret  Tudor. 

1509.  Death  of  Henry  vu. 

1.  Henry  vii.  had  been  schooled  by  his  early  trials  in  prison  and 
exile  to  repress  his  feelings,  and  to  regard  his  own  interests  as  his 

primary  care.  Silent,  cold,  suspicious,  and  reserved, 
Henry'vn'  °    ^e  was  never  aD^e  ^°  make  himself  popular,  though  he 

delighted  in  fine  clothes  and  the  pageantry*  of  his 
office.  Prudent,  careful,  and  politic,  he  was  remorseless  to  those  who 
stood  in  his  way,  though  never  capricious  or  bloodthirsty.  Greedy 
as  he  was  of  wealth  and  power,  he  refused,  to  regard  himself  as  the 
mere  chief  of  the  Lancastrian  faction,  and  did  his  best  to  make 
himself  king  over  the  whole  nation.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
marry  the  Lady  Elizabeth  of  York,  the  daughter  of  Edward  iv., 
and,  by  her  brothers'  disappearance,  the  nearest  representative  of 
the  house  of  York.  He  hoped  thereby  that  the  friends  of  Edward 
iv.,  who  had  hated  the  usurpation  of  Richard,  would  thus  become 
his  supporters.  Anyhow  it  was  certain  that  the  children  of  Henry 
and  Elizabeth  would  have  a  clearer  title  to  the  throne  than  any 
king  after  Richard  11. 

2.  The  long  f action  fight  could  not  be  ended  in  a  day,  and  the 


-1487. J  HENRY   VII  309 

first  years  of  the  new  reign  seemed  but  a  continuation  of  the  old 
struggles  of  the  rival  houses.     Henry  had  to  reward  his  followers, 
and  though  he  deprived  few  Yorkists  of  their  estates   continuance 
and  titles,  the  return  of  the  Lancastrian  exiles,  and   of  the  old 
the   elevation   of  his  friends  and  kinsfolk  to   high    Party 
rank,  naturally  changed  the  balance  of  parties.     The 
Yorkists  at  once  sought  to  redress  their  fortunes  by  rebellion,  and 
Henry  vn.  soon  found,  like  Henry  iv.,  that  his  real  difficulty  was 
not  in  conquering  England,  but  in  holding  it. 

3.  The  first  Yorkist  rising  was  in  1486,  when  Lord  Lovel  and 
the  Staffords,  the  kinsmen  of  the  late  duke  of  Buckingham,  broke 
into  rebellion  at  once  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

They  were  easily  put  down.    Without  a  leader,  it  was  Lj"!d  Loyfl'o 
hard  for  the  Yorkists  to  act  together.     Their  natural 
head  was  the  wife  of  the  Lancastrian  king,  while  their  nearest  male 
representative,  Edward,  earl  of  Warwick,  the  son  of  the  murdered 
Clarence  and  a  daughter  of  the  king-maker,  was  detained  a  close 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  by  the  suspicious  Henry. 

4.  Outside  England,  circumstances  were  more  favourable  to  the 
Yorkists.  Edward  iv.'s  sister,  Margaret  of  Burgundy,  the  widow 
of  Charles  the  Rash,  still  possessed  great  influence  in  Lambert 
the  Netherlands,  and  encouraged  every  plot  against  Simnel, 
the  hated  Tudors.  Though  Ireland  was  for  all  prac-  1487' 
tical  purposes  independent  of  England,  and  ruled  by  its  own  clan 
chieftains  and  feudal  lords,  yet  the  house  of  York,  as  heir  of  the 
Mortimers,  had  a  strong  position  among  the  leading  Irish  families. 
There  were  many  Irish  barons  eager  to  make  loyalty  to  York  an 
excuse  for  throwing  off  even  nominal  obedience  to  the  English 
king.  Chief  among  these  was  the  earl  of  Kildare,  the  head  of  the 
Leinster  branch  of  the  great  Norman  house  of  Fitzgerald.  Kildare 
had  been  made  deputy,  or  governor,  of  Ireland  by  Richard  hi., 
and  was  no  friend  to  Henry  Tudor.  Though  the  new  king  had 
not  ventured  to  take  away  from  him  his  office,  he  had  set  over  him 
as  lord  lieutenant  his  uncle,  Jasper  Tudor,  now  duke  of  Bedford. 
This  so  much  irritated  Kildare  that  he  gladly  fell  in  with  the 
scheme  hatched  by  Margaret  of  Burgundy  to  supply  the  Yorkists 
with  a  pretext  for  a  fresh  rebellion.  In  1487  there  landed  in 
Ireland  a  pretty  boy,  about  twelve  years  old,  accompanied  by  a 
priest,  who  gave  out  that  the  child  was  Edward,  earl  of  Warwick, 
who,  he  said,  had  escaped  from  the  Tower.  The  Fitzgeralds  at 
once  took  up  the  cause  of  the  youth,  and  had  him  crowned  king  in 
Dublin.    Really,  the  pretender  was  one  Lambert  Simnel,  the  son  of 


3IO  HENRY  VII.  [1487- 

an  Oxford  organ-maker.  Having  no  trae  prince  in  whose  name 
they  could  fight,  the  Yorkists  set  up  this  impostor  as  their  candidate 
for  the  throne.  It  was  easy  for  Henry  to  defeat  so  transparent  a 
fraud.  He  took  the  real  Warwick  out  of  prison,  so  that  the 
Londoners  could  see  for  themselves  that  the  boy-king  in  Ireland 
was  a  counterfeit.  Before  long,  Simnel's  friends  were  reinforced 
by  the  exile  Lovel  and  a  troop  of  G-erman  mercenaries,  under 
Martin  Schwarz.  They  were  now  emboldened  to  cross  the  Channel 
and  try  their  fortunes  in  England.  But  few  English  joined  the 
motley  host  of  Irish,  G-ermans,  and  Yorkists.  The  invaders  were 
easily  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  near  Newark,  and  the  pre- 
tended Warwick  fell  into  the  king's  hands.  Henry  showed  his 
contempt  for  the  impostor  by  giving  him  a  free  pardon,  and 
making  him  first  turnspit  in  the  royal  kitchen.  Henry  was,  how- 
ever, still  so  weak  that  he  forgave  Kildare,  the  real  author  of  the 
revolt. 

5.  During  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  Henry  had  many  troubles 
abroad.    Besides  the  old  duchess  of  Burgundy,  both  Scotland  and 

France  were  unfriendly  to  him.  To  meet  the  hostility 
The  Breton  0£  Charles  viii.  of  France,  Henry  made  an  alliance 
and  the  with  Duke  Francis  of  Brittany,  who  was  at  war  with 

treaty  of  frig  overlord.  However,  in  1488,  Francis  died,  leaving 
1492  CS'  as  -^s  ^e^  ^  on^y  daughter  named  Anne.       The 

French  now  sought  to  marry  the  Duchess  Anne  to 
their  young  king,  Charles  viii.,  and  so  unite  Brittany  and  France. 
This  alarmed  the  ehiel  enemies  of  France,  Ferdinand,  king  of 
Spain,  and  Maximilian  of  Austria,  king  of  the  Romans,  who,  by 
marrying  the  daughter  of  Charles  the  Rash,  had  established  him- 
self as  lord  of  the  Netherlands.  Henry  ventured  to  ally  himself 
with  these  princes  against  the  French,  and  sent  small  forces  to 
Flanders  and  to  Brittany.  The  French  now  overran  Brittany, 
and  in  1491  Anne  was  married  to  Charles  vm.  Next  year  (1492) 
Henry  levied  a  large  army,  and  landed  in  France.  Like  Edward 
iv.  in  1475,  he  showed  little  eagerness  to  fight,  and  willingly  made 
peace  with  the  French  in  the  treaty  of  Maples,  by  which  the 
French  paid  him  a  good  round  sum  of  money  to  ensure  the  with- 
drawal of  his  army.  This  inglorious  retreat  of  Henry  disgusted 
his  allies  without  conciliating  his  enemies. 

6.  The  friendlessness  of  Henry  outside  his  kingdom  soon  bore 
fruit  in  a  new  imposture,  much  more  formidable  than  the  weak 
attempt  of  Lambert  Simnel.  A  little  before  the  treaty  of  Etaples 
there  landed  in  Ireland  a  youth  of  noble  presence  and  attractive 


-1496.]  HENRY  VII.  311 

manners,  who  declared  that  he  was  Richard,  duke  of  York,  the 
younger  of  the  sons  of  Edward  iv.  whom  Richard  m.  had  immured 
in  the  Tower.     He  said  that  he  had  escaped  when  his   pepj^n 
brother  Edward  v.  was  slain,  and  had  now  come  to   Warbeck, 
claim  his  inheritance.     In  truth,  he  was  Perkin  War-    l492. 
beck,  a  native   of  Tournai,  in  the  Netherlands,  and  inspired,  like 
Simnel,  by  the  hitter  malice  of  Margaret  of  Burgundy.    Warbeck 
played  his  part  so  well  that  many  people  honestly  believed  in  him, 
and  for  seven  years  he  was  a  source  of  constant  anxiety  to  Henry  vn. 

7.  Moved  by  Henry's  clemency  on  a  former  occasion,  Kildare 
and  the  Fitzgeralds  gave  a  colder  welcome  to  Warbeck  than 
to   Simnel.      The  new  impostor   soon   left   Ireland. 

Charles  vm.  recognized   him,   and    invited    him  to   0^^  °n 
France,  where  many  of  the  exiled  Yorkists  gathered   William 
round  him.     Driven  from  France  by  the  treaty  of   ^igc16^ 
Etaples,  he  found  a  refuge  with  Margaret  of  Burgundy, 
who  declared  him  to  be  her  nephew.      Meanwhile,  Yorkist  con- 
spirators were  active  in  England.     In  1495  these  were  joined  by 
Sir  William  Stanley,  who,  with  his  brother,  in  1485  made  earl 
of  Derby,  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  gaining  Henry  the 
throne.     Like  Hotspur  under  Henry  iv.,  Stanley  was  discontented 
with  the  rewards  given  to  him  by  the  king,  and  was  now  eager  to 
undo  the  work  of  his  own  hands.     His  plot  was  discovered;  he 
confessed  his  guilt,  and  was  put  to  death. 

8.  Disappointed  at  the  failure  of  his  friends,  Warbeck  strove  to 
take  his  destinies  in  his  own  hands.  Little  success  attended  his 
gallant  attempts.    He  failed  to  effect  a  landing  in  Kent ; 

another  effort  to  win  over  Ireland  was  attended  with   exclusion 
indifferent  success.     Meanwhile,  Henry  had  cultivated   from 
the  friendship  of  both  Charles  vm.  and  Maximilian   Scotland^ 
with  such  success  that  the  Continent  was  henceforth 
barred  to  the  impostor.     James  iv.,  king  of  Scots,  was  still  Henry's 
enemy.     In  1496  he  invited  Warbeck  to  Scotland,  married  him  to 
his  cousin,  the  Lady  Catharine  Gordon,  and  invaded  the  north  of 
England,  proclaiming  that  he  was  come  to  overthrow  the  usurper 
Henry  Tudor,  and  uphold  the  just   claims   of  Richard  iv.     No 
English  would  join  a  pretender  backed  up  by  the  Scots,  and  James 
was  forced  to  retire  without  daring  to  fight  a  battle.     Next  year  a 
threat  of  invasion  from  England  compelled  the  king  of  Scots  to 
dismiss  Warbeck  from  his  country.     Once  more  the  impostor  took 
refuge  in  Ireland,  but  soon  found  that  his  chance  was  as  hopeless 
there  as  in  the  north. 


312  HENRY    VII.  [1496- 

9.  In  1496  Henry  vn.  made  the  Scots  inroad  an  excuse  for 
exacting  heavy  taxes  from  his  subjects.     In  1497  the  Cornishmen, 

who  had  no  fear  of  the  Scots,  rose  in  revolt,  and, 
The  Cornish  headed  by  a  lawyer  named  Flammock,  marched  to 
rising,  1497,  London,  and  encamped  on  Blackheath,  where,  after 
execution  h&r&  fighting,  they  were  scattered.  Warbeck  took  the 
of  Warbeck  bold  course  of  landing  in  Cornwall,  hoping  that  the 
Warwick  inhabitants  of  that  shire,  inspired  by  the  spirit  which 
1499.  had  sent  them  to  Blackheath,  would  welcome  him,  and 

rebel  once  more  in  his  favour.  He  soon  found  enough 
followers  to  march  eastward  and  besiege  Exeter.  Failing  to  capture 
the  capital  of  the  west,  he  resumed  his  eastern  march  as  far  as 
Taunton,  where  a  royal  army  stopped  his  further  progress.  Seeing 
that  battle  was  inevitable  the  next  day,  Warbeck  lost  heart. 
Leaving  his  followers  to  their  fate,  he  took  sanctuary  with  the 
Cistercian  monks  of  Beaulieu  in  Hampshire.  The  Cornishmen, 
abandoned  by  their  leader,  went  back  to  their  homes,  and  so  the 
danger  to  Henry's  throne  was  over.  Before  long  Warbeck  was 
persuaded  to  surrender,  on  the  promise  of  his  life  being  spared. 
He  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  where  he  made  friends  with  the 
captive  earl  of  Warwick.  In  1499  both  Warbeck  and  Warwick 
were  condemned  and  executed,  on  a  charge  of  an  attempt  to  seize 
the  Tower  and  overthrow  the  king.  Whether  guilty  or  not,  their 
removal  deprived  the  Yorkist  party  of  its  last  sorry  leaders,  and 
firmly  established  Henry  Tudor  on  the  throne.  The  Wars  of  the 
Roses  were  at  last  over. 

10.  Henry  had  perceived  that  his  chief  danger  from  Warbeck 
came  from  the  unfriendliness  of  foreign  powers.      He  therefore 

strove  to  conciliate  the  chief  princes  of  Europe,  and 

The  Magnus    we  haVe  seen  how  successfully  he  had  cut  at  the  roots 

Intcpcupsus  _^. 

1496,  and    *  of  the  impostor's  strength.     The  treaty  of  Etaples  had 

the  Malus  driven  Warbeck  from  France.  It  was  a  harder  busi- 
1506.CUrSUS'  ness  *°  remove  bim  from  Flanders,  since  Maximilian 
declared  that  the  dowager  duchess  was  free  to  do  what 
she  liked  in  her  own  lands.  Henry  had,  however,  a  useful  weapon 
against  him  in  the  close  commercial  relations  that  still  bound 
Flanders  to  England.  By  prohibiting  all  trade  between  the  two 
countries,  he  soon  persuaded  Maximilian  to  keep  Warbeck  out  of 
his  dominions.  In  1496  the  relations  between  Maximilian  and 
Henry  were  made  very  cordial  by  a  treaty  called  the  Magnus  Inter- 
cursus,  or  Great  Intercourse,  by  which  trade  was  resumed,  and  both 
princes  promised  not  to  support  each  other's  enemies.     Ten  years 


The 
European 


-ISO!.]  HENRY   VII.  313 

later,  in  1506,  Maximilian's  son,  the  Archduke  Philip,  the  real  ruler 
of  the  Netherlands,  was  driven  by  bad  weather  to  take  refuge  in 
an  English  port  on  his  way  to  claim  the  throne  of  Spain.  Henry 
treated  Philip  with  all  honour,  but  would  not  suffer  him  to 
continue  his  journey  until  he  had  signed  a  new  treaty  of  commerce. 
This  favoured  English  traders  so  much  that  the  Flemings  called 
it  the  Mains  Intercursus — that  is,  the  Bad  Intercourse. 

11.  Foreign  politics  were  more  important  than  at  an  earlier 

time,  since  the  leading  monarchs  of  Europe  were  now  so  powerful 

that  they  had  plenty  of  time  to  intervene  in  each  other's 

affairs,  and  their  mutual  jealousies  and  alliances  led  to 

the   beginning    of    what  was    called   the  European   political 

Political  System,  in  which  the  chief  princes  strove  to    system  and 
.   ,   .        i_  1  *  i_  j.  -LJ.-L  j    the  balance 

maintain  a  balance  of  power  between  each  other,  and   of  powep# 

prevent  any  one  state  from  attaining  such  greatness 
as  to  make  it  dangerous  to  its  neighbours.  After  the  conquest  of 
Brittany,  Charles  viii.  of  France  invaded  Italy  in  1494,  and  made 
himself  for  a  time  king  of  Naples.  This  triumph  was  but  short- 
lived, for  the  Italians  contrived  to  drive  him  out,  and  his  rivals 
sided  with  them  through  their  fear  of  the  French.  Conspicuous 
among  the  enemies  of  France  were  the  Emperor  Maximilian  1. 
and  Ferdinand,  king  of  Aragon.  Maximilian  was  a  vain,  showy, 
and  moneyless  prince,  whose  power  was  not  very  great.  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon  was  the  wisest  and  strongest  king  of  his  day.  He  had 
married  Isabella,  queen  of  Castile,  and  the  union  of  the  two  chief 
kingdoms  of  the  peninsula  under  this  couple  was  the  beginning  of 
the  great  Spanish  monarchy. 

12.  Always  suspicious  of  France,   Henry  made  it  the  main 
object  of  his  policy  to  win  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  his  side.     He 
servilely  followed  their  lead,  and  sought  to  marry  his   The  Spanish 
eldest  son,  Arthur,  prince  of  Wales,  to  their  younger   alliance, 
daughter,  the  Infanta  Catharine  of  Aragon.    After    1801« 

five  years'  negotiations,  the  wedding  was  completed  in  1501.  Next 
year,  however,  Arthur  died.  Henry  was  so  anxious  to  keep  up  the 
Spanish  connection  and  to  retain  Catharine's  liberal  wedding 
portion  in  England,  that  he  proposed  that  the  widowed  princess 
should  marry  his  younger  son  Henry,  who  was  now  made  Prince 
of  "Wales.  As  a  marriage  of  a  man  to  his  brother's  widow  was 
prohibited  by  the  Church,  Henry  obtained  from  Pope  Julius  11.  a 
dispensation  which  suspended  the  law  in  this  particular  case.  Thus 
Catharine  remained  in  England,  though  several  years  elapsed  before 
she  and  Henry  were  actually  united.    Meanwhile  the  dependence 


314  HENRY  VII.  [1503- 

of  Henry  on  Ferdinand  continued.  The  Archduke  Philip,  who 
had  married  Catharine's  elder  sister,  Joan,  and  so  became  king  of 
Castile  on  Isabella's  death,  died  in  1506.  Soon  after  his  visit  to 
England,  Henry,  already  a  widower,  proposed  to  Ferdinand  to 
marry  Joan  of  Castile,  though  she  was  a  madwoman. 

13.-  Moreover,  in  1503,  Henry  vn.  wedded  his  elder  daughter 
Margaret  to  James  rv.,  king  of  Scots,  who  had  up  to  then  been 
The  Scottish  g"eneraUy  hostile.  Henry  hoped  to  wean  him  from 
marriage,  that  close  connection  with  France  that  every  Scottish 
1 503.  monarch  had  cultivated  since  the  days  of  Edward  1. 

Though  the  first  hopes  of  this  were  disappointed,  this  marriage 
was  so  far  successful  that  a  hundred  years  later  a  descendant  of 
James  and  Margaret  united  the  English  and  Scottish  thrones. 

14.  Despite  Henry  vn.'s  intrigues  and  alliances,  the  power  of 
England  abroad  was  still  insignificant.  It  was  something,  how- 
Henry's  ever,  that  the  Tudor  king  had  shown  that  England 
domestic  had  once  more  a  foreign  policy,  and  was  no  longer  in 
policy.  ^g  gfofo  0f  impotence  and  isolation  which  she  had 
occupied  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  Henry's  best  work,  how- 
ever, was  not  abroad,  but  at  home,  where  he  gradually  restored  the 
royal  power  and  put  an  end  to  the  weak  rule  and  confusion  which 
had  culminated  in  the  struggle  of  Lancaster  and  York.  Though 
he  was  a  Lancastrian,  he  made  no  attempt  to  govern  in  the  con- 
stitutional fashion  of  the  three  Henries  who  had  preceded  him. 
He  preferred  to  base  his  rule  on  the  model  of  Edward  iv.  He 
summoned  parliament  as  seldom  as  he  could,  and  did  not  scruple  to 
disregard  the  law  of  Richard  ill.  by  raising  money  by  benevolences. 
He  passed  several  wise  laws,  one  of  the  most  important  being  an 
act  of  1495,  by  which  it  was  declared  that  no  one  who  obeyed  the 
king  who  was  reigning  for  the  time  being  should  be  punished  as  a 
traitor,  whether  that  king  ruled  with  a  good  title  or  not. 

15.  Henry  vn.  was  fortunate  in  his  ministers.  His  chief  adviser, 
Cardinal  Morton,  who  was  both  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  lord 

chancellor,  was  much  more  of  a  statesman  than  an 
ministers        ecclesiastic.     Morton  served  the  king  too  faithfully  to 

be  popular,  and  was  particularly  shrewd  in  filling  the 
king's  coffers  by  indirect  devices  that  did  not  openly  break  the 
law.  After  his  death,  in  1500,  Richard  Fox,  bishop  of  Winchester, 
was  one  of  Henry's  chief  advisers,  but  the  most  trusted  confidants 
of  the  king's  latter  years  were  two  men  of  lower  rank,  Edmund 
Dudley  and  Richard  Empson.  Denounced  by  the  people  as  Henry's 
"horse-leeches  and  skin-shearers,"  they  managed  to  fill  both  the 


-IS09.]  HENRY   VII.  31 5 

king's  pockets  and  theii  own  by  devices  mnch  more  odious  than 
any  that  Morton  had  indulged  in.  Through  their  help,  and 
through  the  rigid  economy  which  never  deserted  him,  Henry 
accumulated  a  store  of  treasure  such  as  no  previous  English  king 
had  gathered  together. 

16.  Englishmen  could  afford  to  submit  to  Henry's  exactions, 
since  he  kept  the  land  in  hotter  order  than  it  had  known  for  a 
century.       The    chief    trouble    of    fifteenth-century   Reduction 
England  had  been  in  the  inordinate  power  of  the   of  the 
nobles.     Henry  was  doing  a  service  to  the  people  as   R?wepJjf 
well  as  to  the  throne  when  he  devoted  his  best  energies 

to  compelling  the  turbulent  nobles  to  obey  the  law  like  ordinary 
citizens.  A  chief  means  by  which  the  nobles  had  defied  the  law  was 
through  the  custom  of  livery  and  maintenance,  whereby  all  who  wore 
the  badge  or  livery  of  a  lord  were  bound  to  support  him  in  all  his 
quarrels,  while  the  lord  in  return  was  bound  to  maintain  his  livery- 
men. This  meant  that  he  was  to  back  them  up  in  whatever  trouble 
beset  them,  and  either  to  coerce  the  law-courts  not  to  pass  sentences 
against  them,  or,  if  they  were  condemned,  to  see  that  the  sentences 
against  them  were  not  carried  out.  Many  statutes  had  been  passed 
making  livery  and  maintenance  unlawful,  but  none  of  them  had 
succeeded,  since  they  were  carried  out  by  those  very  courts  which 
were  so  powerless  against  the  great  nobles.  In  1487  Henry  passed 
a  fresh  act  against  livery  and  maintenance,  by  which  a  new  court  was 
established  to  carry  out  the  law.  This  court  consisted  of  ministers 
of  state  of  such  high  rank  that  they  were  not  amenable  to  the 
pressure  which  the  nobles  were  so  often  able  to  exert  against  the 
judge  and  jury  of  an  ordinary  assize  court.  This  body  was  one 
source  of  the  famous  Star  Chamber,  which  was  to  serve  later 
monarchs  in  such  good  stead.  Through  this  new  court,  Henry's 
statute  was  carried  out  so  thoroughly  that  the  abuses  of  livery  and 
maintenance  were  speedily  ended.  The  fate  of  the  nobles  ruined  in 
attempts  to  resist  Henry  showed  that  the  mightiest  barons  were  no 
longer  above  the  law.  In  thus  breaking  down  the  power  of  the 
aristocracy,  Henry  vn.  laid  solid  foundations  for  that  Tudor 
despotism  which  attained  its  culminating  point  under  Henry  vm. 
and  Elizabeth. 

17.  Henry  vn.  also  did  a  little  to  extend  strong  government  to 
"Wales  and  Ireland.     Proud  of  his  Welsh  descent,  he    Henry  VII.  's 
called  his  eldest  son  after  the  famous   British  king    Welsh  and 
Arthur,  and  sent  him  to  rule  his  principality  from      isn  P°licy« 
Ludlow,  the  old  home  of  the  Mortimers.    The  council  of  advisers  to 


316  HENRY  VII.  [1509. 

the  young  prince  became  the  nucleus  of  the  body  which  in  the  next 
reign  became  the  Council  of  Wales.  In  Ireland  more  immediate 
steps  were  necessary,  and  after  Warbeck's  first  attempted  landing, 
Henry  deprived  Kildare  of  his  deputyship,  and  sent  Sir  Edward 
Poynings  to  Ireland  as  his  successor.  A  plain  Englishman, 
superior  to  the  local  feuds  of  the  land  he  ruled,  Poynings  passed  in 
1494  the  famous  Irish  act  of  parliament,  called  Poynings'  Law,  by 

which  all  English  laws  were  declared  to  be  of  force  in 
Law"l494      Ireland,  and  the  Irish  parliament  was  forbidden  to 

pass  any  measure  until  it  had  received  the  approval  of 
the  king's  council  in  England.  Thus  Ireland  was  made  definitely 
dependent  on  the  English  government  of  the  day.  Henry  had  not, 
however,  power  to  go  far  in  the  direction  thus  defined  by  Poynings. 
Before  long  he  again  made  Kildare  his  deputy,  thinking  that  the 
cheapest  way  of  keeping  some  sort  of  order  was  to  invest  one  of 
the  Irish  magnates  with  the  exercise  of  the  royal  authority.  "  All 
Ireland,"  he  was  told,  "  could  not  rule  the  earl  of  Kildare."  Henry 
is  reported  to  have  answered,  "  Then  let  the  earl  of  Kildare  rule 
all  Ireland."  Thus  Ireland  still  remained  practically  independent 
under  its  own  clan  chieftains  and  feudal  barons. 

18.  In  this  as  in  so  many  other  matters,  Henry  vn.  was  only 
sowing  that  others  might  reap.     But,  when  prematurely  aged  by 

the  toils  of  statecraft,  the  first  Tudor  king  died  in 
Henry  VII.      1509,  he  had  established  the  infant  dynasty  on  such  a 

solid  basis  that  his  son  and  successor  became  from  the 
moment  of  his  accession  one  of  the  strongest  of  English  monarchs. 


CHAPTER    II 
HENRY  VIII.  AND  WOLSEY  (1509-1529) 

Chief  Dates : 

1509.  Accession  of  Henry  vm. 

1511.  The  Holy  League. 

1513.  Battles  of  the  Spurs  and  Flodden. 

1515.  Francis  I.,  king  of  France ;  Utopia  published. 

1517.  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 

1519.  Charles  v.,  emperor. 

1521-1525.  War  with  France. 

1521.  Fall  of  Buckingham. 

1525.  Battle  of  Pavia. 

1527.  Henry  applies  for  a  divorce. 

1529.  Fall  of  Wolsey. 

1.  Henry  viii.  was  only  eighteen  years  old  when  he  succeeded 
his  father  as  king  of  England.  Tall,  robust,  and  well-built,  with 
a  round  and  fair-complexioned  face,  and  short-cut, 
bright,  auburn  hair,  Henry  was  the  handsomest  HenryVIlI 
sovereign  in  Christendom.  He  was  a  splendid  athlete, 
an  accomplished  horseman,  «n  enthusiast  for  the  chase,  and  an 
excellent  tennis-player.  He  looked  every  inch  a  king,  with  his 
stately  form  set  off  by  gorgeous  attire,  glittering  with  jewels  and 
gold.  Though  tenacious  of  his  dignity,  his  friendly  hearty  manner 
won  him  the  love  of  rich  and  poor  alike.  Carefully  educated  by 
his  father,  he  played  and  sang  well,  spoke  several  languages  fluently, 
and  delighted  in  the  society  of  scholars.  Though  seemingly  ab- 
sorbed in  a  round  of  pleasure  and  amusement,  he  never  forgot  that 
his  real  work  was  to  rule  England.  His  strength  of  will  and 
stubbornness  of  purpose  made  him  one  of  the  very  ablest  of  our 
kings.  He  knew  what  he  wanted,  and  had  few  scruples  as  to  how 
to  get  it.  A  shrewd  judge  of  character,  he  chose  his  ministers 
well,  and  used  them  to  the  uttermost.  He  was  selfish,  greedy, 
hard-hearted,  without  the  faintest  gleam  of  pity  or  of  softness. 
Ever  stern  and  relentless,  he  became  in  later  life  a  cruel  and 
hateful  tyrant;  but  he  never  quite  lost  the  love  of  his  subjects; 

317 


3l8  HENRY  VIII.    AND    WOLSEY  [1509- 

and  there  always  remained,  amidst  the  worst  excesses  of  his  later 
life,  some  touch  of  his  lionlike  will  and  splendid  force  of  purpose. 

2.  Henry  was  the  first  king  since  Henry  v.  whose  title  no  man 
seriously  disputed.     Inheriting  the  fruits  of  his  father's  painful  and 

laborious  policy,  and  the  great  store  of  treasure  that 
of  Empson  the  e^er  king  had  hoarded  up,  Henry  aspired  to  play 
and  Dudley,    a  leading  part  in  European  politics.     He  felt  that  he 

could  take  up  a  bolder  and  more  popular  line  than 
Henry  vn.  He  strove  to  win  over  the  people  to  his  side,  while  he 
completed  his  father's  work  of  crushing  the  old  nobility  and  the 
great  churchmen,  who  had  so  long  stood  in  the  way  of  the  royal 
power.  His  ambition  was  to  rule  England  as  a  strong  but  popular 
and  national  despot,  and  his  people,  long  accustomed  to  find  in  the 
king  their  best  protection  against  aristocratic  licence  and  misrule, 
gave  him  a  hearty  and  ungrudging  support.  In  his  eagerness  to 
win  popular  favour,  he  sent  to  the  Tower  Empson  and  Dudley,  the 
hated  agents  of  his  father's  grasping  extortion.  At  first  they  were 
charged  with  tyrannising  over  the  king's  subjects  in  their  collection 
of  the  taxes,  but  this  true  accusation  was  dropped  for  a  foolish 
charge  of  treason  and  conspiracy  against  the  king.  Early  in  1510 
parliament  passed  an  act  of  attainder  against  them  as  traitors.  A 
few  months  later  both  were  beheaded  on  Tower  HilL 

3.  Though  remorselessly  sacrificing  to  popular  hatred  the  most 
notorious  of  his  father's  subordinate  agents,  Henry  continued  in 

office  the  tried  ministers  who  had  really  fashioned 
ministe^S      Henry  vn.'s  policy.     They  were  mainly  bishops  and 

nobles  of  high  position,  but  of  no  great  ability  or 
energy.  The  foremost  among  them  were  Richard  Fox,  bishop  of 
"Winchester,  and  Thomas  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey.  Fox  was  a  good 
and  pious  man,  but  anxious  to  give  up  politics ;  and  Surrey,  though 
a  capable  soldier,  and  the  only  conspicuous  representative  of  the 
older  nobles  who  remained  unswervingly  faithful  to  the  king,  was 
not  clever  enough  to  be  able  to  give  effect  to  the  ambitious  schemes 
of  his  young  master.  To  carry  out  these  an  abler  and  more 
strenuous  helper  was  necessary,  and  Henry  soon  found  a  minister 
after  his  own  heart  in  Thomas  "Wolsey.  The  son  of  a  substantial 
Ipswich  merchant,  Wolsey  early  distinguished  himself  at  Oxford, 

but  soon  abandoned  the  student's  career  to  become 
Wcrtsev  chaplain  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.   Bishop  Fox, 

who  thought  well  of  him,  gave  him  a  footing  at  court, 
and  under  Henry  vn.  he  had  shown  his  capacity  in  several  embassies. 
Under  the  young  king  he  became  dean  of  Lincoln  and  almoner. 


-I5i i.]  HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  319 

Fox's  gradual  withdrawal  from  politics  gave  "Wolsey  Lis  oppor- 
tunity, and  the  growing  complication  of  foreign  politics  soon  made 
him  indispensable  to  Henry.  In  1514  he  became  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
and,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  archbishop  of  York.  In  1515  he 
was  made  lord  chancellor,  and  the  pope  sent  him  a  cardinal's  hat. 
For  sixteen  years  Wolsey  was  supreme  both  in  Church  and  State. 
Fresh  preferment  was  heaped  upon  him,  until  he  enjoyed  the 
revenues  of  three  or  four  bishoprics  and  of  one  of  the  richest 
abbeys  in  England.  He  lived  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  with 
Henry,  and  though  never  gainsaying  the  fierce  king's  wishes,  was 
able  to  control  his  policy  as  no  other  minister  of  the  reign  ever 
did.  He  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  kept  all  the  business 
of  the  state  under  his  own  control.  Equally  competent  to  organize 
an  army  and  to  conduct  a  subtle  diplomatic  intrigue,  he  was  alike 
able  to  formulate  a  great  policy  and  to  plod  patiently  through  the 
dull  details  of  administration.  He  affected  a  pomp  and  ostentation 
such  as  the  proudest  nobles  did  not  aspire  to ;  but  he  posed  as  the 
friend  of  the  poor,  listening  patiently  to  their  lawsuits,  and  dealing 
out  to  them  even-handed  justice.  The  great  nobles  both  envied 
him  and  hated  him,  recognizing  in  him  the  chief  instrument  em- 
ployed by  the  king  for  their  abasement.  He  had  few  of  the  strict 
virtues  of  the  churchman,  though  he  was  a  munificent  patron  of 
learning,  and  wished  to  see  the  clergy  better  educated  and  more 
energetic.  He  had  something  of  the  pride,  the  greed,  the  ostenta- 
tion, and  love  of  pleasure  of  his  master  ;  but  he  had  a  clear  vision 
of  the  right  policy  for  his  country,  and  without  his  rare  gifts  the 
young  king's  reign  would  have  been  shorn  of  much  of  its  glory. 

4.  The  ability  and  energy  of  Wolsey  were  of  special  service  to 
his  master  in  the  region  of  foreign  politics.     Under  Henry  vu. 
England  had  been    of    little    account  in   European 
affairs;   and  the   old  king's  fidelity  to  the   Spanish   ISSgJS1 
alliance  had  met  with  but  scanty  recompense  from 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon.    As  in  the  days  of  Henry  vu.,  the  rivalry 
of  Louis  xii.   of  France  and  of  Ferdinand    of    Spain  was  the 
central  fact  of  the  European  situation,  and  Italy  had  become  more 
than  ever  the  prize  of  victory.     Louis,  as  duke  of  Milan,  was  the 
chief  power  in  Northern  Italy,  and  Ferdinand,  as  king  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  dominated  the  south  of  the  peninsula.    Both  princes 
threw  themselves  in^o  the  complicated  intrigues  of  the  Italian 
statesmen,  and  shared  their  fears  of  the  aggressions  of  the  wise, 
strong,  and  wealthy  republic  of  Venice.     So  far  did  this  fear  lead 
them,  that  in  1508  Ferdinand  and  Louis  forgot  their  rivalry  for  a 


320  HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  [1511- 

moment,  and  united  with  the  Emperor  Maximilian  1.  in  the  League 
of  Cambrai  against  Venice.  This  union  of  all  the  chief  powers 
of  the  Continent"  had  the  effect  of  isolating  England  from  all 
opportunity  of  taking  part  in  Continental  politics.  Nevertheless, 
Henry  vm.  kept  on  good  terms  with  Spain,  and  within  a  few 
weeks  of  his  accession,  he  carried  out  his  long-deferred  marriage 
with  Catharine  of  Aragon,  Ferdinand's  daughter,  and  his  brother 
Arthur's  widow.  For  three  years  the  continuance  of  the  League 
of  Camhrai  made  Henry  powerless  to  take  a  line  of  his  own.  But 
the  clever  Venetian  statesmen  began  to  play  upon  the  jealousies  of 
the  ill-assorted  coalition  arrayed  against  them,  and  in  1511  they 
succeeded  in  breaking  up  the  alliance  altogether.  Julius  11.,  the 
fierce  and  warlike  pope,  who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
league,  became  alarmed  lest  the  destruction  of  Venice  should  be 
followed  by  the  establishment  of  French  rule  in  Italy.  He  per- 
suaded Ferdinand  and  Maximilian  to  break  off  their  connection 
The  Holv  with  France,  and  to  join  in  a  new  combination  with  the 
League,  Venetians,  whose  object  was  to  drive  the  French  out 

151  *•  of  Italy.     This  league  was  called  the  Holy  League, 

because  the  pope  was  at  the  head  of  it. 

5.  Henry  vm.  was  delighted  that  the  break-up  of  the  con- 
federates of  Cambrai  into  two  factions  gave  him  a  chance  of  taking 
Henry  Joins  UP  a  ^ne  °^  ^  own-  He  joined  the  Holy  League, 
the  Holy  hoping  to  win  glory  for  himself  by  gaining  victories 
League.  over  ^e  j'rencilj  ^fl  believing  that  with  the  help 
of  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand  he  might  again  bring  Normandy 
and  Gascony  under  the  English  king's  rule.  Wolsey  showed  won- 
derful energy  in  raising  armies  to  fight  his  master's  battles,  and  in 
levying  the  sums  of  money  necessary  to  equip  and  feed  them.  It 
was  the  first  time  that  England  actively  entered  into  a  general 
European  war  waged  on  the  large  scale  of  modern  times. 

6.  In  1512  there  was  fighting  all  over  Europe.  The  Holy  League 
drove  the  French  out  of  Milan,  and  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  con- 
The  war  in  quered  the  little  kingdom  of  Navarre,  which  was  closely 
1512  and        allied  to  France.      Henry  sent  his  cousin,  Thomas 

1513 

Grey,  marquis  of  Dorset,  with  a  considerable  army  to 
the  north  of  Spain,  hoping  that  the  Spaniards  would  co-operate 
with  him  in  his  attempt  to  win  back  Gascony,  the  ancient  heritage 
of  the  English  kings.  But  Ferdinand  was  busy  with  Navarre,  and 
left  the  English  to  look  after  themselves.  The  raw  English  troops 
were  kept  inactive ;  and  disgust  at  the  weakness  of  their  generals, 
and  complaints  of  the  badness  of  the  food  and .  drink  supplied  to 


■I5I3-] 


HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY 


321 


them,  soon  drove  them  into  mutiny.  Dorset  was  forced  by  his  own 
soldiers  to  return  to  England  without  accomplishing  anything  at 
all.  It  was  a  ludicrous  result  after  all  Henry's  fine  talk  of  foreign 
conquests. 

7.  In  1513  Henry  and  Wolsey  made  fresh  efforts  to  restore  the 
credit  of  their  arms.     The  king  himself  led  an  army  through  the 
open  gate  of  Calais  into  the  French  king's  lands,  and   uatt,ie  of 
the  needy  emperor,  who  claimed  to  be  Caesar  Augustus,   the  Spurs, 
and  lord  of  the  world,  appeared  in  the  English  camp,    1513« 
and  greedily  took  English  pay.     Henry  defeated  the   French  at 
Guinegatte  with  so  much  ease  that  the  English  called  their  victory 


Emery  Walker  so 
THE  FRENCH   AND   NETHERLANDISH   BORDERS   IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


the  Battle  of  the  Spurs,  since  the  enemy  made  more  use  of  their 
spurs  in  their  flight  than  of  their  swords  in  the  struggle.  This 
victory  led  to  the  capture  of  the  towns  of  Therouanne  and  Tournai. 
"Wolsey,  who  had  served  all  through  the  campaign  with  but  little 
regard  to  the  peaceful  character  of  a  prelate,  was  now  made  bishop 
of  Tournai  as  the  reward  of  his  efforts. 

8.  After  the  ancient  fashion,  the  French  sought  to  weaken  the 
English  attack  by  stirring  up  their  old  allies  the  Scots  to  cross  the 
Border.    James  iv.,  though  Henry  viii.'s  brother-in-  law,  eagerly 

M 


322 


HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY 


[I5I3- 


abandoned  his  new  friendship  with  the  English  in  favour  of  the 
traditional  policy  of  the  Scottish  kings.  About  the  time  of  the 
Battle  of  the  Spurs  he  crossed  the  Tweed  at  the  head 
of  a  well-equipped  and  gallant  army,  and  easily 
captured  many  of  the  border  castles.  The  earl  of 
Surrey  hastened  to  the  north  to  expel  the  intruder.  On  Surrey's 
approach,  James  took  up  a  strong  position  on  Flodden  Edge,  one 
of  the  northern  offshoots  of  the  Cheviot  hills,  a  few  miles  south  of 


Flodden 
Field,  1513 


Tuuizel  Bridge 


Battle  of 
FLODDEN 

9  Sept  X513. 

English  Miles 


English  Armg 

Scottish  Armg — 


N\     D 


A 


Bd(Jc 


A.  First  position  of  tbe  Scottish  army. 

B.  Second  position  of  the  Scottish  army. 

C.  Position  of  the  two  armies  at  tbe  beginning  of  the  battle. 

1.  The  Earl  of  Surrey.  a.  Borderers. 

2.  The  English  left.  b.  King  of  Scots. 

xxxx   Their  flank  charge  c.  Highlanders, 

during  the  battle.  d.  Scottish  reserve. 


Coldstream.  The  deep  and  broad  river  Till  protected  his  right 
flank,  and  a  marsh  made  his  left  hard  to  get  at.  Surrey,  who  was 
on  the  opposite  or  east  bank  of  the  Till,  was  unable  to  attack  with 
advantage,  but  by  a  clever  march  northwards  he  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  Till  at  Twizel  Bridge,  and  put  himself  between  the 
Scots  army  and  Scotland.     As  Surrey  moved  northwards,  James 


-I5I4-3  HENRY  VIII.  AND   WOLSEi  323 

foolishly  abandoned  Flodden  Edge  and  stationed  his  army  on 
Branxton  Hill,  a  lower  elevation,  at  some  distance  to  the  north. 
Surrey  turned  south  to  meet  him,  and  on  his  approach,  the  Scots 
came  down  from  the  hill,  and  on  September  9  the  decisive  battle 
was  fought  in  the  plain  at  its  foot.  The  Scots  king  blundered  to 
the  last,  and  the  four  divisions  into  which  his  army  was  divided 
were  stationed  so  far  apart  that  they  could  do  little  to  help  each 
other.  The  struggle  soon  resolved  itself  into  a  fierce  hand-to-hand 
fight.  Though  the  borderers  on  the  Scots'  left  carried  all  before 
them,  the  English  left  easily  scattered  the  Highlanders  who  fought 
on  the  Scots'  right.  In  the  centre  there  was  a  prolonged  struggle 
between  Surrey  and  James,  but  when  the  English  left  turned  from 
the  pursuit  of  the  Highlanders  and  took  James  in  flank  and  rear, 
all  that  the  Scots  could  do  was  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as 
possible.  The  northern  army  was  utterly  destroyed,  and  James, 
with  the  bravest  of  his  nobility,  lay  dead  on  the  field.  The 
victorious  Surrey  was  rewarded  by  being  made  duke  of  Norfolk,  a 
title  which  his  father  had  forfeited  by  his  support  of  Richard  in. 

9.  Flodden  Field  was  the  only  great  exploit  in  the  war.  Henry 
was  bitterly  disappointed  with  the  result  of  his  intervention  on  the 
continent.    He  had  got  no  help  from  his  selfish  allies, 

who  only  looked  after  their  own  interests,  and  he  saw  France  and 
that  it  was  hopeless  to  expect  to  win  by  English  Scotland, 
resources  alone  new  victories  that  could  match  with 
Crecy  and  Agincourt.  Louis  xn.,  who  had  been  finally  driven  out 
of  Italy,  was  old  and  broken  in  health,  and  wishful  to  end  his  days 
in  peace.  Julius  11.  was  dead,  and  the  new  pope  Leo  x.  was  anxious 
not  to  risk  the  results  of  his  victories  by  continuing  the  war. 
Moreover,  after  James  iv.'s  death,  his  widow,  Margaret  Tudor, 
ruled  over  Scotland  in  the  name  of  her  little  son,  and  won  over  the 
country  to  the  English  side.  It  thus  became  easy  for  Henry  to 
make  peace  with  France  and  Scotland,  and  he  had  little  scruple  in 
throwing  over  his  father-in-law,  Ferdinand,  who  had  helped  him  so 
badly.  The  peace  with  France  was  cemented  by  the  marriage  of 
Henry's  younger  sister,  Mary,  to  Louis  xn.  With  his  two  sisters 
reigning  over  the  French  and  Scots,  Henry  came  easily  out  of  a 
war  that  had  brought  him  more  expense  and  worry  than  glory. 

10.  For  the  next  seven  years  England  enjoyed  unbroken  peace. 
The  special  feature   of  this  time  was  the  dying  off 

of  the  older   generation   of  rulers,   in  whose   places   DPlne£g ng 

arose  young,  vigorous,  and  able  princes,  of  the  same  age 

and  with  the  same  ambitions  as  the  king  of  England.    Louis  xik 


324 


HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY 


[1515- 


died  early  in  1515,  whereupon  Lis  widow  speedily  married  her  old 
lover,  Charles  Brandon,  duke  of  Suffolk,  the  personal  friend  and 
boon  companion  of  her  brother.  Francis  I.,  Louis'  cousin,  became 
king  of  France.  He  was  ambitious  and  warlike,  and  at  once  renewed 
the  struggle  for  Milan,  winning  in  1515  the  great  battle  of 
Martgnano,  which  restored  him  to  the  possession  of  that  duchy,  and 
forcing  his  enemies  to  make  peace  on  terms  that  left  Milan  under 


Emery  Xfalicr  sc. 


French  rule.  In  1516  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  grandson,  Charles  of  Austria.  Charles's  mother  was 
Joan,  elder  daughter  and  heiress  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and 
his  father,  the  Archduke  Philip,  was  the  son  and  heir  of  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  and  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  the  only  daughter 
of  Charles  the  Bold.  On  Ferdinand's  death,  Charles,  who  was 
already  lord  of  the  Netherlands,  also  became  king  of  Spain  and 
Naples  and  ruler  of  the  great  empire  which  Spanish  adventurers 
were  winning  by  the  sword  in  the  newly  discovered  continent  of 


-i5«9l 


HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY 


325 


America.  In  1519  the  Emperor  Maximilian  died  also,  whereupon 
Charles  succeeded  to  Austria  and  the  other  hereditary  dominions  of 
the  Hapsburgs. 


THE  GENEALOGY  OF  CHARLES  V.  AND  THE  HAPSBURG 
KINGS  OF  SPAIN 

Charles  the  Rash, 

duke  of  Burgundy, 

d.  1477 

(see  table  on  page  269). 

Ferdinand,  king  m.  Isabella,  queen     Maximilian  i.,  m.  Mary  of 


of  Aragon 

d.  1516 
(2) 


of  Castile, 

d.  1504 

(1) 


Roman  emperor, 
d.  1519. 


Burgundy. 


Catharine  of  Aragon. 
m.  (1)  Arthur,  prince 
of  Wales. 
(2)  Henry  vm. 


Joan,  queen  m.  Philip,  archduke  of  Austria, 


of  Castile. 


and  Philip  i.  of  Spain, 
d.  1506. 


,     (2) 
Mary  Tudor, 
1553-1558, 
m.  Philip  11., 
king  of  Spain. 


Charles  v.,  1519-1556, 

Roman  emperor  and 

king  of  Spain. 

d.  1558. 

I 


Ferdinand  i.,  Roman 

emperor  (d.  1564),  ancestor 

of  the  later  emperors 

of  the  house  of  Austria. 


Philip  ii.  of  Spain, 
1556-1598. 


(illegitimate) 
Don  John  of  Austria. 


Philip  hi.  of  Spain,  1598-1621. 
Philip  iv.  of  Spain,  1621-1665. 
Charles  ii.  of  Spain,  1665-1700. 

11.  The  once  great  title  of  Roman  emperor  had  now  been  borne 
for  several  generations  by  the  head  of  the  house  of  Austria.     But 
every  emperor  was  chosen  by  the  Seven  Electors,  and 
some  of  them  were  so  much  afraid  of  young  Charles's   Charles  V. 
power  that  tliey  hesitated  to  appoint  him  to  succeed  his   and 
grandfather.     Francis  offered  himself  as  a  candidate,      ranc  s  ' 
but  after  a  fierce  contest,  Charles  was  preferred.    He  was  henceforth 
called  the  Emperor  Charles  v.,  though  the  title  did  little  to  increase 
his  real  resources.     However,  the  ancient  rivalries  of  the  older 
rulers  of  France  and  Spain  were  at  once  renewed  between  these 
two  ambitious  sovereigns.     For  the  rest  of  their  lives  Francis  and 
Charles  contested  fiercely  for  the  first  place  in  Europe.     All  the 
lesser  states  of  Europe  ranged  themselves  aside  with  one  or  the 


326  HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  [1520- 

other,  though,  the  more  prudent  began  to  feel  that  the  right 
policy  for  them  was  to  strive  to  set  up  some  sort  of  balance 
between  the  two  great  powers.     It  was  mainly  through  the  long 

rivalry  of  Charles  and  Francis  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
of  Powep1106   Balance  °f  Power  was  accepted  as  the  basis  of  all 

European  politics.  It  was  thought  to  be  the  interest  of 
every  state  to  prevent  any  of  its  neighbours  growing  so  strong  that 
it  could  upset  what  was  called  the  European  Balance.  The  notion 
has  prevailed  more  or  less  ever  since,  and  most  of  the  wars  and 
treaties  of  the  last  four  centuries  have  been  directed  to  uphold  the 
political  equilibrium  between  the  different  states  in  Europe. 

12.  Wolsey  was  strongly  influenced  by  the  notion  of  the 
political  balance,  and  persuaded  Henry  that  it  was  his  interest  to 
Wolsev's  prevent  either  Francis  or  Charles  having  a  decided 
foreign  preponderance  over  the  other.  Wolsey  also  strove  to 
policy.  maintain  peace  between  the  rivals  by  threatening  to 
throw  the  weight  of  England  on  to  the  side  that  began  hostilities. 
For  several  years  this  policy  succeeded,  though  it  led  to  endless 
hollow  and  insincere  intrigues,  and  made  both  parties  look  upon  the 
English  with  suspicion.  Moreover,  after  the  contest  for  the 
empire,  war  became  inevitable,  so  that  after  all  Henry  had  to  take 
a  side.  It  speaks  well  for  the  way  in  which  the  reputation  of 
England  had  revived  that,  both  Charles  and  Francis  competed 
eag*erly  for  her  support. 

13.  In  1520  Henry  and  Francis  hirfd  a  personal  interview  on 
the  border  between  Calais  and  the  French  king's  territory.  Each 
The  Field  of  ^n§"  showed  such  magnificence  and  splendour  that 
the  Cloth  of    men  called  the  place  of  their  meeting  the  Field  of  the 

■  Gold»  152°-  Cloth  of  Gold.  Francis  and  Henry  claimed  to  be  like 
brothers  in  their  affection,  and  wasted  huge  sums  in  giving 
elaborate  entertainments  to  each  other.  There  was,  however,  little 
reality  in  these  solemn  declarations,  and  very  soon  afterwards  Henry 
held  a  less  ostentatious  meeting  with  Charles  v.  at  Gravelines,  and 
came  to  an  understanding  with  him.  "Wolsey  still  professed  to 
mediate  between  the  rivals,  but  Henry  had  definitely  gone  over  to 
the  emperor's  side.  He  still  hated  the  French  as  England's 
hereditary  enemies,  and  wished  well  to  Charles  v.,  who  ruled  over 
countries  bound  to  England  by  many  ancient  ties  of  friendship, 
and  was  himself  the  nephew  of  Queen  Catharine.  Despite  the  talk 
about  upholding  the  balance,  Henry  threw  his  weight  into  the  scale 
which  soon  proved  to  be  the  heavier  one. 

14.  Between  1521  and  1529  Charles  and  Francis  were  at  war- 


-1529.]  HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  327 

Henry  began  as  an  active  ally  of  Charles,  and  in  1522  and  1523 
English    armies    invaded    France    from   Calais,    the   second   of 
them  heing  commanded  by  Henry's  brother-in-law,    war  with 
Suffolk,  the  husband  of  the  widowed  queen  of  France.    France, 
But  neither  expedition  inflicted  much  harm  on  the    1521-1525. 
French.    As  during  the  war  of  the  Holy  League,  Henry  had  the 
mortification  of  seeing  his  enemies  defeated  by  his  ally,  without 
being  able  himself  to  do  anything  effective  against  them.     Charles 
drove  Francis  out  of  Italy ;  and  when  in  1525  the  gallant  chivalry 
of  France  again  crossed  the  Alps  and  strove  to  win  back  Milan, 
Charles  won  a  complete  victory  at  Pavta  and  took  his  rival  captive. 
15.  The  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  French  made  the  prospect 
of  a  fresh  English  attack  on  France  very  hopeful,  and  for  a 
moment  there  was  talk    of  invading  that   country. 
However,  Wolsey  had  at  last  managed  to  make  Henry   £h chaplesPh 
believe  in  the  new  theory  of  the  Balance  of  Power,    and  the 
He  urged  that  Charles's  victory  was  so  complete  that    French 
he  seemed  likely  to  be  master  of  all  Europe,  and  that 
his  preponderance  might  well  become  dangerous  to  England  if  he 
were  allowed  to  crush   France   altogether.     Accordingly,  Henry 
broke  off  his  friendship  with  Charles  and  made  peace  with  France. 
Francis,  who  was  released  from  prison  in  1526,  again  strove  to 
win  back  his  position  in  Italy.      He  would  have  been  very  glad 
of  Henry's  direct  help,  but  the  English,  though  professing  great 
sympathy  for  him,  left  him  to  do   all  his  fighting  for  himself. 
The  little  princes   of  Italy,   who  like   Henry  were  much  afraid 
of  Charles's   power,  formed  a  league  to  help  him  to  drive  the 
emperor  from  the  peninsula.     Clement  vu.,  the  pope,  a  nephew  of 
Leo  x.,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  this  confederation.     But  the 
emperor  proved  irresistible.     In  1527  his  troops  sacked  Borne  and 
took  the  pope  prisoner.     All  Europe  was  horrified,  but  the  severe 
lesson  showed  the  Italians  that  Charles  was  their  real  master. 
Francis  struggled  on  till  1529,  when  he  made  the  peace  of  Cambrai 
with  Charles  on  terms  that  left  the  emperor   supreme  in  Italy. 
Henry  and  Wolsey  had  done  nothing  to  prevent  Charles's  triumph. 
With  all  their  fine  talk  about  holding  the  balance  between  the 
rivals,  they  had  not  ventured  to  strike  a  blow  to  save  France  from 
humiliation.     Wolsey  s  diplomacy  was  as  ineffective  as  Henry's 
armies.     It  was  useless  for  England  to  pose  as  the  mediator  of 
Europe,  when  it  refused  to  throw  its  weight  on  the  weaker  side. 
It  seemed  almost  as  if  the  English  were  conscious  that  their  power 
counted  for  so  little,  and  believed  that  even  if  it  had  been  turned 


328  HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  [1521- 

against  the  emperor,  it  would  have  been  unable  to  redress  the 
balance. 

16.  The  old  nobles  envied  Henry  and  Wolsey  even  their  barren 
triumphs  on  the  continent,  and  stood  aside  in  sullen  isolation, 
Fall  of  Buck-  an8Ty  ^hat  low-born  men  should  have  the  king's  chief 
Ingham,  confidence,  while  they,  whose  ancestors  had  ruled  all 
1521.  England,  were  quite  without  real  power.  The  leader 
of  the  old  houses  was  Edward  Stafford,  duke  of  Buckingham,  son 
of  the  Buckingham  whom  Richard  in.  put  to  death.  He  was  a 
proud,  vain,  foolish  man,  who  was  persuaded  by  false  prophets  that 
Henry  would  soon  die  and  that  he  himself  would  become  king,  as 
one  of  the  descendants  of  Edward  in.  He  talked  rashly  about  the 
king  and  the  cardinal,  and  perhaps  contemplated  a  real  attack 
upon  them.  In  1521  he  was  suddenly  arrested  and  accused  of 
treason.  The  lords  condemned  him  to  death  without  much  real 
evidence.  But  the  king  said  he  was  guilty,  and  they  were  too 
timid  or  deferential  to  go  against  the  king's  wishes.  He  was 
beheaded  as  a  traitor,  and  his  fate  frightened  the  proudest  of  the 
magnates  into  absolute  subservience  to  the  fierce  and  masterful  king. 

17.  Henry  might  safely  humiliate  the  nobles  so  long  as  the 
people  were  on  his  side.  But  the  cost  of  his  expensive  foreign 
The  king  policy  and  wasteful  court  revels  had  .long  ago  ex- 
and  the  hausted  his  father's  hoards  of  treasure,  and  the  English 
Commons.  king's  ordinary  revenue  was  so  small  that  unusual 
expenses  could  only  be  met  by  fresh  taxation.  The  House  of 
Commons  was  loyal  to  the  king,  and  in  1512  granted  him  all  the 
money  he  asked  for  to  carry  on  the  French  war.  But  in  1522  and 
in  1523  Henry  made  such  vast  demands  upon  his  subjects  that 
parliament  began  to  grow  restive.  The  English  hated  nothing 
so  much  as  taxes,  and  while  willing  enough  that  the  king  should 
fight  the  French,  showed  a  strong  disinclination  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses necessarily  involved  in  such  a  policy.  The  parliament  of 
1523  made  a  much  smaller  grant  than  the  king  had  asked  for,  and 
only  gave  this  after  Wolsey  had  gone  down  to  the  Commons  and 
lectured  them  on  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  king's  government. 
So  serious  did  their  attitude  seem  that  for  the  six  years  that  remained 
of  Wolsey's  ministry  the  king  never  summoned  another  parliament. 
In  1525,  when  he  thought  of  fitting  out  another  army,  he  strove 
Tne  to  raise  the  money  by  what  was  called  an  Amicable 
Amicable  Loan,  in  which  every  one  was  called  upon  to  lend  to 
Loan,  1525.  ^e  king  a  sixth  part  of  his  income.  There  was  a 
gtorm  of  resistance  everywhere.      It  was  said  that  Henry  was 


-1525.]  HENRY  VIII.   AND   WOLSEY  329 

reviving  benevolences,  which  had  been  abolished  Tinder  Richard  in., 
and  the  only  answer  Wolsey  could  give  was  that  Richard  was  a 
usurper  and  his  laws  invalid.  A  popular  rebellion  was  threatened, 
and  Henry  was  forced  to  cancel  the  loan  and  take  what  money  his 
subjects  offered  freely.  The  cardinal  was  regarded  as  responsible 
for  his  master's  failure.  Already  bitterly  hated  by  the  nobles, 
Wolsey  was  henceforth  equally  disliked  by  the  common  people. 

18.  New  ideas  were  in  the  air,  and  beneath  the  seeming  calm 
of  the  times  the  seeds  of  far-reaching  changes  were  being  sown. 
It  was  the  time  of  the  Renascence — that  is,  of  the 

revival  or  new  birth  of  learning.  Men,  who  in  former  I-JoSea 
days  had  been  content  to  take  everything  on  trust, 
began  to  ask  questions  for  themselves,  and  would  believe  in  nothing 
that  did  not  seem  to  them  good  and  reasonable.  The  remarkable 
revival  of  arts  and  letters  which  had  begun  in  Italy,  gradually 
spread  itself  to  lands  like  England,  where  old-fashioned  notions 
had  hitherto  prevailed.  Printing  had  now  made  books  cheap  and 
accessible,  and  scholars  studied  not  only  the  schoolmen  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  but  the  classic  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
Indeed,  a  zeal  for  the  study  of  Greek,  a  language  little  known 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  was  a  chief  characteristic  of  what  was  called 
the  New  Learning.  With  the  revival  of  antiquity  came  some 
sort  of  revival  of  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  world. 

19.  The  institutions  and  ideas  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  brought 
.  about  much  good  in  their  time,  but  many  men  had  now  lost  faith  in 

them.  The  Church  had  been  the  greatest  institution 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  the  Church  had  long  been  in  f^e  Chur  h 
a  state  of  decay.  The  papacy  had  ceased  to  be  in  any 
sense  the  religious  centre  of  Christendom.  The  popes  were  still 
rich,  powerful,  and  prominent,  but  it  was  as  politicians  or  as 
patrons  of  the  new  learning,  rather  than  as  spiritual  guides  to 
the  faithful,  that  they  made  themselves  conspicuous.  The  chief 
popes  of  the  time  were  fierce  warriors  like  Julius  1:.  or  clever 
statesmen  and  lovers  of  art  and  literature  like  Leo  x.  The  corrup- 
tion of  the  head  was  but  a  sign  of  the  decay  of  the  members. 
Gross  abuses  were  common  throughout  the  whole  Church,  but 
more  harm  perhaps  was  done  by  the  wide  spread  of  indifference 
and  worldliness.  The  great  ecclesiastics  had  but  little  of  the  true 
spirit  of  religion.  Among  the  people  there  was  much  superstition 
and  ungodliness,  and  but  little  real  faith  and  earnestness.  The 
clergy  were  largely  indifferent  or  hostile  to  the  movements  for 
reform.     They  thought  mainly  of  preserving  their  old  privileges 

M  2 


330  HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  [1509- 

and  their  own  wealth.  They  were  getting  quite  out  of  touch  with 
their  flocks.  Yet,  despite  the  growth  of  the  new  spirit,  the 
Church  was  still  outwardly  unshaken.  It  was  as  rich,  as  strong, 
and  as  proud  as  ever,  and  though  earnest  men  denounced  its 
corruptions,  there  were  very  few  who  disbelieved  in  its  doctrines 
or  wanted  to  change  its  system. 

20.  The  best  minds  in  all  countries  were  striving  to  make  the 
new  learning  as  widely  spread  as  possible,  and  to  get  rid  of  the 

ignorance,  superstition,  and  corruption  which  stood  in 
reformers'1     *ke  "way  of  all  reform.     Since  the  reign  of  Henry  vn., 

a  little  band  of  Oxford  scholars  had  been  upholding 
the  new  learning  in  England.  Conspicuous  among  them  was 
John  Colet,  who,  after  doing  much  for  the  revival  of  the  study  of 
Greek  in  Oxford,  was  made  dean  of  St.  Paul's  in  London.  There 
he  exercised  immense  influence  by  his  preaching  and  life.  Early 
in  Henry  viii.'s  reign  he  set  up  a  new  school,  called  St.  Paul's 
school,  in  which  boys  were  to  be  brought  up  in  the  spirit  of  the 
new  learning.  He  was  a  straightforward,  high-minded,  and  deeply 
religious  man,  who  wished  to  make  the  clergy  more  active  and 
better  educated,  but  who  had  no  desire  to  alter  the  doctrines  or 
constitution  of  the  Church. 

21.  Among  those  whom  Colet's  example  deeply  influenced  were 
the  famous  foreign  man  of  letters,  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  who  spent 

many  years  in  England,  and  the  brilliant  young  English 
am^More        lawyer,  Sir  Thomas  More.  Erasmus  was  an  enlightened 

but  timid  scholar,  who  laughed  at  bigotry  and  super- 
stition, and  did  good  service  for  learning  by  his  writings  and  by 
his  edition  of  the  Creek  Testament.  But  he  had  little  of  the 
sturdy  directness  of  spirit  of  Colet,  and  his  thoughts  were  always 
for  the  little  world  of  scholars  and  thinkers  rather  than  for  the 
people  at  large.  More  combined  with  the  delicacy  and  insight  of 
Erasmus  some  of  the  vigour  and  straightforwardness  of  Colet.  It 
was  a  great  disappointment  to  his  student  friends  when  he  gave 
up  the  scholar's  life  to  become  a  lawyer  and  a  statesman.  But  his 
knowledge  of  practical  affairs  gave  him  an  insight  into  the  roots  of 
the  evil  that  underlay  the  prosperity  of  the  times,  such  as  no  mere 
Mor^s  scholar  could  ever  possess.    In  his  famous  book  Utopia, 

"  Utopia,"  written  in  Latin  and  published  in  1515,  he  described 
1515.  -with  great  clearness  and  spirit  the  evils  of  the  age, 

and  by  way  of  contrast  drew  an  imaginary  picture  of  a  perfect 
commonwealth,  called  Utopia,  where  everything  was  ordered  for 
the  best.     In  this  ideal  state  there  was  none  of  the  selfishness  and 


-1518.]  HENRY   VIII.  AND   WOLSEY  33 1 

greed  for  gain  that  lie  saw  in  the  England  around  him.  Every 
man  had  enough  and  none  more  than  enough.  Men  could  think  as 
they  pleased  and  worship  God  as  they  liked.  They  were  interested 
in  reading  and  improving  their  minds,  and  were  not  allowed  to 
quarrel  with  each  other.  Very  different  from  this,  thought  More, 
was  the  state  of  affairs  in  England.  There  the  rich  became  richer 
and  the  poor  poorer.  Men  unwilling  to  work,  or  for  whom  no  work 
could  be  found,  swarmed  over  the  country  as  vagrants,  thieves,  and 
murderers.  The  hard  laws  that  sent  all  felons  to  the  gallows  were 
useless  to  remedy  this  condition  of  things.  The  poor  had  nothing 
to  do  but  to  beg  and  rob,  for  grasping  landowners  had  found  out 
that  it  paid  them  better  to  turn  their  corn  lands  into  pasture. 
Sheep,  More  said,  were  devourers  of  men,  since  fewer  labourers  were 
wanted  to  watch  the  great  flocks  of  sheep  that  now  pastured  on 
lands  which  of  old  had  been  tilled  to  produce  crops  of  corn.  But  the 
Flemish  weavers  paid  a  higher  price  for  wool  than  the  farmers 
could  get  for  corn,  and  thinking  of  nothing  but  their  own  private 
gain,  the  landlords  were  stripping  England  of  its  inhabitants  and 
the  poor  of  their  daily  bread. 

22.  Henry  vm.  and  Wolsey  never  seriously  grasped  the  need  of 
such  reforms  as  Colet  and  More  described.  But  they  were  not 
untouched  by  the  better  spirit  of  the  times,  and  they 
sometimes  turned  half  aside  from  their  schemes  of  th°  church 
selfish  statecraft  to  strive  feebly  to  make  things 
better.  More  entered  into  Henry's  service,  and  the  king  listened 
to  his  advice  and  treated  him  with  great  respect.  "Wolsey  formed 
schemes  to  reform  the  Church,  and  obtained  from  Leo  x.,  in  1518,  a 
special  appointment  as  papal  legate,  so  that  he  could  control  the 
whole  English  Church  by  virtue  of  his  representing  the  pope,  and 
lord  it  even  over  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  used  his  new 
power  to  dissolve  several  small  and  corrupt  monasteries,  and  with 
their  revenues  he  set  up  a  great  college  at  Oxford,  which  he  called 
Cardinal  College,  and  a  noble  school  at  Ipswich,  his  birthplace,  to 
supply  his  Oxford  college  with  well-trained  students.  It  was  no 
new  thing  for  great  prelates  and  nobles  to  endow  richly  schools  and 
colleges.  But  not  even  William  of  Wykeham  and  Henry  vi.  had 
designed  their  foundations  on  so  magnificent  a  scale  as  Wolsey. 
However,  he  was  so  busy  in  other  work  that  he  never  had  time  to 
carry  out  his  plans  properly.  What  he  desired  was  wise  and  noble. 
Like  Colet  and  More,  he  wished  to  reform  the  Church  from  within. 
He  strove  to  improve  education,  to  make  the  clergy  work  harder 
and  avoid  gross  corruption.     But  he  never  set  his  own  life  in 


332  HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  [1517- 

order,  nor  did  he  even  offer  to  resign  the  many  bishoprics  whose 
revenues  enabled  him  to  live  like  a  prince,  bat  whose  duties 
he  never  troubled  himself  about  discharging.  It  required  more 
unselfishness,  more  faith,  and  more  hard  work  than  Henry  and 
Wolsey  were  able  to  give,  before  the  abuses  of  the  Church  could 
really  be  set  aright. 

23.  On  the  continent,  as  in  England,  attempts  were  made  to 
reform  the  Church  from  within.     Erasmus,  the  friend  of  More  and 

Colet,  inspired  those  who  wished  to  carry  out  such 
ningsofthe  schemes,  but,  as  in  England,  there  was  too  much 
Reforma-  selfishness  and  too  little  earnestness  for  them  to 
1*529 1517~      prosper.     At  last  a  more  rough  and   ready  method 

was  tried  with  greater  success.  In  1517  Martin 
Luther,  a  friar  of  Wittenberg,  in  Saxony,  stirred  up  a  great 
agitation  against  the  sale  of  indulgences.  These  indulgences 
were  remissions  of  the  penance,  which  those  who  confessed  and 
repented  of  their  sins  had  imposed  upon  them  by  the  authority 
of  the  Church.  They  were  openly  sold  for  money,  and  the  sturdy 
friar  became  indignant  that. men  should  be  encouraged  to  believe 

that  a  mere  cash  payment  would  do  away  with  the 
L^hap  ev^  results   of  sin.     He  taught  that  men  were  not 

made  righteous  by  their  good  works,  or  formal  acts, 
but  by  their  faith  in  God,  not  by  what  they  did,  but  by  what  they 
were.  Finding  that  his  teaching  was  condemned  by  Leo  x.,  he 
began  to  denounce  the  power  of  the  pope  and  the  authority  of  the 
bishops.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation.  In  a  few 
years  Luther  led  all  North  Germany  to  revolt  against  the  papal 
authority  and  the  system  of  the  Mediaeval  Church.  His  coarseness, 
his  violence,  his  contempt  for  the  past,  his  revolutionary  ideas, 
frightened  cautious  reformers  like  Erasmus  and  More  into  be- 
coming lovers  of  the  old  ways.  But  the  sturdy  zeal  of  the  Saxon 
friar  accomplished  the  work  that  his  more  timid  predecessors  had 
failed  to  carry  out,  though  it  was  done  at  the  price  of  breaking 
up  the  majestic  unity  of  the  Mediasval  Church,  and  with  a  haste 
and  violence  that  destroyed  what  was  good  as  well  as  what  was 
merely  corrupt  and  decayed.  But  if  the  work  had  to  be  done, 
Luther's  way  was  the  only  practical  method  of  doing  it.  It  was 
in  vain  that  the  young  Emperor  Charles  strove  to  silence  the 
audacious  heretic,  and  patch  up  peace  with  his  captive  Clement  vn. 
on  the  basis  of  an  alliance  against  the  reformers.  The  spirit  of 
Luther  spread  everywhere.  His  followers,  called  after  1529 
Protestants,  could  not  be  put  down.  ' 


-1525.]  HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  333 

24.  Side  by  side  with  the  Lutheran  reformation,  Ulrich  Zwingle 
had  started  a  similar  movement  among*  the  Swiss  at  the  foot  of  the 
Alps.  And  a  few  years  later  John  Calvin,  a  French- 
man, began  to  do  in  France  and  French-speaking  -JjfllSilfa 
countries  what  Luther  and  Zwingle  had  done  for  the 
Germans.  All  these  leaders  of  the  Reformation  broke  utterly  with 
the  old  Church,  and  set  up  new  Churches  of  their  own,  based  on 
principles  which  they  believed  to  be  more  like  primitive  Christianity 
than  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  As  they  could  not  agree 
with  each  other,  the  quarrels  between  the  different  schools  of 
reformers  complicated  the  strife  of  the  old  and  the  new  faiths. 
Coming  in  the  wake  of  many  other  far-reaching  changes,  the 
religious  revolution  called  the  Reformation  completed  the  end  of 
the  Middle  Ag"es,  and  ushered  in  the  freer,  wider  life  of  modern 
times.  But  there  was  so  much  unrest,  disturbance,  and  bitterness 
caused  by  the  conflict  of  the  old  and  the  new,  that  men  began 
sometimes  to  sigh  for  the  days  before  the  great  changes  began. 

25.  When  Luther  first  began  to  denounce  the  pope  and  the  old 
Church,  every  one  in  England  was  horrified  at  his  boldness.  Henry, 
who  was  proud  of  his  knowledge  of  theology,  wrote  a 

book  in  Latin  against  the  reformer,  called  the  Defence  andTuther 
of  the  Seven  Sacraments,  and  Leo  x.  was  so  pleased  with 
it  that  he  gave  Henry  the  style  of  Defender  of  the  Faith,  which 
curiously  enough  still  remains  among  the  titles  of  our  English 
sovereigns.  There  were  few  Lollards  left  to  welcome  Luther  as  a 
new  Wy cliff e.  Even  the  Englishmen  who  were  fond  of  grumbling 
about  the  wealth,  privileges,  and  corruptions  of  the  clergy,  had  no 
real  quarrel  with  the  Church,  and  Luther's  methods  had  convinced 
reformers  like  More  that  the  old  ways  were  better  than  his.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  some  young  scholars  went  over  to  Germany  and  became 
ardent  followers  of  Luther.  Chief  among  these  was  the  strenuous 
but  bitter  William  Tyndall,  who  in  1525  published  an  English  New 
Testament,  that  was  eagerly  circulated  among  the  few  English 
innovators,  though  condemned  by  the  Church,  which  burned  all  the 
copies  of  it  that  could  be  found.  But  Wolsey  found  no  trouble  in 
silencing  the  majority  of  the  English  Protestants,  and  forced  many 
to  give  up  their  new  doctrines.  For  many  years  they  were  of  no 
importance  whatever.  It  was  not  through  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  Luther  that  the  English  Reformation  began,  but  from  the 
self-will  and  violence  of  the  king  himself. 

26.  About  the  time  that  Henry  broke  with  Charles  v.,  he  began 
to  grow  tired  of  his  wife,  the  emperor's  aunt.    Catharine.of  Aragon 


334 


HENRY   VIII.   AND    WOLSEY 


[1525- 


was  five  years  the  senior  of  her  husband,  and  bad  health  already- 
made  her  an  old  woman.  All  the  children  of  the  marriage  were 
Catharine  ^ea^  exceP^  one  £Prl»  *^e  I^dy  Mary.  Henry  now 
of  Aragon  persuaded  himself  that  the  death  of  Catharine's  other 
and  Anne  children  was  a  proof  that  God  was  displeased  at  his 
breaking  the  law  of  the  Church  by  marrying  his  brother 
Arthur's  widow.  Most  Englishmen  wished  Henry  to  have  a  son, 
who  might  succeed  peacefully  to  the  throne,  for  there  had  been  no 
instance  of  a  woman  ruling  England,  and  it  was  feared  that  trouble 
might  follow  if  Henry  died  without  a  male  heir.  But  the  real 
cause  of  Henry's  scruples  was  the  appearance  at  court  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  the  lively  and  attractive  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  a 
Norfolk  gentleman,  who  was  connected  with  the  great  house  of 
Howard  by  his  marriage  with  Anne's  mother,  a  daughter  of  the 
duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  won  the  battle  of  Flodden.  "With  her 
the  selfish  king  fell  violently  in  love,  and  her  charms  made  him 
eager  to  divorce  Catharine,  that  he  might  make  her  his  wife. 

THE  HOWARDS  AND  BOLEYNS 
John  Howard,  duke  of  Norfolk,  Sir  Geoffrey 

killed  at  Bosworth,  1485.  Boleyn,  mayor 

of  London. 


Thomas,  earl  of  Surrey, 
duke  of  Norfolk,  d.  1514. 


Sir  W.  Boleyn. 


Thomas,  duke 

of  Norfolk, 

d.  1554. 


Henry,  earl 

of  Surrey, 

beheaded  1547. 


Sir  Edward 
Howard. 


William,  lord   Elizabeth,  m.  Sir  Thomas 


Howard  of 
Effingham. 


Catharine  Howard,    Charles,  lord 
m.  Henry  vm.  Howard  of 

of  Effingham 
(Admiral  in  1588). 


Thomas,  duke  of  Norfolk, 
beheaded  1572. 
I 


Boleyn, 
afterwards 

earl  of 
Wiltshire. 


Anne  Boleyn, 
m.  Henry  vm. 


Queen  Elizabeth. 


Philip,  ancestor 
of  later  dukes. 


Lord  Thomas  Howard, 
Admiral  in  the  Azores,  1591. 

Names  in  italics  not  mentioned  in  text. 


27.  In  the  Middle  Ages  a  marriage  sanctioned  by  the  Church 
could  not  be  dissolved.  "What  was  called  a  divorce  meant  declaring 
that  a  marriage  had  never  been  a  valid  one  from  the  beginning. 
But  the  law  of  marriage  was  so  complicated,  and  the  Church 
courts  were  so  corrupt,  that  it  was  not  as  a  rule  hard  for  a  great 


-1528.]  HENRY  VIII.   AND    WOLSEY  335 

prince  like  Henry  to  find  excuses  for  such  an  annulling  of  what 
seemed  a  lawful  wedlock.  Having  resolved  to  get  rid  of  his 
wife,  Henry  applied  in  1527  to  Clement  vn.  for  a  declaration  that 
his  marriage  was  invalid.  It  was  a  particularly  awk-  The  opj_|n 
ward  time  to  raise  this  question.  Catharine  was  the  of  the 
emperor's  aunt,  and  Charles  v.  had  recently  sacked  divorce 
Rome  and  had  taken  the  pope  prisoner.  He  was 
therefore  Clement's  master,  and  was  not  likely  to  allow  him  to 
gratify  the  king  of  England,  whose  desertion  of  the  imperial  cause 
Charles  had  not  yet  forgiven.  Moreover,  in  raising  the  question 
of  a  divorce  at  all,  Henry  seemed  to  be  following  Luther's  example 
of  questioning  the  power  of  the  pope.  The  ordinary  law  of  the 
Church  declared  the  marriage  unlawful.  Nevertheless,  Julius  11. 
had  issued  a  dispensation,  which  made  an  exception  from  that  law 
in  Henry's  favour.  In  asking  Clement  to  disregard  that,  Henry 
practically  raised  the  question  of  whether  Julius  had  power  to 
dispense  with  the  law  of  the  Church  in  his  favour.  It  is  true 
that  Henry  tried  to  avoid  that  issue  by  suggesting  that  there 
were  certain  irregularities  of  form  in  Julius's  dispensation  which 
made  it  possible  for  that  particular  document  to  be  put  aside  without 
the  general  question  of  right  being  discussed.  But  plain  men  were 
sure  to  concern  themselves  with  this  problem,  so  that  Clement  was 
not  only  prevented  from  falling  in  with  Henry's  wish  by  fear  of 
the  emperor,  but  also  by  respect  for  the  power  of  the  office  which  he 
held.     Neither  party  thought  much  of  the  wrongs  of  Catharine. 

28.  Clement  vn.  thought  that  the  best  way  out  of  his  difficulties 
was  to  delay  everything  as  long  as  he  could.  He  was  afraid  to 
grant  a  divorce,  but  he  did  not  want  to  quarrel  with  The  Decpetal 
Henry,  as  he  hoped  that  some  day  Henry  and  the  king  Commission, 
of  France  would  release  him  from  his  dependence  on  1528« 

the  emperor.  As  a  middle  course,  he  agreed  to  appoint  what  was 
called  a  Decretal  Com/mission,  that  is,  he  empowered  a  special  court 
to  find  out  whether  the  form  of  Julius's  dispensation  was,  as  Henry 
said,  an  irregular  one,  it  being  laid  down  that,  if  such  were  the  case, 
the  marriage  was  invalid.  The  court  was  to  consist  of  two  papal 
legates,  who  were  to  sit  in  England.  One  of  them  was  Wolsey 
himself,  and  the  other  was  Cardinal  Campeggio,  an  Italian  living  at 
Rome,  who  had  done  so  much  service  to  Henry  that  he  was  allowed, 
after  the  evil  fashion  of  the  time,  to  hold  the  bishopric  of  Salisbury. 

29.  It  seemed  a  great  triumph  for  Henry  that  the  decision  of 
his  suit  should  be  handed  over  to  two  of  his  dependents.  But 
Campeggio   was  faithful   to    Clement,  and   took  care  to  delay 


336  HENRY  VIII.  AND   WOLSEY  [1529- 

proceedings  as  much  as  he  could.     He  wasted  a  very  long  time  in 
travelling  to  England,  and  it  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1529  that 
the  legatine  court  was  opened  in  London.     But  it  then 
1 529       °'      seemed  as  if  everything  was  nearly  over.    Catharine  de- 
clared before  the  legates  that  she  regarded  herself  as 
Henry's  lawful  wife,  and  refused  to  hide  herself  away  in  a  convent, 
as  had  been  suggested  to  her.     She  appealed  to  the  pope  in  person, 
and  the  best  of  Englishmen  sympathized  strongly  with  her  wrongs. 
30.  Clement  grew  anxious  after  he  had  appointed  the  commis- 
sion that  took  the  matter  out  of  his  own  hands ;  and  the  emperor 
The  fall  of  ~  was  a^arme<i  l©st  the  legates  should  give  a  decision  in 
Wolsey,  Henry's  favour.     Before  very  long  the  pope  annulled 

1529.  ^e  commission,  and  ordered  the  whole  business  to  be 

gone  over  again  at  Rome.  Henry  was  moved  to  violent  anger,  and 
made  Wolsey  the  scapegoat  of  his  failure.  The  cardinal's  favour 
had  long  been  declining.  He  had  done  his  best  to  get  Henry  his 
divorce,  but  his  desire  had  been  that  the  king  should  marry  a 
French  princess,  who  would  bind  him  more  closely  to  the  policy  of 
Francis,  and  he  did  not  like  the  notion  of  Henry  wedding  the  giddy 
Anne  Boleyn,  who  would  bring  him  no  strong  continental  alliance. 
But  Henry's  self-will  had  triumphed  over  his  minister's  opposition, 
though  the  king  now  trusted  him  so  little  that  he  kept  bim  in  the 
dark  as  to  much  that  was  going  on.  He  knew  that  Wolsey  was 
hated  by  nobles  and  people  alike,  and  was  glad  to  get  a  fresh 
spell  of  popularity  by  throwing  him  over  as  he  had  thrown  over 
Empson  and  Dudley.  The  new  duke  of  Norfolk,  Anne's  uncle, 
hated  the  cardinal,  and  Anne  herself  believed  Wolsey  was  to  blame 
for  the  failure  of  the  legatine  court.  All  combined  to  attack 
the  unpopular  minister.  W°lsey  was  driven  from  the  chancellor- 
ship, and  his  property  seized.  His  great  foundations  fell  into 
Henry's  hands,  and  the  king  made  it  a  merit  to  refound  the  Oxford 
College  on  a  smaller  scale  under  the  name  of  Christ  Church. 
Wolsey  abjectly  yielded  to  his  enemies,  and  was  finally  allowed  to 
retire  to  the  north,  where  he  threw  himself  with  strange  energy 
into  the  hitherto  neglected  duties  of  his  archbishopric.  But  he 
soon  began  to  intrigue  for  his  return  to  power,  whereupon  he  was 
arrested  and  brought  back  to  London,  to  answer  the  charge  of 
treason  that  Henry  always  brought  against  a  fallen  minister.  But 
his  health,  long  weak,  broke  down  under  the  hardships  of  a  winter 
journey,  and  he  died  at  Leicester  Abbey  in  November,  1530,  lament- 
ing the  instability  of  the  favour  of  princes.  With  his  fall  ends 
the  first  part  of  his  master's  reign. 


CHAPTER  III 

HENRY  VIII.  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF 
THE   REFORMATION   (1529-1547) 


Chief  Dates : 

1529. 

Meeting  of  the  Reformation  Parliament. 

1533- 

Act  of  Appeals. 

1534- 

Act  of  Supremacy. 

I535- 

Execution  of  Fisher  and  More. 

1536. 

Dissolution  of    the  lesser  monasteries ;   union  of  England  and 

Wales. 

1539. 

Dissolution  of  the  greater  monasteries  and  Six  Articles  Statute. 

1S40. 

Execution  of  Cromwell. 

1542. 

Battle  of  Solway  Moss. 

1544. 

Capture  of  Boulogne. 

I547- 

Death  of  Henry  vm. 

1.  In  the  years  that  followed  the  disgrace  of  Wolsey,  Henry  vm. 
still  made  it  his  main  business  to  get  a  divorce  from  Catharine  of 
Aragon.  Wolsey's  failure  had  shown  that  there  was  progPess  of 
little  use  in  trying  to  persuade  the  pope  to  annul  the  the  divorce 
marriage,  and  Henry  now  sought  for  stronger  methods  Question' 
of  enforcing  his  will  on  Clement.  He  hoped  great  tilings  from  the 
alliance  with  France,  which  remained  as  the  chief  legacy  of  the 
fallen  cardinal,  and  imagined  that  Francis  would  really  give  him 
help  in  winning  over  the  pope  to  his  side.  But  Francis  was  only 
playing  his  own  game.  It  was  not  his  interest  to  quarrel  with 
Rome  to  please  so  uncertain  an  ally  as  Henry,  and  he  saw  that  it 
was  useless  for  him  to  attempt  to  drive  Charles  out  of  Italy, 
though  it  was  only  by  expelling  the  emperor  from  the  peninsula 
that  Clement  could  be  made  a  free  man.  Yet  Henry  persevered 
for  years  in  this  new  policy,  while  he  also  strove  to  appeal  from 
the  pope  to  learned  public  opinion,  by  consulting  the  universities  of 
Europe  as  to  the  validity  of  his  marriage.  However,  the  universities 
gave  a  divided  answer,  and  in  most  cases  said  exactly  what  the 
rulers  of  the  country  in  which  they  were  situated  told  them,  so 
that  Henry  got  no  good  from  this  step. 

337 


338  HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION       [1529- 

2.  Henry  was  gradually  forced  to  see  that  if  he  obtained  his 
divorce,  he  must  mainly  rely  upon  himself  and  his  own  subjects. 
Henrv  VIII  ^s  ^as^  an<^  most  effective  method  of  bringing  pres- 
and  his  sure  on  the  pope  was  to  show  him  that  England  was 
subjects.  backing  up  his  request.  It  was  not  hard  for  Henry  to 
force  the  Church  and  the  people  of  England  to  profess  themselves 
in  agreement  with  him.  Men  were  still  accustomed  to  look  up  to 
the  king  and  take  what  he  said  as  true.  Henry  had  plenty  of  ways 
of  dragooning  his  subjects  into  obedience,  and  did  not  scruple  to 
use  them.  Convinced  that  he  had  a  better  chance  of  obtaining  his 
own  way  if  he  made  a  show  of  consulting  his  people,  Henry  made 
a  point  for  the  rest  of  his  reign  of  getting  parliament,  and  in 
Church  matters  convocation,  on  his  side.  But  it  would  be  very 
wrong  to  think  that  this  pretence  of  consulting  the  people  and  the 
Church  meant  anything1  real.  Left  to  themselves,  Englishmen 
would  never  have  entered  upon  so  bold  a  policy  of  change  as  that 
which  Henry's  self-will  now  induced  him  to  undertake.  He  was 
already  contemplating  the  withdrawal  of  English  obedience  from 
the  papacy  if  Clement  still  held  out. 

3.  Soon  after  Wolsey's  fall,  parliament  and  convocation  were 
assembled.     Between  1529  and  1536  the  same  parliament  continued 

to  hold  its  sessions.  Before  it  separated,  it  had  enabled 
mation  "the  king  to  break  finally  from   the    Church  of  the 

Parliament,    Middle  Ages.     Fear  and  self-interest  made  all  men 

seek  to  do  the  king's  wilL  The  chief  danger  of 
opposition  came  from  the  Church,  but  Henry  persuaded  parliament 
to  pass  various  laws  against  ecclesiastical  abuses  in  order  to 
frighten  the  clergy.  Then  came  a  more  crushing  blow.  Henry 
told  the  clergy  that  they  had  all  broken  the  Statute  of  Praemunire 
(see  page  223)  by  acknowledging  Wolsey  as  papal  legate.  What 
he  said  was  quite -true,  but  the  statute  of  Praemunire  had  long  been 
neglected,  and  Henry  himself  had  been  as  guilty  as  anybody. 
However,  the  clergy  were  forced  humbly  to  confess  their  error,  and 
gladly  bought  their  pardon  of  the  king  by  paying  him  an  enormous 
„  fine.   Even  this  was  not  enough.   They  were  also  forced 

Supreme  to  acknowledge  that  Henry  was  the  Supreme  Head  of 
Head  of  the     ^e  English  Church.     It  was  a  vague  phrase,  which 

might  mean  anything  or  nothing.  But  Henry  showed 
from  the  beginning  that  he  meant  to  press  the  title  to  the  utter- 
most. Before  long  the  Royal  Supremacy,  henceforth  the  great 
doctrine  of  the  English  Reformation,  was  found  incompatible  with 
the  papal  supremacy,  in  which  all  men  had  hitherto  firmly  believed. 


-I534-]       HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION  339 

4.  Having-  shown  himself  master  of  his  own  clergy,  Henry 
began  to  pass  measures  through  parliament  against  the  pope's 
power,  hoping  thus  to  frighten  him  into  granting  a 

divorce.  But  Clement  was  as  unable  as  ever  to  do  separation 
what  the  king  wanted,  and  the  only  result  of  this  policy  from  Rome, 
was  that  the  pope's  power  in  England  was  gradually 
cut  away.  The  first  step  towards  this  was  reviving  the  old  laws 
against  the  pope,  such  as  the  statute  of  Praemunire.  New  legislation 
soon  followed.  In  1532  Annates,  or  First  Fruits,  that  is,  the  pay- 
ment of  the  first  year's  revenue  of  a  new  benefice,  which  the  clergy 
had  hitherto  made  to  the  pope,  were  transferred  to  the  crown.  In 
1533  the  Act  of  Appeals  was  passed,  which  forbade  Englishmen  to 
carry  appeals  from  the  English  Church  courts  to  the  court  of  the 
pope.  Clement  answered  by  affirming  the  lawfulness  of  Catharine's 
marriage ;  and  dying  soon  after,  his  successor,  Paul  in.,  threatened 
Henry  with  excommunication.  Henry  replied  to  these  menaces  by 
fresh  laws  against  the  papacy.  In  1534  the  separation  from  Rome 
was  completed  by  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  which  made  it  treason  to 
deny  that  Henry  was  supreme  head  of  the  English  Church. 

5.  The  archbishopric  of  Canterbury  falling  vacant,  Henry 
appointed  to  that  great  office  a  Cambridge  scholar  named  Thomas 
Cranmer.  Cranmer  was  a  pious,  learned,  and  well-  cranmer 
meaning  man,  but  he  was  weak  and  undecided,  and  and  the 
soon  proved  himself  a  mere  creature  for  carrying  out  divorce« 
the  strong  king's  will.  Despairing  of  getting  a  divorce  from 
Rome,  Henry  now  secretly  married  Anne  Boleyn.  He  forced  con- 
vocation to  declare  Catharine's  marriage  void ;  and  the  new  arch- 
bishop held  a  court  at  Dunstable,  in  which  he  also  solemnly  declared 
the  former  marriage  to  be  against  God's  law.  As  the  Act  of 
Appeals  cut  off  the  Roman  jurisdiction,  the  archbishop's  court  was 
now  the  highest  Church  court  for  England.  There  was  no  longer 
any  way  of  taking  Catharine's  case  any  further,  and  thus  the  great 
divorce  suit  was  terminated  after  six  years  of  delay.  But  the  price 
Henry  had  paid  was  the  breaking  of  the  tie  which  had  so  long  bound 
the  English  Church  to  the  Churches  of  Christendom.  Nominally, 
the  breach  with  Rome  left  the  English  Church  independent. 
Practically,  it  became  absolutely  subject  to  the  fierce  will  of  the 
king.  The  separation  from  Rome  brought  the  Tudor  despotism  to 
its  highest  point. 

6.  England  was  now  as  completely  separated  from  Rome  as 
were  the  Protestant  churches  of  Germany.  But  Henry  still 
looked  with  horror  on  Protestantism,  and  professed  to  make  no 


340  HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION       [1534- 

changes  in  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship  of  the  English 
Church.  He  was  proud  of  his  middle  way  between  the  two  ex- 
Henry  VIII  tremes.  He  strove  to  prove  his  love  for  the  old  faith 
and  Pro-  by  seeking  out  and  burning  to  death  all  the  English 
testantism.  Protestants  on  whom  he  could  lay  his  hands.  But  what- 
ever the  king  might  profess,  the  abolition  of  the  papal  supremacy 
was  a  real  revolution.  It  was  not  simply  a  political  change,  as 
Henry  maintained.  It  was  a  religious  change  as  well,  when  the 
English  nation  repudiated  the  authority  to  which  it  had  looked  up 
ever  since  it  had  become  a  Christian  people.  Other  changes  were 
sure  to  follow,  and  however  much  Henry  might  hate  Luther, 
common  enmity  to  Rome  was  bound  sooner  or  later  to  bring  all 
reformers  together. 

7.  The  great  majority  of  Englishmen  passively  accepted  the 
king's  policy ;  but  there  were  murmurs  against  it  from  the  begin- 
The  resist-  n^aS  from  a  few  high-minded  and  clear-sighted  men, 
ance  to  the  who  realized  more  fully  than  most  the  true  meaning  of 
supremacy,  ^e  sfe^  John  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  an  aged 
prelate  of  great  learning  and  piety,  protested  from  the  beginning 
against  the  king's  action.  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  had  become 
chancellor  after  Wolsey's  fall,  gave  up  his  office  and  retired  into 
private  life  rather  than  acknowledge  the  royal  supremacy.  They 
were  not  allowed  to  remain  long  undisturbed.  Before  the  end  of 
1533  a  daughter,  named  Elizabeth,  was  born  to  Henry  and  Anne. 
As  Catharine's  child  Mary  was  cut  off  from  the  succession  when 
the  marriage  of  her  mother  with  Henry  had  been  declared  invalid, 
it  was  thought  necessary  to  pass  in  1534  an  Act  of  Succession, 
settling  the  crown  on  the  little  Lady  Elizabeth  and  any  other 
children  there  might  be  of  the  marriage  of  Henry  and  Anne. 
Moreover,  a  new  Treasons  Act  was  hurried  through  parliament, 
which  made  it  treason  to  deny  to  the  king  any  of  his  royal  titles. 
It  was  not  easy  for  those  who  gainsaid  the  king's  policy  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  these  laws. 

8.  More  and  Fisher  were  called  before  Archbishop  Cranmer 
and  asked  to  take  the  oath  of  succession,  drawn  up  under  the  recent 
More  and  ac^'  ^nev  sa^  that  they  would  willingly  accept  Anne 
Fisher  oppose  Boleyn's  children  as  future  rulers  of  England,  since  an 
Henry.  ac^  0£  parliament  was  competent  to  alter  the  succession 
to  the  throne.  But  more  than  this  was  demanded  of  them.  They 
were  required  to  declare  Anne  Boleyn  Henry's  lawful  wife,  and  to 
renounce  the  atithority  of  the  pope.  These  two  things  they  declared 
they  could  not  do  with  a  good  conscience. 


-I535-]       HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION  34I 

9.  Other  men  of  less  position  followed  or  anticipated  their 
example.  Conspicuous  among  these  latter  were  many  of  the  monks 
of  the  London  Charterhouse,  one  of  the  best  ordered 

of  all  the  English  monasteries.    Among  other  oppo-  ftouse 
nents  of  the  supremacy  was  Reginald  Pole,  a  young  monks  and 
churchman,  then  studying  in  Italy,  who,  as  the  grand-  Re^nald 
son  of  George,  duke  of  Clarence,  brother  of  Edward  iv., 
stood  near  to  the  throne  (see  table  on  page  294).     Pole  gave  up 
his  prospects  of  high  preferment  in  England  rather  than  renounce 
his  faith.      Appointed  cardinal  in  1536,  he  remained   in  exile, 
constantly  protesting  against  Henry's  doings. 

10.  Henry  shut  up  in  prison  all  opponents  of  the  supremacy 
within  his  reach,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  procuring  their  con- 
demnation as  traitors.    In  1535  the  victims  of  his   „  . 
policy  suffered  on  the  scaffold.     The  obscure  monks  of   Fisher 

the  Charterhouse  were  among  the  first  to  die.  Fisher's  executed, 
fate  was  soon  settled  by  the  rash  kindness  of  the  new 
pope,  Paul  in.,  who  made  him  a  cardinal.  After  this,  Henry  at 
once  ordered  him  to  be  put  to  death.  A  few  days  later  Sir 
Thomas  More  was  also  executed.  The  sacrifice  of  men  so  famous 
brought  home  to  every  one  the  relentless  policy  of  Henry.  The 
king  had  trampled  on  all  opposition,  and  was  more  master  of  Eng- 
land than  ever. 

11.  Henry  now  resolved  to  work  out  to  the  uttermost  the 
doctrine  of  the  royal  supremacy.     He  created  a  new  minister,  called 
the  king's  vicar-general  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  and   Cromwell 
appointed  to  it  one  of  Wolsey's  former  servants.     This   vicar- 
was  Thomas  Cromwell,  the  son  of  a  fuller  at  Putney,    general. 

In  early  life  Cromwell  had  been  driven  from  England  for  his  bad 
conduct,  and  had  wandered  about  Italy  and  the  Netherlands,  at  one 
time  serving  as  a  soldier,  but  finally  taking  to  trade,  and  thriving 
so  well  in  it,  that  he  came  back  home  a  wealthy  and  prosperous 
man.  Wolsey  took  him  into  his  service,  and  he  was  employed  in 
Suppressing  the  monasteries,  from  whose  funds  the  cardinal  hoped 
to  endow  his  colleges  at  Oxford  and  Ipswich.  After  Wolsey's  fall, 
Cromwell  behaved  with  such  discretion  that  he  was  regarded  by  the 
cardinal's  friends  as  showing  remarkable  fidelity  to  his  disgraced 
master,  while  he  was  at  the  same  time  craftily  winning  the  king's 
favour.  Very  soon  Henry  took  him  into  his  service,  and  at  once 
found  in  him  just  the  man  that  he  wanted.  Cromwell  was  a  strong, 
able,  and  far-seeing  man,  who  had  neither  doubts  or  scruples,  but 
devoted  all  his  cunning  and  resource  to  carrying  out  the  caprices 


342 


HENRY   VIII.    AND    THE  REFORMATION.        [1535- 


of  the  despot.  He  was  just  the  clever  tool  who  could  strike  the 
bold  strokes  that  Henry  was  now  meditating.  Between  1535  and 
1539  he  carried  out  such  a  revolutionary  change,  that  the  abolition, 
of  the  papal  power  seemed  but  a  small  matter  beside  it. 


12.  The  monasteries  had  long  fallen  into  evil  days.     In  the 
early  Middle  Ages  they  had  done  a  great  work  in  spreading  religion 

and  civilization  (see  pages  55,  154,  and  243),  but  they 
State  of  the     h  d  f  u  t    f  fo    h  ^th  th    ti  It  had 

monasteries. 

long  been  a  rare  tiling  to  set  up  new  religious  houses. 


-1536.]       HENRY  VIII.  AND   THE  REFORMATION  343 

All  through  the  fifteenth  century  there  had  been  plenty  of  liberal 
foundations,  but  the  new  establishments  were  colleges,  schools,  and 
houses  of  "  secular  "  priests.  Sometimes,  as  Wolsey's  case  showed, 
it  was  thought  a  wise  thing  to  abolish  monasteries  in  order  to 
procure  the  money  to  build  such  new  colleges.  The  old  fervour  of 
devotion  that  had  ennobled  the  ancient  abbeys  had  become  so  rare 
a  thing,  that  the  heroic  self-sacrifice  which  had  led  the  monks  of  the 
London  Charterhouse  to  become  willing  martyrs  for  their  faith, 
stood  in  marked  contrast  to  the  timidity  and  selfishness  of  the 
majority  of  the  monasteries.  The  greater  houses  were  often  the 
abodes  of  formalism  and  dull  respectability.  In  some  houses  there 
was  gross  corruption  ;  and  this  seems  especially  to  have  been  the  case 
in  the  smaller  houses,  which  often  were  so  poor  that  they  could  neither 
pay  their  way  nor  live  according  to  their  rule.  Most  men  looked 
upon  the  monks  with  indifference.  Few  were  anxious  to  enter  the 
monastic  life.  Though  the  orders  were  too  timid  to  oppose  actively 
the  royal  supremacy,  they  were  the  least  national  part  of  the  Church, 
being  bound  closely  to  their  foreign  brethren,  and  being  at  all  times 
good  friends  of  the  papacy.  Thus  their  principles  excited  suspicion, 
while  their  helplessness  made  them  easy  victims,  and  their  wealth 
excited  the  greed  of  the  rapacious  king  and  his  minister. 

13.  In  1535  Cromwell  sent  royal  commissioners  throughout  the 
country  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  monasteries.  The  com- 
missioners worked  actively  and  unscrupulously  to  get 

up  a  case  against  the  monks,  and  reported  to  their  cfon^the65 
master  that  corruption  and  immorality  were  very  wide-  smaller 
spread  among  them.  In  1536  parliament  was  induced  monasteries, 
by  their  evidence  to  pass  an  Act  abolishing  all 
monasteries  that  had  a  revenue  of  less  than  £200  a  year.  Their 
goods  were  seized  by  the  king ;  and  the  ordinary  Englishman  found 
out  for  the  first  time  that  the  old  religion  of  the  country  was  being 
undermined,  when  hundreds  of  ancient  houses  of  religion  were 
ruthlessly  broken  up,  their  inmates  scattered,  their  churches  pro- 
faned, and  their  lands  squandered  among  greedy  courtiers. 

14.  The  north  of  England  was  the  part  of  the  country  least 
affected  by  the  new  ways.     There  the  monks  were  still  doing 
good  service,  and  were  still  beloved  and  popular.     The   The 
sturdy  north-country  men  broke  into  open  revolt,  to    Pilgrimage 
show  their  detestation  of  the  policy  that  led  to  the  sup-    of  Grace, 
pression  of  the  smaller  monasteries.    The  first  riots  were 

in  Lincolnshire,  but  the  most  formidable  was  in  Yorkshire,  where  a 
great  body  of  rebels  gathered  together  at  Doncaster  under  Robert 


344  HENRY  VIII.  AND   THE  REFORMATION       [1536- 

Aske.  The  revolt  was  called  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  because  the 
rebels  resolved  to  march  to  London  on  pilgrimage  to  the  king, 
hoping  to  persuade  him  to  set  back  the  Church  in  its  old  glory, 
to  drive  away  upstarts  like  Cromwell  from  his  councils,  and 
to  put  the  old  nobles  back  in  their  natural  places  as  his  advisers. 
The  duke  of  Norfolk,  sent  by  the  king  to  put  down  the  revolt, 
persuaded  the  pilgrims  to  go  home  peaceably,  and  announced  that 
the  king  would  redress  their  grievances.  This  broke  the  back 
of  the  rebellion,  but  next  year  Henry  made  new  riots  a  pretext  for 
violating  his  promise,  and  for  hunting  down  and  putting  to  death 
the  leaders  of  the  rising.  To  prevent  such  revolts  in  the  future,  he 
set  up  at  York  a  new  court,  called  the  Council  of  the  North,  which 
soon  made  the  wild  regions  beyond  the  Humber  as  peaceable  and  as 
dependent  on  his  will  as  the  richer  and  tamer  south  country. 

15.  The  monasteries  spared  in  1536  soon  met  their  fate.    Crom- 
well's commissioners  strove  hard  to  persuade  the  different  abbeys 

to  surrender  their  property  to  the  king ;  when  bribes 
sion  of  the  an<^  entreaties  were  of  no  use,  threats  and  violence 
greater  were  unscrupulously  employed.     Some  of  the  houses 

™503^S1539eS'  kel<i  out  her°ically>  D11t  Henry  found  it  easy  to  trump 

up  some  charge  against  their  inmates.  For  example, 
he  accused  the  abbot  of  Glastonbury  of  stealing  the  plate  of  the 
abbey,  and  hanged  him  on  a  high  hill  overlooking  the  whole 
countryside,  as  a  warning  of  the  fate  of  those  who  resisted  the  king. 
In  three  years  nearly  every  abbey  had  submitted  to  the  royal  will, 
and  in  1539  a  new  act  was  passed  which  finally  gave  the  king  all 
the  abbey  lands.  There  was  much  talk  of  employing  the  vast  sums 
thus  confiscated  to  the  king  for  public  purposes,  such  as  for 
founding  new  bishoprics,  reorganizing  the  navy,  and  defending 
our  coasts  against  invasion.  But  about  half  of  the  abbey  estates 
were  squandered  by  the  king  on  his  friends  and  courtiers,  or  sold 
to  speculators  at  low  prices.  Thus  the  fall  of  the  monasteries  had 
a  great  effect  on  the  lives  of  the  people.  They  not  only  lost  their 
old  houses  of  prayer,  and  were  shocked  by  the  king's  carelessness 
of  their  most  sacred  beliefs ;  they  saw  their  easy-going  old  land- 
lords replaced  by  new  men  who,  having  paid  for  their  lands,  strove 
to  get  as  high  a  rent  as  they  could;  and  knowing  and  caring 
nothing  for  their  tenants,  took  little  interest  in  their  welfare. 
The  doles  which  the  monks  had  scattered  among  the  poor  ceased, 
as  did  the  kindly  spirit  they  had  often  shown  to  their  dependents. 
But  the  king  gained  what  the  people  lost.  The  spoils  of  the 
monasteries  enabled  his  courtiers  to  become  the  founders  of  a  new 


-1539-3       HENRY   VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION  345 

nobility  devoted  to  the  king-,  from  whom  their  prosperity  came, 
and  eager  to  help  him  in  his  schemes.  The  House  of  Lords 
became,  by  the  fall  of  the  mitred  abbots,  an  assembly  with  a  strong 
lay  majority,  and  more  dependent  on  the  king's  will  and  less  repre- 
sentative of  the  Church.  A  mere  trifle  was  kept  for  the  Church, 
out  of  which  six  new  bishoprics  were  set  up  at  Chester,  Gloucester, 
Bristol,  Peterborough,  Westminster,  and  Oxford  (see  map  on  page 
342).  A  few  abbey  churches  were  kept  as  the  cathedrals  of  these 
new  sees  or  to  replace  the  chapters  of  the  old  sees  that  had  hitherto 
been  served  by  monks.  A  larger  proportion  of  the  spoil  was  spent 
on  other  public  purposes,  and  in  particular  in  building  ships  of 
war,  erecting  fortifications  on  the  coast,  and  casting1  strong  cannon 
to  equip  them. 

16.  Other  religious  changes  attended  the  suppression  of  the 
greater  monasteries :  images  and  relics  were  destroyed,  the  shrines 
of  English  saints  broken  up,  and  some  of  the  old 

Church  holidays  were  abolished.     Cranmer  and  Crom-  Bible  and 
well  began  to  look  upon  the  German  Protestants  as  the  growth 
their  allies,  and  persuaded  the  king  to  give  bishoprics  QDJ^io  ™ 
to  lovers  of  new  ways.     The  best  of  these  Hugh  Lati- 
mer, who  was  made  bishop  of  "Worcester,  had  been  the  friend 
of  some  of  the  Protestant  martyrs  burned  a  few  years  earlier. 
It    was    another    great    change    when    Henry  allowed    English 
Bibles  to  be  printed  and  circulated,  and  before  long  ordered  that 
every  parish  church  should  possess  a  copy  of  an  edition  called  the 
Great  Bible  which  was  issued  by  Cranmer  himself.     These  versions 
all  showed  the  influence  of  Tyndall's  earlier  work.     Yet  at  the 
same  time  that  Henry  allowed  them  to  circulate,  he  encouraged 
Charles  v.  to  seek  out  Tyndall  in  the  Netherlands  and  execute  him 
for  heresy.     Though  the  king  was  drifting  towards  Protestantism, 
Protestants  were  still  hunted  down  and  punished.    While  they  were 
burned  to  death  as  heretics,  the  king  still  laid  violent  hands 
on  all  friends  of  the  pope  who  denied  the  Royal  Supremacy,  and 
ruthlessly  butchered  them  as  traitors. 

17.  The  king's  rule  was  becoming  a  bloody  tyranny.  Nothing 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  reckless  will  and  his  fierce  desires.  He 
soon  grew  tired  of  the  giddy  and  foolish  Anne  Boleyn.   ^iie  k{ 

He  was  disappointed '  that  no  son  had  been  born  to   and  his 
them,  and  was  irritated  by  her  unseemly  dealings  with   wives, 
the  courtiers.    Moreover,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  pretty  lady  about 
the  court  named  Jane  Seymour,  and  Anne  now  stood  across  his 
path  much  as  the  unhappy  Catharine  of  Aragon  had  once  been  in 


346  HENRY   VIII.    AND    THE  REFORMATION      [1536- 

the  way  of  Anne  herself.  In  1536  Anne  was  accnsed  of  adultery, 
tried  before  a  court  presided  over  by  her  own  uncle,  and,  though 
protesting  her  innocence,  hurried  to  the  scaffold.  The  very  next 
day  Henry  married  Jane  Seymour.  In  1537  Queen  Jane  gave 
him  the  long-hoped-for  male  heir,  but  she  herself  died  soon  after. 
Queen  Catharine  had  died  before  Queen  Anne,  so  that  the  little 
Edward,  prince  of  Wales,  was  the  undoubted  heir  of  his  father. 
The  Lady  Elizabeth,  Queen  Anne's  daughter,  was  now  pushed 
aside  like  the  Lady  Mary.  Before  her  mother's  death,  Cranmer 
had  pronounced  the  marriage  invalid,  so  that  Elizabeth  and  Mary 
alike  were  regarded  as  illegitimate.  Queen  Jane's  brothers,  the 
Seymours,  remained  high  in  Henry's  favour,  and  generally  sup- 
ported Cromwell  and  Cranmer  in  their  forward  religious  policy. 

18.  The  reckless  changes  brought  about  in  religion  excited 
wide  and  increasing  discontent.  None  now  ventured  on  open 
Con-  rebellion,  for  even  signs  of  disagreement  with  the 
spiracies,        king's  policy  invariably  led    to   condemnation  as  a 

traitor.  In  1538  Henry  Courtenay,  marquis  of  Exeter, 
a  grandson  of  Edward  iv.  and  the  king's  first  cousin  (see  table  on 
page  284),  was  executed  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy  which  was  in 
no  way  legally  proved.  At  the  same  time,  the  brother  and  some 
of  the  kinsfolk  of  Cardinal  Pole  suffered  a  like  fate.  In  1541, 
Pole's  mother,  Margaret,  countess  of  Salisbury,  also  perished  on 
the  scaffold.  There  was  no  evidence  that  the  aged  lady  had  com- 
mitted treason.  But  it  was  enough  that  she  was  a  daughter  of  the 
duke  of  Clarence  and  the  mother  of  Cardinal  Pole,  who  had  long 
been  doing  his  best  to  excite  the  Continent  against  Henry. 

19.  The  Tudor  despotism  was  now  at  its  height.  The  parlia- 
ment of  1539,  which  abolished  the  greater  monasteries,  passed  a 
The  Six  statute  that  gave  the  king's  proclamations  the  force 
Articles,  of  law,  and  thus  practically  surrendered  to  Henry  the 
1539.  parliamentary  right  of  making  new  laws.  But  Henry, 
with  all  his  self-will,  was  quick  to  perceive  the  signs  of  the  times, 
and  perhaps  he  had  now  grown  tired  of  change,  or  was  fearful  of 
the  consequences  of  further  innovations.  He  induced  the  same 
parliament  to  pass  the  Six  Articles  Statute,  which  showed  very 
clearly  that  England  had  still  no  sympathy  with  the  doctrines  of 
the  German  Protestants.  This  law  affirmed  strongly  the  chief 
doctrines  of  the  Mediaeval  Church.  By  its  first  clause,  all  who 
disbelieved  in  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  or  the  change  of 
the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Eucharist  into  the  substance  of  Christ's 
natural  Body  and  Blood,  were  liable  to  be  burned  as  heretics.    In 


-1540.]       HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION  347 

the  other  articles,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the  need  of  auricular 
(or  private)  confession,  to  the  priest,  and  the  sufficiency  for  the 
laity  of  receiving  the  bread  without  the  wine  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, were  strongly  affirmed.  The  Protestants,  who  had  hoped 
for  everything,  gave  way  to  despair  when  Henry  had  knotted  this 
"whip  with  six  strings,"  as  they  called  it.  The  prisons  were 
filled  with  them.  Latimer  gave  up  his  bishopric ;  Cranmer,  who 
had  secretly  married,  sent  his  wife  home  to  Germany.  The 
reforming  period  of  the  reign  was  at  an  end. 

20.  Cromwell  saw  that  his  influence  was  on  the  wane,  and 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  win  back  the  favour  of  his  master. 
Henry  had  had  little  to  do  with  foreign  politics  for 

many  years.  Charles  and  Francis  alike  stood  aloof  cieves  and 
from  him,  and  more  than  once  talked  of  ending  their  the  fall  of 
jealousies  by  joining  together  to  bring  back  England  j!^"* 
to  the  old  faith.  Henry  had  therefore  reason  to  fear 
invasion,  and  had  little  hope  of  support  from  his  old  allies.  Crom- 
well proposed  that  he  should  set  off  against  the  angar  of  Charles 
the  friendship  of  the  North  German  princes,  who  were  mostly 
Protestants  and  all  jealous  of  the  emperor.  Since  Jane  Seymour's 
death,  Henry  had  remained  a  widower.  Cromwell  now  proposed 
that  he  should  marry  Anne,  sister  of  the  duke  of  Cieves,  a  mighty 
prince  on  the  Lower  Rhine,  who,  though  not  a  professed  Lutheran, 
was  inclined  to  favour  the  Protestants.  This  marriage,  Cromwell 
believed,  would  bind  Henry  closely  to  the  German  princes,  and 
give  him  powerful  helpers  against  the  emperor.  The  king  rose 
eagerly  to  the  proposal,  and  the  marriage  was  agreed  upon.  But 
when  Anne  of  Cieves  came  to  England,  the  king  found  her  dull, 
plain,  and  ignorant  of  any  language  that  he  knew.  He  accord- 
ingly turned  against  her  from  the  first,  and  easily  persuaded 
Cranmer  to  declare  the  marriage  void  on  some  frivolous  pretext. 
At  the  same  time,  the  North  German  princes  would  have  nothing 
to  say  to  his  proposals  of  an'  alliance*  The  wrath  of  Henry,  mad- 
dened by  this  double  failure,  fell  on  Cromwell  with  more  crushing 
force  than  ever  on  Wolsey.  Norfolk,  as  before,  eagerly  took 
advantage  of  the  chance  of  ruining  the  upstart.  Cromwell  was 
arrested  on  a  charge  of  treason  and  heresy.  Parliament  passed, 
without  a  murmur,  an  act  of  attainder.  In  1540  the  last  strong 
minister  of  the  reign  lost  his  head  on  Tower  Hill.  On  the  very 
day  of  Cromwell's  execution,  Henry  married  for  the  fifth  time. 
His  new  wife  was  Catharine  Howard,  Norfolk's  niece. 

21.  The  fall  of  Cromwell  stopped  almost  entirely  the  progress 


348  HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION       [1540- 

of  the  Reformation.    Historians  have  called  the  years  between  1540 
and  1547  the  reactionary  period  of  Henry's  reign,  because  the 
king-,  tired  of  the  colossal  changes  which  Cromwell 
tionary  ana  Crammer  had  brought  about,  went  back  to  his 

period,  ^  former  love  of  ancient  ways,  and  broke  decisively  with 
'  the  new  opinions  toward  which  he  had  long  been 
drifting.  Norfolk,  the  queen's  uncle,  was  now  the  chief  lay  noble 
in  the  king's  council.  Along  with  Stephen  Gardiner,  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  Edmund  Bonner,  bishop  of  London,  Norfolk  headed 
the  men  of  the  old  learning,  who,  though  accepting  the  royal 
supremacy  and  the  abolition  of  the  monasteries,  steadily  set  their 
faces  against  all  further  change.  The  men  of  the  new  learning,  best 
represented  by  the  timid  Cranmer  and  by  the  king's  brothers-in 
law,  the  Seymours,  were  allowed  to  remain  in  the  council,  but  were 
watched  and  suspected  and  excluded  from  all  real  power.  One  of 
the  signs  of  the  times  was  the  passing  of  a  curious  law,  forbidding 
any  but  gentlemen  to  read  the  Bible  in  English.  Another  was  the 
increased  number  of  Protestants  who  were  burned  at  the  stake  as 
heretics. 

22.  Foreign  policy,  like  ecclesiastical  policy,  went  back  on  its 
old  lines.  Scotland  had  long  given  Henry  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
War  with  ^s  s^er  Margaret,  who  ruled  for  a  time  after 
Scotland.  Flodden,  soon  fell  from  power,  and  her  son,  James  v.,  as 
1542-1545.  Yie  grew  up  to  manhood,  was  gradually  brought  round 
to  the  French  alliance  that  was  ever  popular  beyond  the  Border. 
James  also  became  as  great  a  friend  of  the  pope  as  he  was  of  King 
Francis,  and  in  both  capacities  gave  his  uncle  much  trouble.  But 
James,  though  a  brilliant  and  popular  king,  lost  the  love  of  his 
own  nobles,  who  refused  to  fight  for  him.  Accordingly,  in  1542, 
the  English  gained  an  easy  victory  at  Solway  Moss.  James,  who 
was  already  broken  in  health,  died  soon  after  the  battle,  leaving  the 
throne  to  his  baby  daughter  Mary,  henceforth  known  as  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots.  But  the  weak  government  of  an  infant  queen 
gave  Henry  his  opportunity.  His  brother-in-law,  Edward  Seymour, 
earl  of  Hertford,  won  a  cheap  reputation  as  a  soldier  by  plundering  ■ 
and  devastating  the  Lowlands.  Henry  professed  now  to  wish  for 
peace,  and  proposed  to  marry  his  son  Edward  to  the  little  queen. 
But  he  took  a  strange  way  of  winning  his  object,  and  Hertford's 
cruelties  made  the  Scots  look  to  France  more  than  ever. 

23.  Henry  was  soon  involved  in  war  with  France  as  well  as 
Scotland.  This  led  him  to  patch  up  his  old  quarrel  with  Charles  v., 
and,  im  1544,  Henry  and  Charles  agreed  upon  a  joint  invasion  of 


-1545-3       HENRY  VIII.  AND   THE  REFORMATION  349 

France.    But  Charles  threw  Henry  over,  and  made  a  separate 
peace,  leaving   Henry  to  fight  single-handed  against  both   the 
French  and  the  Scots.     In  the  course  of  the  struggle   War  wltn 
Henry   captured    Boulogne.     This    so    annoyed    the   France, 
French  that  they  prepared  a  great  fleet  and  army  to   1544,« 
invade  England.    However,  this  proved  a  failure,  and  after  fruit- 
less attempts  to  effect  a  landing  for  their  army,  the  French  were 
forced  to  retreat  to  their  own  harbours.     Before  the  end  of  the 
reign,  they  were  glad  to  make  a  peace  which  left  Boulogne  to  Henry. 

24.  The  foreign  war  exhausted  Henry's  treasury.  He  had  long 
ago  squandered  the  lands  of  the  monks,  and  was  now  so  poor  that 
he  tried  to  set  his  finances  straight  by  mixing  copper  _. 

with  the  silver  which  was  coined  into  money  at  the  wave  of 
royal  mint.  But  this  debasing  of  the  coinage  did  him  reformation, 
little  good,  as  every  one  began  to  demand  higher  prices 
for  their  goods,  now  that  the  shilling  contained  less  than  half 
silver  and  the  rest  base  metal.  In  his  need  for  money,  Henry 
again  turned  greedy  eyes  on  ecclesiastical  property,  and  strove  to 
make  his  policy  of  robbery  more  respectable  by  professing  once 
more  a  great  desire  to  purify  and  reform  the  Church.  In  1545 
parliament  gave  him  power  to  dissolve  the  chantries,  foundations 
where  priests  offered  masses  for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  the  dead, 
and  those  colleges,  or  corporations  of  clergy,  which,  not  being 
monasteries,  had  escaped  the  clutches  of  Cromwell. 

25.  Norfolk  and  his  friends  now  steadily  lost  influence.  In 
1542  Norfolk's  niece,  Queen  Catharine,  was  executed,  like  her 
cousin  Anne,  on  a  charge  of  adultery,  that  was  proved 

more  clearly  than  most  of  the  crimes  which  Henry   Howard 
attributed  to  those  who  stood  in  his  way.     Henry  now   and 
married  his   sixth  and  last  wife,  Catharine  Parr,  a   Catharine 
bright  young  widow,  who  stood  aside  from  politics,  *  , 

and  showed  such  prudence  that  she  managed  to  outlive  her  husband. 
Her  brother  was  strongly  on  the  reforming  side,  and  joined  with 
the  Seymours  and  Cranmer  in  fresh  efforts  to  oust  the  Howards 
and  their  friends  from  power. 

26.  Henry's  health  was  now  breaking  up,  and  it  was  clear  that 
he  would  not  live  much  longer.  The  two  parties  into  which  the 
council  was  divided  contended  fiercely  for  supremacy,   T> 

and  the  suspicious  old  tyrant  inclined  more  and  more   of  the 
to  the  reformers.      The  imprudence  of  the  Howards    Howards, 
hastened  on  their  downfall.     Norfolk  himself  was  bad- 
tempered,  haughty,  and  incompetent.     His  eldest  son,  the  earl  of 


350  HENRY  VIII.   AND   THE  REFORMATION       [1509- 

Surrey,  was  a  gallant  young  nobleman  of  great  accomplishments, 
and  famous  as  a  versifier  and  the  reformer  of  English  poetry. 
But  he  was  as  overbearing  as  his  father,  and  rashly  provoked  the 
old  king's  anger  by  assuming  arms  that  had  once  belonged  to  the 
crown.  He  was  accused  of  aiming  at  the  throne,  thrown  into 
prison,  condemned  as  a  traitor,  and  beheaded  early  in  1547.  His 
father  was  included  in  the  same  accusation,  and  was  also  sentenced 
to  death.  He  was  only  saved  by  Henry's  dying  before  the  time 
fixed  for  his  execution. 

27.  The  reign  of  Henry  vm.  saw  important  changes  in  the 
relations  of  England  with  the  other  parts  of  the  British  Islands. 

Like  Edward  I.,  Henry  wished  to  be  lord  of  the  whole 
andlreland  °^  Britain  and  Ireland.  His  greediness  and  im- 
patience prevented  him  from  doing  anything  to  end 
the  hostility  between  England  and  Scotland.  But  both  in  Ireland 
and  Wales  he  was  able  to  accomplish  something  considerable 
towards  effecting  his  purpose.  "When  he  came  to  the  throne,  he 
found  Ireland  was  practically  independent  and  ruled  by  the  Norman 
feudal  lords  of  the  centre  and  south,  and  by  the  native  clan 
chieftains  of  the  wilder  north  and  west.  The  Eitzgeralds,  earls 
of  Kildare,  were  the  most  powerful  of  the  Norman  families,  and 
it  was  only  by  making  them  viceroys  that  Henry  was  able  to  keep 
even  a  semblance  of  authority  in  the  English  pale.  But  at  last  the 
Fitzgeralds  grew  too  insolent  for  the  king  to  be  able  to  endure 
them.  In  1535  they  rose  in  revolt,  and  Henry  manage!  to  break 
down  their  power.  In  the  years  that  followed,  he  bribed  the  Irish 
lords  by  English  titles  and  by  dividing  among  them  the  lands  of 
the  Irish  monasteries.  This  led  them  to  accept,  at  least  in  name, 
the  extension  to  Ireland  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Royal  Supremacy. 
In  recognition  of  his  increased  authority,  Henry  gave  up  the 
•  simple  title  of  Lord  of  Ireland,  borne  by  all  kings  since  Henry  11. 
Instead  of  this  he  called  himself  King  of  Ireland,  a  name  that 
indicated  a  more  direct  and  complete  sway.  But  his  policy  only 
started  that  new  conquest  of  Ireland  which  his  great  daughter 
completed. 

28.  Henry's  efforts  had  more  complete  success  in  Wales.     He 
set  up  a  Council  of  Wales  at  Ludlow,  which  secured  good  peace  in 

_         the  Principality  and  in  the  March  alike.     There  was 

England  no  longer  any  need  to  keep  up  this  twofold  distinction, 

and  Wales,     since  the  king  had  now  become  direct  ruler  of  most  of 

the  Marcher  lordships  through  the  dying  out  of  the 

old  feudal  houses  that  once  bore  sway  over  them.    A  king,  sprung 


-1547 J       HENRY   VIII.    AND   THE  REFORMATION  35?. 

from  Welsh  ancestors,  saw  it  was  both  a  good  and  a  popular  thing 
fco  put  an  end  to  the  humiliating-  dependence  of  Wales  on  England, 
that  had  lasted  since  the  conquest  of  Edward  1.  Accordingly,  in 
1536,  Henry  divided  all  Wales  into  thirteen  counties  and  incor- 
porated the  whole  with  England.  The  Welsh  shires  now  sent 
members  to  the  English  parliament,  and  had  the  same  system  of 
laws  as  England.  The  county  palatine  of  Chester  was  also  in- 
cluded in  this  legislation,  and  for  the  first  time  now  became 
represented  at  Westminster. 


CHAPTER   IV 
EDWARD  VI.   (1547-1553) 

Chief  Dates : 

1547.    Accession  of  Edward  vi.  ;  Battle  of  Pinkie. 

1549.     The  first  Prayer-book  ;  and  the  Devonshire  and  Norfolk  revolts. 

1552.  Second  Prayer-book  ;  Execution  of  Somerset. 

1553.  Death  of  Edward  vr. 

1.  Henry  viii.'s  only  son,  who  now  became  Edward  VL,  was  a 
sickly  boy  of  ten,  and  much  too  young  to  rule  on  his  own  behalf. 

The  old  king,  foreseeing  a  long  minority,  had  drawn 
becomes  UP  a  scheme    for    a    carefully    balanced    council   of 

Protector,       regency,  in  which  the  old  and  the  new  learning  should 

be  so  equally  represented  that  things  would  not  be 
likely  to  be  altered  until  his  son  became  a  man  and  could 
decide  for  himself.  The  triumph  of  the  new  le.Jming  over  the  old 
learning  just  before  Henry's  death  had,  however,  given  such  a 
strong  position  to  the  reformers  that  they  were  no  longer  content 
to  bide  their  time.  Anxious  for  the  immediate  possession  of  office, 
the  reformers  upset  all  Henry's  plans,  and  made  their  leader  Hert- 
ford, duke  of  Somerset  and  Lord  Protector,  with  almost  royal  power, 
and  with  a  council  on  which  the  reformers  had  the  complete  mastery. 
2.  As  the  little  king's  nearest  kinsman,  Somerset  seemed  the 
most  natural  guardian  of  his  nephew's  throne.  He  had  won 
His  popularity  by  reason  of  his  gracious  manners,  sympathy 

character  for  the  poor,  and  skill  as  a  soldier.  Though  he  did 
and  policy.  no-fc  scruple  to  enrich  himself  with  Church  property, 
he  was  more  kindly  and  honest  than  most  of  the  statesmen  of  his 
day.  His  chief  objects  as  a  ruler  were  to  carry  to  completion  the 
reforming  movement  that  had  already  begun  in  the  last  years 
of  Henry  viii.'s  reign,  and  to  continue  as  well  as  he  could  the  old 
king's  foreign  policy.  But  Somerset  was  not  strong  enough  to 
accomplish  this  double  task.  Weak,  obstinate,  and  unpractical,  he 
never  realized  the  necessity  of  doing  one  thing  at  the  time.  Within 
three  years  he  had  failed  so  utterly  that  he  was  driven  from  power 
in  disgrace. 
352 


■1547-3 


EDWARD    VI. 


353 


3.  Henry  viii.  had  made  peace  with  the   French  and   Scots 
before  his  death,  and  common    prudence    should  have   induced 
Somerset  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  both  countries.   _.    . 
Two  circumstances,  however,  strongly  impelled  the   vasionof 
Protector  to  take  up  a  strong  line  as  regards  Scotland.   Scotland, 
One  was  that  the  regency,  which  ruled  Scotland  in  the 
name  of  the  little  queen  Mary,  had  persecuted  the  Scottish  Pro- 
testants with  such  vigour  that  they  had  risen  in  revolt  against  the 
government,  and,  being  overpowered,  had  appealed  to  England  for 


Emery  Walker  sc. 


A.  First  position  of  English  army. 

B.  First  position  of  Scottish  army. 
—  Forward  inarch  of  the  Scots. 

D.  Scottish  position  before  the  battle. 


English  position  before  the  battle. 

1.  Grey. 

2.  Warwick. 

3.  Somerset. 


assistance.  The  other  was  that  Somerset  was  anxious  to  carry  out 
Henry  viii.'s  policy  of  uniting  the  two  realms  by  the  marriage 
of  Edward  with  the  queen  of  Scots.  Somerset  was  so  eager  in 
helping  the  Scottish  Protestants  that  he  did  not  see  that  he  could 
not  combine  this  course  of  action  with  the  peaceful  negotiations 
with  the  regency  for  the  marriage  of  Edward  and  Mary.  Before 
long  his  want  of  tact  again  involved  the  tyro  countries  in  a  war, 


354  EDWARD   VI.  [1547- 

which  long  postponed  both  the  Scottish  Reformation  and  the 
reconciliation  of  the  two  British  kingdoms.  In  September,  1547, 
Somerset  invaded  the  Lothians,  and  on  September  10  fonght 
a  battle  against  the  Scots  who  had  assembled  an  army  to  defend 
Edinburgh.     Somerset  held    the   high   land  on  the 

I fnkie.°f  TiZht  bank  o£  tke  Esk'  wbile  tb-e  Scots,  Posted  on 
rising  ground  on  the  left  bank,  waited  for  his  attack. 
After  two  days'  inaction  the  Scots  grew  weary,  and,  crossing  the 
Esk,  advanced  against  the  English  position.  The  battle  was 
fought  near  the  village  of  PinTcie.  At  first  the  Scottish  pikemen 
withstood  and  broke  the  shock  of  Lord  Grey's  cavalry,  who 
rode  down  the  hill  to  meet  them.  But  the  presence  of  mind  of 
John  Dudley,  earl  of  "Warwick,  saved  the  situation.  He  charged 
the  victorious  Scots  with  fresh  troops,  and  soon  put  them  into 
confusion.  Complete  victory  attended  the  English  arms,  but  the 
first  use  Somerset  made  of  it  was  to  desolate  all  south-eastern 
Scotland  with  fire  and  sword.  His  military  triumph  counted 
Post  for  little   as   compared    with    the   complete  political 

mentof  the     failure  which  attended  it.     The  Scots,  angry  at  the 

Scottish  invasion,  saved  their  queen  from  the  danger  of  be- 

Reforma- 
.  coming  the  bride  of  the  English  king,  by  despatching 

her  to  France,  where  she  was  educated  to  be  a  French- 
woman, a  Catholic,  and  a  bitter  enemy  of  England.  For  another 
ten  years  Scotland  remained  Catholic  because  the  Reformation  was 
identified  with  England. 

4.  France,  as  usual,  took  up  the  Scottish  cause,  and  continental 
war  soon  followed  war  within  Britain.     The  French  now  threat- 
ened Boulogne,  Henry  vm.'s  conquest,  but  the  English 

g0SSj  °J  garrison  just  held  its  own.     Desultory  war  continued 

until  after  Somerset's  fall,  when  peace  was  made  both 
with  France  and  Scotland  on  terms  that  undid  the  work  of  Henry 
viu.     By  it  Boulogne  was  restored  to  the  French. 

5.  At  home  Somerset  threw  his  chief  energy  into  bringing  about 
a  further  reformation  of  the  Church.  Cranmer,  his  chief  adviser, 
Progress  of  ^ad  ^y  this  time  drifted  far  away  from  Henry  vm.'s 
theReforma-  via  media,  and  had  become  a  disciple  of  the  German 
tion.  Lutherans.  Royal  visitors  of  the  Church  were  sent 
throughout  the  land  and  instructed  to  break  down  images  of 
saints,  stone  altars,  and  emblems  that  savoured  of  the  ancient 
faith.  Bishops  of  the  old  learning,  like  Bonner  and  Gardiner, 
struggled  in  vain  against  the  visitors,  and,  before  long,  were  im- 
prisoned and  deprived  of  all  power.    A  new  standard  of  doctrine 


-I549-]  EDWARD   VI.  355 

was  set  forth  in  a  Book  of  Homilies,  written  in  English,  which  the 
more  ignorant  clergy,  who  could  not  preach  sermons  of  their  own, 
were  instructed  to  read  to  their  flocks  as  the  official  teaching  of 
the  Church.  Soon  parliament  met,  and  by  repealing  the  Six 
Articles  statute  and  other  laws  of  Henry  viii.,  made  further 
changes  easier.  Priests  were  allowed  to  marry,  and  fresh  confisca- 
tions of  Church  property  were  ordered.  Such  colleges  and  chantries 
as  Henry  viii.  had  not  time  to  suppress  were  abolished,  and  most 
of  the  money  thus  procured  from  the  Church  was  squandered 
among  Somerset's  friends  and  councillors.  The  protector  himself 
did  not  scruple  to  appropriate  a  good  share  of  the  spoil.  A  few 
hospitals  and  schools  in  connection  with  suppressed  churches  were 
suffered  to  remain,  and  Edward  vi.  has  won  the  reputation,  which 
is  very  little  deserved,  of  being  a  liberal  founder  of  hospitals  and 
schools.  He  deserves  little  more  credit  for  giving  his  name  to 
such  old  schools  as  he  allowed  to  survive  the  general  ruin,  than 
Henry  viii.  merited  by  continuing  Wolsey's  college  at  Oxford  as 
a  foundation  of  his  own. 

6.  The  most  important  of  the  religious  changes  now  brought 
about  was  the  abolition  of  the  Latin  services  of  the  Church  and 

the  setting1  up  of  an  English   Prayer-book.     Under 

-cr  v  a    -u  j      •      4.x.  i.    The  First 

Henry  viii.  some  progress   had  been  made   m  that   pPayep. 

direction,  and  Cranmer  had  been  engaged  since  1543    book  of 

in  drafting  a  form   of  common  prayer  in   English.    ??w,ard  VI#' 

His  labours  culminated  in  the  Act  of  Uniformity  of 

1549,  which  enjoined  that  all  churches  should  henceforward  use  the 

English  services  contained  in  the  First  Prayer-booh  of  Edward  VI. 

This  was  a  very  careful  and  reverent  translation  of  the  mediaeval 

Latin  services  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  with  certain  omissions  and 

alterations  and  the   combination   of    the  numerous   short  forms 

of  the  older  worship  into  the  order  for  Morning  and  Evening 

Prayer.     Cranmer,  at  his  worst  when  his  weakness  made  him  the 

puppet  of  contending  politicians,  was  at  his  best  when  engaged 

in  this  work.     Though  he  had  lost  his  faith  in  much  of  the  ancient 

creed,  his  timid,  scholarly,  and  sensitive  mind  clung  to  the  old 

forms  even  when  they  had  ceased  to  have  their  old  meaning  to  him, 

while  his  exquisite  literary  sense  made  the  new  prayers  models  of 

pure  and  dignified  English.     In  the  Communion  Service  which 

was  to  replace  the  Latin  mass,  great  care  was  taken  to  maintain 

ancient  ceremonies  and  deal  tenderly  with  conservative  sentiment. 

7.  Englishmen  were  no  lovers  of    novelties,   and   the   pains 
bestowed   on  making   the   new   service   seem   like  the  old  were 


356  EDWARD    VI.  [1549- 

thrown  away  on  those  who  still  cherished  the  ancient  rites.  When 
the  Prayer-bock  was  first  read  in  a  Devonshire  village  church, 
the  congregation  forced  the  priest  to  go  back  to  his 
Devonshire  Latin  mass,  declaring  that  the  new  service  was  like 
rebellion  of  a  Christmas  game.  Then  they  rose  in  revolt  after 
1 549.  ^he  £ ashion  0f  the  Pilgrims  of  Grace.    They  demanded 

the  restoration  of  the  mass  and  the  Six  Articles,  and  found  the 
south-west  overwhelmingly  on  their  side. 

8.  Tho  Devonshire  revolt  against  the  Prayer-book  was  only  one 
of  Somerset's  difficulties.      He  was  much  troubled  by  opposition 

within  the  council,  where  he  was  soon  found  out  to  be 
of  Thomas  *°°  wea^  ^°  P^J  ^ne  P8^  "which  Henry  viii.  himself 
Seymour,  had  found  was  all  that  he  could  do  to  fulfil  His  own 
1549.  brother,   Thomas   Seymour,   now  Lord    Seymour  of 

Sudeley,  an  ambitious,  rash,  and  foolish  person,  had  intrigued 
against  him,  and  early  in  1549  the  protector  found  it  necessary 
to  put  him  to  death  by  an  act  of  attainder.  But  the  discontent 
among  the  people  was  even  more  formidable  to  him  than  the  cabals 
of  his  rivals.  While  the  conservative  south-west  was  in  arms  against 
novelties,  the  reformers  in  the  eastern  counties,  who  had  no  com- 
The  Norfolk  plaints  against  Somerset's  religious  policy,  set  up 
rebellion  of  another  rebellion  which  had  its  centre  round  Norwich. 
1549.  rp^  enciosure  0f  commons,  the  turning  of  plough-land 

into  pasture,  and  the  greediness  of  the  new  landlords  who  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  easy-going  monastic  proprietors,  had  borne  hardly 
upon  the  Norfolk  peasantry.  Things  were  worse  now  than  they 
had  been  thirty-five  years  before  when  More  wrote  his  Utopia,  and 
the  new  gospel  had  done  nothing  to  better  the  position  of  the  poor 
man.  A  quarrel  between  Robert  Ket,  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Wymondham,  and  a  neighbouring  landlord  now  set  the  whole 
countryside  in  a  blaze.  Before  long  Ket  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  mob  which  pulled  down  fences  round  enclosures,  and  demanded 
that  all  villeins  should  be  set  free.  An  army  soon  collected  under 
the  popular  leader,  who  held  a  sort  of  court  under  an  oak  tree  called 
by  him  the  Oak  of  Reformation  on  Mousehold  Heath,  near  Norwich. 
He  kept  wonderful  order  among  his  followers,  and  sent  up  moderate 
demands  to  the  council.  Getting  no  answer,  he  took  possession  of 
Norwich,  and  defeated  the  king's  troops. 

9.  Somerset  was  eager  to  put  down  the  Devonshire  rebels,  but 
he  sympathized  with  the  Norfolk  men,  though  he  was  too  weak  to 
remedy  their  wrongs.  Both  revolts  soon  rose  to  a  great  head, 
and  the  protector  was  helpless  to  put  them  down.     Public  order 


-I550.2  EDWARD    VI.  357 

had  to  be  restored,  and  stronger  men  now  pnshed  him  aside.     John 
Russell,  afterwards  earl  of  Bedford,  crushed  the  Devonshire  revolt, 
while  "Warwick  put  down  the  eastern  rebellion  with   pau  0f 
fierce  ruthlessness.     A  little  later  the  council  deprived   Somerset, 
Somerset  of  the  protectorate,  and  imprisoned  him   1549, 
in  the  Tower.     So  impotent  did  the  fallen  ruler  seem  that  his 
enemies,  with  unusual  leniency,  soon  released  him  from  prison, 
and  restored  him  to  the  council. 

10.  Henceforth  the  council  resolved  to  keep  authority  in  its 
own  hands.     But  if  it  were  hard  for  Somerset  to  wield  the  power 
of  a  Henry,  it  was  quite  impossible  for  the  greedy  and 
self-seeking  councillors  to  maintain  that  strong  rule  ascendency 
which  alone   could  save  the    state    from    confusion,  of  Warwick, 
Gradually  John  Dudley,  the  earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  1549"1553- 
the  minister  of  Henry  vn.,  executed  in  1510,  worked  his  way  into 
the  first  place.     A  successful  soldier  of  overweening  ambition,  he 
professed  a  great  zeal  for  reforming  the  Church,  and  made  himself 
the  head  of  the  resolute  little  party  which  looked  upon  the  changes 
effected   by   Somerset   as    only  small  instalments    of   that   com- 
plete reformation  which  they  now  desired  to  bring  about.      The 
misfortunes  of  continental  Protestantism  now  played 
into  their  hands.      Luther  and  Francis  I.  were  both   }nfluenee 
dead,  and  Charles  v.,  who  was  trying  hard  to  put  down   of  the 

the  German  Reformation,  seemed  on  the  very  point  of   foreign 

reformers, 
success.     A  swarm  of  exiles  fled  from  his  tyranny  to 

England,  whose  leaders,  Martin  Bucer  of  Strassburg  and  Peter 
Martyr  an  Italian,  were  made  professors  of  theology  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge.  They  became  the  chief  teachers  of  the  forward 
school  in  England,  and  soon  had  plenty  of  disciples.  Cranmer 
himself  was  now  drifting  away  from  Luther,  and  was  inclining 
towards  the  more  revolutionary  teaching  of  the  Swiss  reformer 
Zwingle,  who  denied  the  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist. 
His  chaplain,  the  learned  Nicholas  Ridley,  an  avowed  Zwinglian, 
was  made  bishop  of  London  in  succession  to  Bonner,  who  was  at 
last  deprived  of  his  see  for  resisting  the  Prayer-book,  and  kept, 
like  Gardiner,  in  prison  for  the  rest  of  the  reign.  Another  new 
bishop  was  John  Hooper  of  Gloucester,  the  first  English  Puritan, 
who  long  refused  to  wear  the  old  episcopal  vestments,  regarding 
them  as  rags  of  popery.  All  these  men  looked  up  to  Warwick 
to  bring  about  innovations  in  the  Church,  and  Warwick  gladly 
furthered  their  wishes,  since  each  fresh  change  meant  new  distribu- 
tions of  Church  property  among  himself  and  his  allies. 


358  EDWARD    VI.  L1552- 

THE  DUDLEYS 

Edmund  Dudley, 

extortioner, 

executed  1510. 

I 

John  Dudley, 

earl  of  Warwick,  1547, 

duke  of  Northumberland,  1551, 

executed  1553. 


I                                           I  I 

Ambrose  Dudley,                 Robert  Dudley,  Guildford  Dudley, 

earl  of  Warwick.                  earl  of  Leicester,  m.  Lady  Jane  Grey, 

d.  1588.  executed  1554. 

11.  The  scramble  for  Church,  property  soon  grew  worse  and 
worse.     Many  bishoprics  were  suppressed,  including  Henry  viii.'s 

new  see  of  Westminster,  and  the  revenues  of  those 
scramble  suffered  to  remain  were  cut  down.  Laymen  appointed 
for  the  themselves  to  ecclesiastical  offices,  and  pocketed  the 

theChurch      revenues  without  performing  the  duties.    The  colleges 

at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  threatened,  and  it 
looked  as  if  all  the  lands  of  the  Church  would  be  niched  from  her. 

12.  There  was  much  discontent,  but  few  ventured  to  speak.  The 
best  and  bravest  of  the  Protestants,  Hugh  Latimer,  said  that 
Execution  things  were  worse  than  in  the  old  days  of  popery, 
of  Somerset 3    Deprived  of  his  bishopric  of  Worcester  in  1530,  he 

refused  to  accept  another  see,  and  devoted  himself  to 
preaching  the  new  gospel  with  absolute  honesty  and  rare  freedom 
of  speech.  The  young  king  gladly  listened  to  his  sermons,  but  he 
told  the  truth  so  fully  that  the  council  bade  him  preach  no  more 
before  the  court.  In  their  despair  the  people  turned  to  the  fallen 
Somerset  as  a  deliverer.  But  he  was  far  too  deeply  discredited  to  be 
able  to  stem  the  tide.  His  feeble  efforts  to  win  back  power  only  led 
to  the  completion  of  his  ruin.  Early  in  1552  he  was  beheaded  as  a 
felon,  and  Warwick,  now  duke  of  Northumberland,  secured  com- 
plete ascendency.  He  alone  had  the  ear  of  the  young  king,  and 
could  carry  everything  as  he  would. 

13.  Sweeping  religious  changes  were  now  brought  about.     The 
Prayer-book  of  1549  seemed  to  be  too  old-fashioned;   it  was  re- 
vised in  a  more  Protestant  sense,  and  in  1552  a  new 

Prayer-  Act  of  Uniformity  required  the  use  in  churches  of  this 

book  of  Second  Prayer-book  of  Edward  VI.     The  changes  in 

?552ardVI"    *^e  Communion  Office  showed  the  great  advance  of 
Zwinglian  doctrine,  and  tended  to  set  aside  the  dogma 
of  the  Heal  Presence  which  had  been  fully  recognized  in  the  earlier 


-I553-]  EDWARD    VI.  359 

book.  But  Cranmer  was  still  able  to  keep  up  no  small  measure  of 
the  spirit  of  the  earlier  office,  and  of  all  the  reforms  of  Edward's 
reign,  his  Prayer-book  is  among  the  most  enduring  and  valuable. 
In  most  essentials  the  book  of  1552  is  the  same  as  the  present 
service-book  of  the  English  Church. 

14.  Other  great  changes  followed.   The  most  important  of  these 
was  the  new  Protestant  form  of  doctrine  embodied  in  the  Forty-two 
Articles  of  Religion  of  1553.    Derived  largely  from  the 
Lutheran  confession  of  faith,  these  articles  show  much   Forty-two 
more  than  the  Prayer-book  how  the  English  Church   Articles, 
had  fallen  in  with  the  views  of  the  continental  re-    1553» 
formers.     They  are  the  basis  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  which 
under  Elizabeth  became  the  permanent  standards  of  dogma  in  the 
English  Church. 

15.  All  seemed  going  well  with  Northumberland  and  the 
reformers.  Edward,  now  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  strongly  on 
their  side,  and,  young  as  he  was,  had  already  made  it  The  fajiure 
clear  that  he  had  inherited  some  of  the  strong  will  and  of  Edward 
royal  imperiousness  of  his  father.  A  grave,  precocious,  *  s  " 
and  solitary  boy,  he  had  been  overworked  from  his  tenderest  years, 
and  had  worried  himself  over  problems  of  Church  and  State  when 
other  children  were  at  their  play.  His  delicate  frame  was  unable  to 
bear  the  strain  put  upon  it,  and  he  soon  lay  dying  with  consumption. 
He  was  much  troubled  by  the  dangers  that  he  foresaw  would  assail 
Protestantism  after  his  death.  By  law  the  next  heir  was  his  half- 
sister,  the  Lady  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Catharine  of  Aragon. 
Though  Mary  had  been,  like  her  sister  Elizabeth,  declared  illegiti- 
mate after  her  mother's  divorce,  she  had  been  restored  to  her  place 
in  the  succession.  Parliament,  foreseeing  disaster  if  the  succession 
were  disputed,  had  passed  an  act  empowering  Henry  The  testa- 
vin.  to  settle  the  future  devolution  of  the  crown  by  his  ment  of 
testament.  Henry  had  drawn  up  such  a  will  whereby  Henpy  VIII# 
he  had  arranged  that  his  two  daughters,  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  might 
both  succeed  in  order  of  birth  if  Edward,  the  undoubted  heir,  died 
without  children.  Moreover,  he  provided  that  if  these  also  died 
without  heirs,  the  throne  should  next  be  settled  upon  the  descendants 
of  his  younger  sister  Mary,  duchess  of  Suffolk,  passing  thus  over 
his  elder  sister  Margaret,  queen  of  Scots,  whose  representatives, 
being  rulers  of  Scotland,  Henry  regarded  as  disqualified  from  being 
kings  of  England.  But  these  problems  were  as  yet  far  in  the 
future. 

16.  Edward  vi.'s  zealous  Protestantism  was  very  uneasy  at  the 


360  EDWARD    VI.  [1553. 

prospect  of  "being  succeeded  by  his  sister.  Mary  was  a  bitter  enemy 
of  the  Reformation,  and  had  clung  to  the  mass  despite  Acts  of 
Ed        .,  Uniformity  and  English  Prayer-books.    Under  her  the 

device  light  of  the  Gospel  would  be  extinguished,  and  Edward 

for  the  was  accordingly  well  pleased  when.  Northumberland 

succession 

suggested  an  illegal  plan  for  changing  the  succes- 
sion in  the  interests  of  Protestantism.  Northumberland  easily 
persuaded  the  masterful  young  king  that,  like  his  father,  he  also 
could  assign  the  throne  by  testament.  He  induced  him  to  set 
aside  not  only  Mary,  but  Elizabeth,  who  had  not  shown  hostility  to 
the  new  system.  In  their  stead,  Edward  bequeathed  the  throne 
to  the  Lady  Jane  Grey,  the  eldest  child  of  Frances,  duchess  of 
Suffolk,  the  daughter  of  his  aunt,  Mary  Tudor,  and  Charles  Bran- 
don, her  second  husband.  Lady  Jane  was  a  girl  of  about  Edward's 
age,  with  something  of  her  cousin's  seriousness,  and  all  his  zeal  for 
the  Reformation.  But  the  chief  reason  for  her  advancement  was 
that  she  had  been  married  to  Lord  Guildford  Dudley,  one  of 
Northumberland's  sons.  It  is  clear  that  the  real  motive  of  the 
duke  was  to  reign  through  his  daughter-in-law. 

17.  Edward  had  hardly  drawn  up  his  will  before  he  became 
worse,  and  died  on  July  6,  1553.  For  two  days  his  death  was  kept 
0  een  Jane  secre^>  while  Northumberland  won  over  the  councillors 
and  Queen  to  give  their  support  to  the  scheme.  Then  Lady 
Mary,  1553.  jane  was  proclaimed  queen  of  England.  But  no  one, 
save  the  zealous  Protestants  and  Northumberland's  greedy  council, 
wished  to  have  her  as  queen.  All  felt  that  Mary  had  the  better 
title,  and  no  one  wished  to  continue  the  selfish  Northumberland  in 
power.  Mary  fled  to  the  eastern  counties,  where  the  people, 
Protestants  though  they  were,  warmly  supported  her  cause. 
Northumberland  started  from  London  to  oppose  her,  but  when  he 
reached  Cambridge  his  troops  mutinied,  and  he  was  forced  to  give 
up  the  attempt.  After  a  ten  days'  nominal  reign,  the  unfortunate 
Lady  Jane  gave  place  to  King  Henry's  daughter,  amidst  universal 
rejoicings. 


CHAPTER  V 

MARY  (1553-1558) 

Chief  Dates : 

*553-    Accession  of  Mary. 

1554.     Restoration  of  papal  supremacy. 

1555-     Execution  of  Ridley  and  Latimer. 

1556.    Execution  of  Cranmer. 

1558.     Loss  of  Calais  ;  death  of  Mary. 

1.  Mary,  the  first  queen  regnant  in  England,  was  thirty-seven 
years  old  when  she  ascended  the  throne.    She  was  brave,  honourable, 
and  religious,  but  her  health  was  broken   and  her   Accession 
temper  soured  by  the  miserable  life  of  self -suppression   of  Mary, 
which  she  had  led.     She  had  her  full  share  of  the  fierce    1553- 
Tudor  will  and  character,  and  had  ever  remained  true  to  her 
mother's  memory  and  to  the  ancient  faith.     She  had  consistently 
opposed  the  acts  of  her  brother's  ministers,  and  her  accession 
was  the  more  welcome   since  it  involved  the  reversal  of  their 
policy. 

2.  Mary's  first  business  was  to  undo  the  religious  changes  of  her 
brother's  reign.     Norfolk,  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  the  other  victims 
of  Edward's  ministers,  were  released  from  prison,  and 
became   her   chief   advisers.      She   showed  no  great   Edward's 
vindictiveness  against  the  friends  of  Lady  Jane,  and  reign       * 
•  only  Northumberland,   with  two  of  his  subordinate   undone' 
agents,  atoned  for  their  treason  on  the  scaffold.     Lady  Jane  and  her 
husband  were  condemned  to  death,  but  were  suffered  to  remain  in 
prison.     The  Protestant  bishops  were  driven  from  their  sees,  and 
foreign  Protestants  were  ordered  out  of  the  realm.     As  Cranmer 
and  the  leading  Protestants  had  become  accomplices  of  Northumber- 
land, it  was  easy  to  attack  them  as  traitors  as  well  as  heretics. 
When  parliament  met,  it  declared  Mary  to  be  Henry's  legitimate 
daughter,   repealed   Edward  vi.'s   acts   concerning  religion,   and 
restored  the  Six  Articles,  the  mass,  and  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy. 

361 
H  2 


362  '■  MARY  [1554- 

The  effect  of  this  was  to  bring  back  the  Church  to  the  state  in 
which  it  had  been  at  the  death  of  Henry  Tin.  So  completely  did 
the  queen  restore  her  father's  legislation  that  she  even  assumed  the 
title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church.  For  more  than  a  year  no 
further  religious  changes  were  effected.  Yet  the  daughter  of 
Catharine  of  Aragon  had  not  much  more  love  for  the  system  of  her 
father  than  for  that  of  her  brother.  Her  real  wish  was  to  make 
England  as  it  had  been  before  Henry  questioned  her  mother's 
marriage.  Politically,  she  wished  to  restore  the  imperial  alliance  ; 
ecclesiastically,  she  was  eager  to  bring  back  the  pope  and  the  monks. 
But  Gardiner  and  her  ministers  had  been  so  long  identified  with 
Henry  vni.'s  policy  that  they  thought  the  reaction  had  gone  far 
enough.  It  required  all  the  fierce  persistency  of  the  new  queen  to 
realize  these  objects. 

3.  Parliament  wished  the  queen  to  marry  an  English  nobleman. 
But  Charles  v.,  who  had  always  been  her  good  friend,  proposed 
The  Spanish  ^°  ^er  as  a  husband  his  eldest  son,  Philip,  prince  of 
marriage,  Spain.  Mary  eagerly  fell  in  with  the  suggestion,  though 
1554.  Philip  was  eleven  years  her  junior,  and  there  was  a 

grave  danger  to  English  independence  in  the  queen  becoming  the 
wife  of  the  heir  of  Charles  v.  But  Philip  represented  her  mother's 
family,  and  was  already  famous  for  his  uncompromising  zeal  for  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  Thinking  that  her  marriage  with  him 
would  realize  all  her  ambitions  by  one  stroke,  she  disregarded  the 
advice  of  council  and  parliament,  and  signed  the  marriage-treaty 
in  January,  1554.  The  people's  dislike  of  the  Spanish  marriage 
took  shape  in  a  series  of  revolts  such  as  always  attended  an  un- 
popular step  on  the  part  of  a  Tudor  monarch.  The  most  formidable 
of  these  was  that  led  by  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  the  gallant  young  son 
of  Wyatt  the  poet,  who  raised  Kent  and  Sussex  against  the  Spanish 
match.  At  the  head  of  a  great  following  of  disorderly  Kentishmen, 
he"  marched  to  London,  and  occupied  Southwark.  There  was  a 
panic  in  the  city,  which  was  only  appeased  when  the  queen  went 
down  to  the  Guildhall  and  inspired  the  Londoners  with  some  of  her 
own  courage.  Before  long,  Wyatt  was  overpowered  and  captured. 
This  second  rising  was  dealt  with  more  sternly  than  the  attempt  of 
Northumberland.  Wyatt  and  other  leading  rebels  were  executed, 
and  Lady  Jane  and  Lord  Guildford  Dudley  were  put  to  death  under 
their  former  sentence.  The  Lady  Elizabeth,  whose  claims  the 
rebels  had  upheld,  was  for  a  time  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  But 
Wyatt  on  the  scaffold  declared  that  she  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
conspiracy,  and  Elizabeth  was  soon  set  free.     Henceforward  the 


-I555-]  MARY  3^3 

daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn  scrupulously  kept  on  good  terms  with 
her  sister,  and  attended  mass  with  a  gr9at  show  of  devotion.  Now 
that  the  revolt  was  suppressed,  Philip  came  to  England,  and  was 
married  to  Mary  by  Gardiner  in  Winchester  Cathedral. 

4.  Mary  strove  her  utmost  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
between  England  and  the  papacy.  Though  Gardiner  had  first 
made  his  name  by  defending  the  royal    supremacy 

under  Henry  viii.,  his  experience  under  Edward  vi.  tjon  0f  tne 
seems  to  have  convinced  him  that  his  old  master's  papal 
"middle  way"  led  in  practice  to  the  Protestantism  fg^61118,67, 
which  he  had  always  opposed.  He  was,  therefore, 
willing  to  fall  in  with  his  mistress'  plans.  The  chief  opposition  to 
Mary  came  from  the  lay  nobles  who  had  been  enriched  with  the 
spoils  of  the  monasteries.  Knowing  that  the  queen  wished  to  bring 
back  the  monks  as  well  as  the  pope,  they  trembled  for  their  new 
estates,  and  refused  to  accept  a  papal  restoration  until  they  were 
assured  that  the  abbey-lands  would  not  be  given  back  to  the  Church. 
When  the  pope  had  promised  not  to  insist  upon  the  restoration  of 
the  monasteries,  all  difficulties  were  removed.  A  new  parliament, 
which  met  in  November,  1554,  repealed  Henry  viii.'s  laws  against 
Rome,  declared  unlawful  the  title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church 
which  Mary  had  borne  since  her  accession,  and  restored  the  old  laws 
against  heresy.  One  of  the  acts  of  this  parliament  was  the  reversal 
of  the  attainder  which  in  Henry  viii.'s  time  had  been  passed  against 
Cardinal  Pole.  Pole,  now  one  of  the  leading  advisers  of  the  pope, 
had  some  time  before  been  appointed  papal  legate,  but  had  long 
been  impatiently  waiting  beyond  the  Channel  until  matters  were 
ripe  for  his  return.  He  was  at  last  suffered  to  land  in  England, 
where  Mary  gave  him  the  warmest  of  welcomes.  A  few  days  later, 
he  solemnly  pronounced  the  restoration  of  England  to  com- 
munion with  the  Roman  ^Church.  Thus  the  resolute  purpose  of 
the  queen  destroyed  the  work  of  her  father  as  well  as  that  of  her 
brother.  It  is  significant  that  there  was  no  such  popular  revolt 
against  the  restoration  of  the  papacy  as  there  had  been  against  the 
Spanish  marriage. 

5.  There  remained  the  punishment  of  those  who  refused  to 
change  their  religion  to  please  the  queen.  Many  of  the  Protestant 
leaders  under  Edward  vi.  had  escaped  to  the  Con-  The  MaPjan 
tinent.  But  the  most  prominent  of  the  Edwardian  persecution, 
bishops  were  awaiting  in  prison  the  moment  of  the  1555~1558« 
queen's  vengeance.  The  revival  of  the  heresy  laws  by  the  last 
parliament  enabled  them  to  be  dealt  with.     Early  in  1555  Pole  as 


364  MARY  '  [1555- 

legate  set  up  a  commission  to  try  heretics,  and  on  February  2, 
John  Rogers,  a  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  who  had  taken  a  promi- 
nent part  in  translating  the  Bible  into  English,  was  the  first 
to  lay  down  his  life  for  his  faith.  His  martyrdom  was  rapidly 
followed  by  that  of  the  Puritan  Bishop  Hooper  of  Gloucester. 
Alone  among  the  Protestant  leaders,  Hooper  had  refused  to  take 
part  in  Northumberland's  effort  to  deprive  Mary  of  her  throne, 
but  his  loyalty  availed  him  nothing.  He  was  condemned  as  a 
heretic,  deprived  of  his  bishopric,  and  burnt  at  Gloucester  under 
the  shadow  of  his  own  cathedral.  A  little  later  Bishop  Ferrar 
of  St.  David's  was  burnt  at  Carmarthen,  the  chief  town  of  his 
diocese.  He  was  one  of  the  most  obscure  and  harmless  of  the 
bishops,  but  this  did  not  prevent  his  being  singled  out  as  an 
example. 

6.  More  prominent  Protestant  martyrs  followed  in  Latimer, 
Ridley  and  Cranmer.  Like  Hooper,  Latimer  had  had  no  share  in 
Martyrdom  Northumberland's  treason,  and  was  so  generally  re- 
of  Latimer  spected  that  he  was  long  allowed  to  remain  at  large,  and 
an  i  ey.  everv  chance  was  given  him  to  escape  to  the  continent. 
But  he  scorned  to  flee,  and  cheerfully  journeyed  to  London  to  answer 
a  charge  of  heresy.  Ridley  and  Cranmer  had  been  deeply  implicated 
in  Northumberland's  conspiracy,  but  the  queen  preferred  to  keep 
them  in  prison  until  they  might  be  punished  as  heretics  rather 
than  execute  them  earlier  as  traitors.  In  March,  1555,  all  three 
were  sent  to  Oxford  to  dispute  with  Catholic  divines  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  mass.  After  many  disputations  and  delays,  a  commission  of 
bishops  on  October  1  sentenced  Ridley  and  Latimer.  A  fortnight 
later  they  met  their  end  with  splendid  courage. 

7.  Cranmer  still  lingered  for  five  months  in  his  Oxford  prison. 
He  had  been  consecrated  before  the  breach  with  Rome,  and  had 
The  fate  of  duly  received  his  pallium  from  the  pope.  He  could  not, 
Cranmer,  therefore,  be  condemned  so  swiftly  as  the  schismatic 
1556.  bishops  whose  power  the  Church  had  never  recognized. 
An  archbishop  could  only  be  tried  and  deprived  by  the  pope  himself, 
and  the  papal  court  moved  slowly.  At  last  his  condemnation  and 
degradation  were  effected,  whereupon  the  pope  appointed  Pole  his 
successor  as  archbishop.  In  February,  1556,  Cranmer's  priestly 
gown  was  torn  from'him,  and,  clad  as  a  layman,  he  was  handed  over 
to  the  sheriff  for  execution.  He  was  an  old  man,  and  his  character 
had  always  been  feeble.  At  the  last  moment  he  was  persuaded  to 
recant,  and  his  cruel  enemies  forced  him  to  sign  no  less  than  seven 
forms  of  abjuration.    But  there  was  no  mercy  for  the  man  who 


-1558.]  MARY  355 

had  divorced  Catharine  of  Aragon,  and,  despite'  his  submission,  he 
was  ordered  to  execution.  On  March  21,  before  the  sentence  was 
effected,  he  was  taken  to  the  university  church  to  hear  a  sermon 
on  the  enormity  of  his  offences.  At  its  end  he  was  called  upon  to 
read  his  recantation  to  the  people.  The  timid  scholar  found  his 
courage  in  the  presence  of  death.  "  I  renounce,"  he  said,  "  and 
refuse  all  such  papers  as  I  have  written  and  signed  with  my 
hand  since  my  degradation,  wherein  I  have  written  many 
things  untrue,  and  as  my  hand  offended,  my  hand  therefore  shall 
be  first  burnt."  He  was  at  once  hurried  from  the  church 
to  the  stake.  When  the  fire  was  lighted,  he  plunged  his  right 
hand  into  the  flame,  exclaiming,  "  This  hand  has  offended." 
The  courage  of  his  end  did  something  to  redeem  the  weakness  of 
his  life.  t 

8.  The  five  episcopal  victims  were  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
Marian  martyrs.  Though  nearly  three  hundred  other  persons 
perished  for  their  religion  between  1555  and  1558,  the  The  iessep 
great  majority  of  them  were  obscure  clergymen,  victims  of 
tradesmen,  and  workmen.  Nearly  all  the  martyrs  Persecution, 
came  from  London  and  its  neighbourhood.  This  was  partly 
because  Bonner,  who  was  again '  bishop  of  London,  and  Pole, 
whose  diocese  included  most  of  Kent,  were  the  most  active  of  the 
persecuting  prelates.  But  the  truth  was  that  outside  the  home 
counties  there  were  few  Protestants  to  burn.  The  only  other 
dioceses  where  victims  were  numerous  were  those  of  Norwich  and 
Chichester  (see  map  on  page  342).  Thus  the  limitation  of  the  perse- 
cution to  so  short  a  time  and  so  small  an  area  made  it  the  more 
severe.  Sympathy  with  the  brave  deaths  of  the  sufferers  did  more 
to  set  up  a  Protestant  party  in  England  than  all  the  laws  of  King 
Edward  or  all  the  preaching  of  his  divines. 

9.  The  fierce  persecution  of  the  Protestants  has  given  Mary  and 
her  advisers  an  evil  reputation  in  history  which  they  do  not  alto- 
gether deserve.     In  the  sixteenth  century,  as  in  the 

Middle  Ages,  it  was  still  thought  the  business  of  the   toleration 
state  to  uphold  religious  truth  and  to  put  down  false   in  the 
teaching  by  the  severest  means.     To  tolerate  error   sixteenth 
was  regarded  as  a  sin,  and  it  was  looked  upon  as  some- 
thing like  rebellion  for  a  subject  to  reject  the.  religion  of  his 
sovereign.     Protestant  and  Catholic  kings  alike  had  sent  those 
who  disagreed  with  their  doctrines  to  the  scaffold.     We  have  seen 
how  many  were  the  victims  of  Henry  vin.'s  ecclesiastical  policy. 
Edward  vi.  had  burnt  the  extreme  Protestants  called  Anabavtists, 


366  MARY  [1553- 

and  Calvin  himself  had  condemned  to  death  the  Unitarian  Ser- 
vetus.  The  faults  of,  Mary  and  Pole  were  those  of  fanatics  and 
enthusiasts,  and  not  those  of  cruel  or  unscrupulous  persons.  Even 
Bonner  -was  coarse  and  callous  rather  than  vindictive  or  ill-natured. 
The  real  punishment  of  Mary  and  her  friends  was  in  their  com- 
plete failure  to  stamp  out  their  enemies  by  force.  Fortunately  for 
his  reputation,  Gardiner  died  in  1555,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
persecution. 

10.  It  was  not  only  by  repression  that  Mary  strove  to  secure 
the  triumph  of  her  Church.     She  forced  her  parliament  to  restore 

firstfruits  to  the  pope,  and  spent  what  money  she 
ofMarv*         could  in  reviving  a  few  of  the  monasteries,  including 

"Westminster  Abbey.  Grave  troubles  at  home  and 
abroad  soon  distracted  her  energies  into  other  channels.  She  had 
disputes  with  her  House  of  Commons,  which,  for  the  first  time 
under  the  Tudors,  showed  a  disposition  to  oppose  the  government. 
There  were  several  popular  revolts,  and  some  of  the  bolder  Protestant 
refugees  procured  ships  from  France  with  which  they  practised 
piracy  on  the  English  coasts.  The  queen's  health  became  wretched, 
and  her  domestic  life  was  most  unhappy.  Pole  was  her  only 
real  friend,  and  Philip  of  Spain  neglected  her  utterly  until  he 
wished  to  secure  her  help  in  the  war  which  he  was  waging  against 
France. 

11.  Between  1552  and  1559  the  last  of  the  great  struggles 
between  France  and  the  Empire  was  being  fought.    Henry  n.,  king 

of  France  since  his  father  Francis's  death  in  1547, 
bef  ^eeF  proved  himself  as  formidable  to  Charles  and  Philip  as 

France  and  ever  his  father  had  been.  After  successfully  saving 
the  Empire,    the  German  Protestants  from  Charles's  designs  against 

them,  Henry  allied  himself  with  Pope  Paul  iv.  to 
upset  imperial  domination  in  Italy.  He  succeeded  so  far  that 
Charles  v.,  crippled  with  gout  and  weary  with  his  misfortunes, 
abdicated  his  dominions  in  1556.  His  German  possessions  and  the 
name  of  emperor  went  to  his  brother  Ferdinand,  king  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia,  who  became  the  founder  of  the  junior  or  Austrian 
branch  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  Spain  and  the  Indies,  Italy, 
the  Netherlands,  and  the  county  of  Burgundy  went  to  Mary's 
husband. 

12.  Philip  II.  of  Spain"  made  a  great  effort  to  secure  victory 
over  France.  In  1557  he  persuaded  Mary  to  take  part  in  the 
struggle,  and  broke  the  back  of  the  French  resistance  by  his  famous 
victory  of  St.  Quentin.     He  restored  the    Hapsburg   power  in 


-1558.]  MARY  %6j 

Italy  by  crushing  Paxil  rr.  as  completely  as  his  father  had  defeated 
Clement  vn.     Henceforth  the  papacy  was  reduced,  like  the  other 
Italian  states,  to  obey  the  will  of  Philip,  who  completely   En»]an(j  at 
dominated  Italy.     Deprived  of  temporal  power,  the   war  with 
popes  were  thrown  back  upon  their  ecclesiastical  posi-   frf^ffcco 
tion,  in  the  strengthening  of  which  they  could  count 
on  Philip's  support.     It  was,  however,  a  strange  irony  that  Mary 
was  forced  by  her  Catholic  husband  to  be  a  party  to  war  against  the 
pope,  whom  she  had  restored  to  the  headship  of  the  English  Church. 
Beaten  on  the  battlefield,  Paul  iv.  revenged  his  defeat  by  accusing 
Cardinal  Pole  of  heresy  and  depriving  him  of  bis  position  as  papal 
legate.    The  French  also  revenged  themselves  for  Philip's  triumphs 
at  St.  Quentin  at  the  expense  of  his  weak  ally.     In  January,  1558, 
they  stormed  Calais,  the  last  remnant  of  the  triumphs 
of  the  Hundred  Tears'  War.     The  loss  of  Calais  was  {J®*"1  °£5g 
the  final   blow   to   the    unhappy  Mary.      She   died 
November  17, 1558,  and  twelve  hours  later  Cardinal  Pole  followed 
her  to  the  tomb.     Both  died  conscious  of  failure.     The  work  to 
which  they  had  devoted  their  lives  was  forthwith  to  be  undone 
after  their  decease. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS 
(1558-1587)^ 

Chief  Dates :  *  y^ 

1558.  Accession  of  Elizabeth.  " 

1559.  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity. 
1561.  Mary  Stewart  returns  to  Scotland. 
1565.  Parker's  Advertisements. 

1568.  Mary  Stewart  escapes  to  England. 

1569.  Revolt  of  the  Northern  Catholics. 

1570.  The  pope  excommunicates  Elizabeth.   / 
1572.  The  revolt  of  the  Dutch  from  Spain. 
1576.  Grindal,  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1577-1580.  Drake's  voyage  round  the  world. 

1579.  The  Union  of  Utrecht  and  the  Desmond  rebellion. 

1583.  Whitgift,  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1584.  The  Bond  of  Association  and  the  breach  with  Spain. 

1586.  Babington's  plot  and  the  battle  of  Zutphen. 

1587.  Execution  of  Mary  Stewart. 

1.  Elizabeth  was  just  five  and  twenty  when  she  became  queen. 
She  was  tall  and  good-looking,  with  strong  features,  a  great  hooked 
Character  nose,  fair  complexion,  and  light  auburn  hair.  Pos- 
and  policy  of  sessed  of  a  magnificent  constitution,  she  worked  as 
Elizabeth.  hard  at  amusing  herself  as  on  business  of  state.  She 
inherited  many  of  her  father's  kingly  qualities,  and  made  herself 
popular  by  her  hearty  friendly  ways  and  by  going  on  progress 
throughout  the  country  and  receiving  the  hospitality  of  the 
gentry.  With  Henry's  love  of  power  and  instinct  for  command, 
she  also  inherited  some  of  her  father's  coarseness  and  insensibility. 
She  was  unscrupulous,  regardless  of  the  truth,  and  even  in  small 
matters  there  was  little  that  was  womanly  or  sensitive  about  her. 
Selfish  as  she  was,  she  had  a  full  share  of  that  fine  Tudor  instinct 
which  identified  itself  with  the  country  which  she  ruled,  and  she 
watched  over  the  interests  of  England  as  she  looked  after  her  own 
personal  affairs.  Though  carefully  educated,  like  all  Henry's 
children,  she  was  little  influenced  by  the  literary  movements  of 
her  age,  and,  though  forced  as  Anne  Boleyn's  daughter  to  take 
368 


1558.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      369 

ap  the  reforming  side  in  religion,  she  was  to  a  very  small 
extent  affected  by  religious  feeling.  Clear-headed,  far-seeing,  and 
competent,  strong,  courageous,  and  persistent,  her  great  delight 
was  in  exercising  power,  and  she  loved  to  rule  so  well  that  she 
would  not  share  her  authority  even  with  a  husband.  To  her 
father's  strength  and  statecraft  Elizabeth  also  added  a  large  share 
of  her  mother's  light  and  frivolous  character.  She  was  extremely 
vain,  and  enjoyed  the  grossest  flattery.  She  loved  gorgeous 
dresses,  and  as  she  grew  old  delighted  to  hide  the  ravages  of  time 
by  false  hair,  paint,  monstrous  ruffs,  and  stiff  farthingales.  She 
found  it  hard  to  make  up  her  mind  in  little  matters,  and  found  it 
politic  seldom  to  show  her  full  purpose  in  great  ones.  But  she 
showed  a  rare  consistency  of  purpose  in  carrying  out  for  the  forty- 
five  years  of  her  reign  the  same  general  policy  which  she  had 
marked  out  for  herself  at  the  moment  of  her  accession.  Amidst* 
the  many  trials  of  a  period  of  revolution,  she  safely  steered  the 
ship  of  state  through  the  breakers,  and  was  able  to  enjoy  during 
her  declining  years  the  calms  that  succeeded  the  storms  of  her 
middle  life.  Never  a  very  attractive  or  amiable  woman,  she  was 
one  of  the  greatest  of  our  rulers,  and  in  the  worst  trials  of  her 
reign  she  did  not  lose  faith  either  in  England  or  in  herself. 

2.  Like  Henry  vni.,  Elizabeth  was  her  own  chief  minister,  but 
few  rulers  have  had  more  able  statesmen  to  assist  her  in  carry- 
ing out  her  ideas.     To  these  she  clave  with  such  per- 
sistence that  her  servants   grew  old  in   her  service,    ministe^n  S 
and    were   unswervingly   loyal    to   her,    though   she 
was  niggardly  in  rewarding  them,  and   callous   in   the   extreme 
when  policy  made  it  expedient  for  her  to  shift  the  blame  of  an 
unpopular  or  risky  act  from  herself  to  her  helpers.     The  chief  of 
her  advisers  was   Sir  William   Cecil,   who,  first    as   -rhe  cecils 
secretary  of    state    and    then    as    treasurer,    served   and  the 
her  with  unostentatious  fidelity  from  her   accession   Bacons' 
to  his  death  in  1598,  though  his  efforts  to  make  her  policy  more 
Protestant  and  more  uncompromising  were  constantly  discouraged 
by  her,  and  he  received  no  higher  reward  than  the  barony  of 
Burghley,  which    made   him,   as  he  said,   "the  poorest   lord   in 
England."     With  him  worked  his  brother-in-law,   Sir  Nicholas 
Bacon,  the   keeper   of  the   Great  Seal,   whose   long   service  was 
not  even  rewarded  by  the  title  of  chancellor.     Office  was  almost 
hereditary,  and  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  Burghley's  second  son,  was  as 
prominent  as  the  secretary  of  the  queen's  declining  years*  as  his 
father  had  been  in  the  earlier  part  of  her  reign,  while  the  lord 


370     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      [1558- 

keeper's  brilliant  and  ambitions  son,  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  was 
bitterly  disappointed  that  bis  consin's  jealousy  exclnded  him  from 

following  in  the  same  way  in  his  father's  footsteps. 
hamS  ng  Perhaps  the  ablest  of  Elizabeth's  advisers  was    Sir 

Francis  Walsingham,  secretary  of  state  from  1573 
to  1590,  whose  sincere  but  unscrupulous  devotion  to  his  mistress's 
interests  enabled  him  to  worm  out  the  secrets  of  her  enemies  and 
confound  the  plotters  who  were  constantly  striving  to  deprive  her 
of  her  life  and  throne. 

3.  Beside  the  plain  and  hard-working  statesmen  was  the  crowd 
of  worthless  oourtiers,  who  amused  the  queen's  leisure  and  glorified 
Leicester  ner  heauty  and  wisdom.  It  was  only  in  favour  of 
and  the  these  giddy  pleasure-seekers  that  she  broke  through 
courtiers.  j^r  generai  j^q  0f  parsimony,  by  lavishing  grants  and 
titles  upon  them.  The  chief  among  them  was  her  old  playfellow, 
Lord  Robert  Dudley,  the  younger  son  of  the  duke  of  Northumber- 
land, whom  she  loved  for  old  association's  sake  as  well  as  for  his 
good  looks,  fine  dress,  and  skill  as  a  courtier.  She  made  him  earl 
of  Leicester,  and  would  have  married  him  but  for  her  resolve  to 
live  and  rule  alone.  Down  to  his  death  in  1588  she  never  lost  her 
devotion  to  him,  and  spoilt  some  of  her  boldest  enterprises  by 
entrusting  them  to  his  incompetent  direction. 

4.  The  first  task  that  lay  before  the  queen  was  the  settlement  of 
the  Church.     She  had  seen  how  both  Edward  vi.  and  Mary  had 

failed  in  their  ecclesiastical  policy  because  each  had, 
Elizabethan  ^noug'a  m  different  ways,  taken  up  too  extreme  a  line, 
settlement  She  had  unbounded  faith  in  her  father,  and  experience 
pftne.  clearly  brought  home  to  her  the  excellence  of  the 

middle  way  that  Henry  viii.  had  pursued.  Great 
difficulties,  however,  beset  her  on  both  sides.  The  Protestant 
exiles  hurried  back  to  England  and  clamoured  for  a  reformation 
even  more  thorough-going  than  that  of  Edward  vi.  But  the 
ministers  and  bishops  of  Mary  were  still  in  power,  and  the  Catholic 
party  was  strongly  backed  up  from  abroad.  Moreover,  since 
Gardiner  and  Bonner  abandoned  the  system  of  Henry  viii.,  there 
were  few  prominent  men  left  who  believed  in  his  particular  policy. 
Elizabeth  was  forced,  therefore,  to  ally  herself  with  the  Protestants 
in  order  to  defeat  the  Catholics,  and  their  support  could  only  be 
gained  by  reverting  mainly  to  the  system  of  Edward  vr.  Finding 
convocation  opposed  to  all  change,  she  fell  back  on  parliament, 
where,'  in  January,  1559,  she  carried  through  new  Acts  of  Supremacy 
and  Uniformity,  despite  the  opposition  of  the  bishops. 


-1563.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     37 1 

5.  The  Act  of  Supremacy  of  1559  followed  the  general  lines 
of  Henry  viii.'s  Act  of  1534,  and  completely  renounced  all  papal 
jurisdiction  over  England.     But  Elizabeth  cautiously 

dropped  the  title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church,  and   supremacy 
was  content    to  be  described  as  "-the  only  supreme  and 
Governor  of  this    realm,  as  well  in  all  spiritual  or   y?ig0Pmit>' 
ecclesiastical  things  or  causes,  as  temporal."    After 
this  fashion  the  queen  sought  to  prevent  men  thinking  that  she, 
like  her  father,  claimed  to  exercise  spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the 
Church,  as  though  she  were  its  chief  bishop.     The  new  Act  of 
Uniformity  showed    the    same  spirit    of    compromise.     Roughly 
speaking,  it  restored  the  Second  Prayer-book  of  Edward  vi.  as  the 
future  service-book  of  the  English  Church.     Several  significant 
changes  were,  however,  made  in  it.     The  Communion  Office  was  so 
drawn  up  that  both  the  Zwinglian  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  and 
the  opposing  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  might  seem  to  be 
allowed,  while  the  famous  Ornaments  Rubric  was  added,  ordering 
that  all  ornaments  of  the  Church  should  be  retained  as  they  were 
in  the  second  year  of  Edward  vi. 

6.  So  careful  was  Elizabeth  to  avoid  committing  herself  that  it 
was  not  until  1563  that  she  allowed  a  new  statement  of  doctrine  to 
be  drawn  up.     This  was  contained  in  the  Thirty-nine 

Articles,  based  on  the  Forty-two  Articles  of  1553,  but  Thirty-nine 
these  articles  had  been  carefully  revised  with  the  view  Articles, 
of  making  them  less  offensive  to  the  friends  of  the  old   1563« 
faith.     Such  were  the  main  outlines  of  the  Elizabethan  settlement 
of  the  Church.      Though  clothed  for  the  most  part  in  the  forms 
of  Edward  vi.,  it  was  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  Henry  viii.  rather 
than  that  of   Somerset   or  Northumberland.      Its  defects  were 
that  it  was  a  settlement  of  a  politician  rather  than  that  of  an  eccle- 
siastic, and,  that  while  hated  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  it  was  only 
accepted  as  a  first  instalment  of  change  by  the  thorough-going 
Protestants. 

7.  Elizabeth  had  made  up  her  mind  that  no  further  alterations 
should  be  made,  and  having  fixed  the  form  of  her  Church,  she  now 
strove  to  enforce  obedience  to  it.      Only  one  of  the   Archbishop 
Marian  bishops  would  accept  her  policy,  and  all  the    Parker, 
rest  were  deprived  of  their  sees.     The  majority,  in-   1559_1575« 
eluding  Bishop  Bonner,  spent  the  rest  of  their  lives  in  prison.    In 

,  their  place,  Elizabeth  appointed  as  many  bishops  of  her  own  way  of 
thinking  as  she  could  find.  She  was  especially  lucky  in  procuring 
a  man  after  her  own  heart  as  Pole's  successor  at  Canterbury.     This 


372     ELIZABETH  A&D   MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      [1559- 

was  Matthew  Parker,  a  wise  and  learned  man,  who,  when  deprived 
of  his  deanery  of  Lincoln  nnder  Mary,  had  preferred  to  live  quietly 
in  England  rather  than  escape  to  the  continent  with  the  advanced 
reformers.  Like  Elizabeth,  he  looked  on  things  from  a  purely 
English  standpoint,  and,  after ■  the  queen,  was  the  only  prominent 
upholder  of  her  middle  way.  In  1559  Elizabeth  set  np  a  permanent 
Court  of  Ecclesiastical  Commission,  called  also  the  Sigh  Com- 
mission Court,  of  which  Parker  was  the  chief  commissioner.  Its 
object  was  to  exercise  the  royal  supremacy  over  the  Church,  and 
enforce  the  Elizabethan  settlement  on  all  the  clergy. 

8.  Elizabeth  insisted  that  all  her  subjects  should  accept  her 
creed  and  attend  her  'Church,  and  gradually  imposed  fines  and 

b  th        other  penalties  on  those  who  refused  to  4°  so-     The 
and  the  friends  of  the  pope  who  could  not  in  conscience  be 

Roman  present  at  Protestant  services,  were  branded  as  Popish 

a  °  e  *  Recusants,  and  their  lot  constantly  became  harder. 
At  first,  however,  Elizabeth  and  Parker  did  not  experience  much 
trouble  from  the  Roman  Catholics.  Most  of  the  parish  clergy 
accepted  the  new  settlement,  though  many  were  so  disloyal  to  it 
that  it  was  gradually  found  necessary  to  deprive  a  large  number 
of  their  benefices.  The  majority  of  the  friends  of  old  ways  were, 
however,  too  sluggish  and  inert  to  oppose  the  government 
effectively.  The  real  trouble  was  not  with  the  passive  resistance 
of  the  old-fashioned  clergy  as  much  as  with  the  unwillingness  of 
the  more  ardent  Protestants  to  accept  the  Elizabethan  compromise. 

9.  The  leaders  of  the  disaffected  Protestants  were  the  returned 
Marian  exiles.  Many  of  these  had,  during  their  banishment, 
Geneva  become  the  disciples  of  the  great  French  Protestant 
and  the  John  Calvin,  who,  up  to  his  death  in  1564,  reigned 
Calvinists.  ^e  a  aeSp0t  over  Church  and  state  in  the  free  city 
of  Geneva,  the  chief  stronghold  of  advanced  Protestantism  on 
the  continent.  There  they  had  become  enthusiasts  for  the  rigid 
dogmatic  system  called  Calvinism,  which  taught  that  God  was 
a  stern  taskmaster,  dealing  out  salvation  and  reprobation  in 
accordance  with  His  predestined  decrees.  .  The  Church  of  Geneva 
had,  moreover,  abandoned  the  rule  of  bishops,  and  was  governed  by 
little  councils  of  ministers,  all  equal  in  rank,  and  named  presbyters, 
so  that  this  system  was  called  Prespyterianism.  Moreover,  *it 
rejected  fixed  forms  of  prayer  like  those  of  the  English  service- 
books,  and  worshipped  Goa  with  the  utmost  simplicity  of  ritual,  t 
while  enforcing  a  rigid  system  of  moral  discipline  over  the  whole 
congregation.      From    their    profession    of    purity    in    doctrine, 


-1565.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     373 

worship,  and  life,  the  English  followers  of  Calvin  were  generally 
described  as  Puritans. 

10.  To   Calvin's    followers    in    England,   Elizabeth's    Chnrch 
seemed  far  removed  from  the  apostolic  purity  of  the  Church  of 
Geneva.     If  at  first  they  supported  it,  in  the  hope  that 
Elizabeth,  like  Edward  vi.,  would  soon  bring  about   pUpjtans 
more  changes,  they  became  very  discontented  when   and  the 
they  found  that  the  queen  had  set  her  face  against   Elizabethan 
further  innovations.     They  had  no  love  of  bishops, 

disliked  set  forms  of  prayer  and  elaborate  ceremonies,  and  thought 
the  special  dress  worn  by  the  English  clergy  a  relic  of  Roman 
Catholic  times.  Many  of  the  Puritan  clergy  obstinately  refused 
to  wear  surplices  when  conducting  divine  worship,  and  neglected 
such  forms  as  the  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  and 
kneeling  to  receive  the  communion.  Their  opposition  was  the 
more  important  since  they  included  the  majority  of  the  active  and 
high-minded  Protestants,  and  it  was  only  with  their  help  that 
Elizabeth  could  fight  the  battle  against  Rome.  For  this  reason 
the  queen  was  forced  for  the  first  few  years  of  her  reign  to  let 
them  have  their  own  way.  As  she  grew  stronger,  she  resolved  to 
enforce  the  law.  The  repression  of  Puritanism  began  in  1565, 
when  the  archbishop  issued  a  series  of  directions  to  the  clergy, 
called  Parker's  Advertisements,  which  ordered  that  the  minister  in 
all  churches  should  wear  a  surplice,  and  conform  to  the  j^g  Adver- 
other  directions  of  the  Prayer-book.  Though  the  tisements, 
advertisements  rather  relaxed  than  changed  the  law,  1565* 
a  storm  of  protest  from  the  Puritans  burst  out  against  them. 
Nevertheless,  Elizabeth  and  Parker  persevered,  and  in  1566  about 
thirty  clergymen,  mainly  in  London,  were  deprived  of  their  benefices 
for  their  obstinate  refusal  to  wear  the  vestments  enjoined  by  law. 
Embittered  by  the  queen's  action,  the  Puritans  soon  broadened  the 
ground  of  their  attack  on  the  Church.  Not  content  with  simply 
rejecting  ceremonies,  they  denounced  the  government  of  the 
Church  by  bishops,  and  demanded  that  the  English  Church"  should 
be  made  Presbyterian  like  the  Church  of  Geneva.  The  leader  of 
this  party  was  Thomas  Cartwright,  a  professor  of  divinity  at 
Cambridge,  and  a  book  called  An  Admonition  to  Parliament, 
written  by  two  of  his  friends,  explained  his  objections  to  the 
Prayer-book  and  episcopacy. 

11.  Some  of  the  clergy  ejected  for  refusing  to  wear  surplices 
were  not  content  to  abandon  their  teaching,  and  formed  separate 
congregations  of  their  own.     These  were  called  Sectaries,  because 


374     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      [1558- 

they  formed  new  sects,  or  Separatists,  because  they  separated  from 
the  Church  altogether.     One  of  their  leaders  was  Robert  Brown, 

who  taught  that  there  should  be  no  national  organiza- 
Separatists.    ^on   °^  religion,  but  that  each  congregation  was  a 

self-governing  Christian  Church.  From  him  the 
Separatists  were  called  Brovmists,  and  from  his  teaching  they  got 
the  name  of  Independents.  They  were  the  first  Protestant  Dis- 
senters in  England,  though  for  a  long  time  they  were  few  in 
number  and  bitterly  persecuted.  The  mass  of  Puritans  had,  how- 
ever, no  sympathy  with  the  Separatists.  They  remained  in  the 
Church,  and  many  of  them  held  livings  in  it.  Though  always 
liable  to  be  deprived  of  their  benefices,  many  contrived  to  evade 
compliance  with  the  hated  ceremonies.  For  this  reason  they  were 
called  Nonconformists.  But  these  early  Nonconformists  were  dis- 
contented and  disobedient  Churchmen,  not  Dissenters.  Separatists 
denounced  them  as  "  hypocrites,  who  strain  at  a  gnat  and  swallow 
a  camel." 

12.  Parker  died  in  1575,  and  the  new  archbishop,  Edmund 
Grindal,  was  much  more  friendly  to  the  Puritans.     After  a  few 

years  he  provoked  the  queen's  wrath  by  refusing  to 
Grindal  Pu^    down    meetings    of    the   Puritan   clergy  called 

1 576,  and  Prophesying s,  which  Elizabeth  disliked,  because  they 
iS8sgift'        encouraged  the  Zealots  to  resist  her  authority.     In 

great  anger,  she  suspended  Grindal  from  his  office,  and 
soon  afterwards  he  died  in  disgrace.  In  1583  Elizabeth  put  into 
Grindal's  post  John  Whitgift,  an  old  enemy  of  Cartwright  at 
Cambridge  and  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  Puritans,  though,  like  most 
of  the  Elizabethan  bishops,  he  was  a  Calvinist  in  theology.  Whit- 
gift's  strenuous  enforcement  of  conformity  infuriated  the  Puritans, 
and  increased  the  number  of  Separatists,  who  revenged  themselves 
for  their  persecution  by  attacking  the  bishops  in  scurrilous 
pamphlets,  called  the  Martin  Marprelate  Tracts.  Though  the 
attitude  of  Puritans  and  Separatists  showed  that  Elizabeth's  ideal 
„    .      ,  of  a  united  and  submissive  Protestant  Church  was  but 

"  Ecclesiasti-  a  dream,  the  latter  years  of  her  reign  saw  a  distinct 
cal  Polity,"  strengthening  of  .the  Church  and  a  weakening  of  ex- 
1 593.  treme  Puritanism.   The  close  of  the  century  was  marked 

by  the  rise  of  a  school  of  divines,  whose  teaching  tended  to  draw  a 
deeper  line  between  the  Church  and  the  Puritans.  The  greatest 
of  these  was  Richard  Hooker,  whose  famous  book  on  the  Laws  of 
Ecclesiastical  Polity,  published  in  1593,  showed  that  beautiful  and 
seemly  practices  sanctioned  by  tradition  were  not  to  be  rejected 


-1603.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     375 

because  not  enjoined  in  the  Scriptures.  Before  long  others  went 
further  than  Hooker,  and  taught  that  a  Church  without  bishops, 
such  as  the  Puritans  preferred,  was  no  Church  at  all.  Thus  the 
system  which  had  begun  as  a  politic  compromise  began  to  have 
defenders  on  grounds  higher  than  expediency.  Yet  the  Puritans 
remained  a  strong  party  in  the  Church,  though  it  became  increas- 
ingly difficult  for  them  and  their  rivals  to  live  side  by  side  within 
the  same  communion. 

13.  The  period  which  saw  Calvinism  checked  and  limited  in 
England  witnessed  the  establishment  of  its  absolute  ascendancy  in 
Scotland.     For  ten  years  after  her  daughter  had  been     ■ 

sent  to  France,  Mary  of  Guise  had  upheld  a  French 
and  Catholic  policy  in  Scotland  as  successfully  as  Mary  Tudor  had 
upheld  the  Spanish  and  Catholic  policy  in  England.  The  few 
pioneers  of  Scottish  Protestantism  were  driven  into  exile.  Among 
these  was  a  priest  named  John  Knox,  whose  fiery  eloquence  had 
made  him  a  popular  preacher  of  extreme  Protestantism  in  England 
under  Edward  vi.,  though  his  stern  Puritan  principles  led  him  to 
refuse  the  bishopric  which  was  offered  to  him.  On  Edward  vi.'s 
death  he  fled  to  Geneva,  and  strengthened  his  Puritanism  at  the 
feet  of  Calvin.  When  Elizabeth  became  queen  he  wished  to  return 
to  England,  but  she  would  not  admit  him  because  he  had 
written  a  wild  book  called  The  Blast  of  the  Trumpet  against  the 
Monstrous  Regiment  of  Women,  in  which  he  denounced  the  rule 
of  queens  as  contrary  to  the  Scriptures.  Thereupon  Knox  boldly 
returned  to  Scotland,  where,  despite  Mary  of  Guise's  efforts, 
Protestantism  was  beginning  to  make  some  headway.  A  league  of 
Scots  nobles,  called  the  Lords  of  the  Congregation,  had  been  recently 
formed  against  the  regent  and  the  bishops.  Knox  now  threw  all 
his  masterful  energy  and  unconquerable  will  on  the  reforming  side. 
A  fierce  fight  between  Mary  of  Guise  and  the  lords  of  the  congre- 
gation ensued.  Though  the  people  were  strongly  Protestant,  the 
regent  obtained  troops  from  France,  and  pressed  the  rebels  so  hard 
that  they  were  forced  to  appeal  to  Elizabeth  for  help. 

14.  Elizabeth  hated  rebels  and  John  Knox,  but  she  saw  the 
obvious  advantange  in  winning  over  the  Scots  from  France  and  the 
papacy,  and,  while  professing  not  to  approve  of  the  The 
Scottish  revolt,  she  sent,  in  1560,  sufficient  forces  to  Reformation 
Scotland  to  besiege  the  French  in  Leith.  Mary  of  in  Scotland. 
Guise  now  died,  and  before  long  the  defenders  of  Leith  signed  the 
treaty  of  Edinburgh,  by  which  both  the  English  and  French 
troops  were  to  quit  Scotland.    As  soon  as  foreign  influence  was 


376     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      [1558- 

removed,  the  Scottish  Parliament  abolished  the  power  of  the  pope 
and  accepted  Knox's  scheme  for  making'  the  Church  of  Scotland 
correspond  in  all  important  points  with  the  Church  of  Geneva. 
Popular  tumults  completed  the  destruction  of  the  old  Scottish 
Church.  Churches  and  monasteries  were  burnt  and  pillaged,  the 
mass  violently  suppressed,  and  the  lands  of  the  Church  were  seized 
by  the  victorious  nobles.  The  only  thing  that  Knox  could  not  do  was 
to  persuade  the  Protestant  lords  to  set  aside  a  large  share  of  Church 
property  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  the  setting  up  of  a  school  in 
every  parish.  The  barons  even  grudged  the  scanty  endowments  left 
to  the  Protestant  ministers.  But  however  poor  they  were,  Knox 
and  "his  brother  clergy  henceforth  exercised  wonderful  power  over 
Scotland.  The  chief  council  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  called 
the  General  Assembly,  had  more  influence  and  better  expressed  the 
wishes  of  the  people  than  the  Scottish  parliament.  From  the 
adoption  of  Presbyterianism  the  modern  history  of  Scotland  begins, 
for  in  welcoming  the  new  faith  the  Scots  nation  first  began  to  grow 
conscious  of  itself.  Never  were  movements  more  strongly  con- 
trasted than  the  short,  swift,  logical,  destructive  Reformation  in 
Scotland  and  the  political,  compromising,  half-hearted  English 
Reformation,  imposed  on  a  doubtful  and  hesitating  people  by  the 
authority  of  the  crown.  But  the  movements  had  this  in  common, 
that  in  making  Rome  the  common  danger  to  both  countries,  it 
brought  England  and  Scotland  together  in  a  fashion  that  had 
never  been  possible  since  Edward  i.'s  attacks  on  Scottish  inde- 
pendence. Soon  the  old  hostility  began  to  abate  between  English 
and  Scots,  so  that  what  had  seemed  to  Henry  viii.  a  quite  im- 
possible thing — the  acceptance  by  England  of  the  king  of  Scots 
as  their  ruler — was  peacefully  accomplished  after  Elizabeth's 
death. 

15.  While  Scotland  thus  became  Presbyterian,  her  queen  was 
growing  up  to  womanhood  as  a   Catholic  and  a  Frenchwoman. 

Beautiful,  accomplished,  tactful,  and  fascinating,  she 
of^Scots16611    kad  rare  capacity  for  commanding  the  sympathy  and 

affection  of  those  who  were  brought  into  close  relations 
with  her.  Different  as  she  was  from  Elizabeth,  there  were  yet  as 
many  points  of  comparison  as  of  contrast  between  them.  More 
straightforward  and  simple  than  her  English  rival,  loving  boldness, 
directness,  and  plain  speaking,  she  rose  superior  to  the  petty 
vanities  of  Elizabeth,  though  she  could  not  compete  with  her  in 
persistency,  hard  work,  and  statecraft.  Ambition  and  love  of 
power  were  the  guiding  motives  of  both  queens,  though  Mary  was 


-I559-3     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     S77 

liable  to  be  turned  from  her  purpose  by  gusts  of  passion  to  which 
the  colder  nature  of  Elizabeth  was  almost  a  stranger.  Both  were 
born  to  be  leaders  of  religious  parties,  and  Mary,  though  almost 
as  destitute  of  deep  religious  feeling  as  her  rival,  had  the 
loyalty  to  the  old  Church  which  a  good  soldier  has  to  his  general, 
and  strove  with  all  her  might  to  uphold  its  interests.  It  was  her 
misfortune  always  to  be  the  champion  of  the  losing  side,  and  thus 
to  sacrifice  her  life  in  fighting  impossible  battles.  In  the  cause  of 
her  Church  and  people  she  struggled  with  extraordinary  courage 
and  resource,  and  often  with  but  little  regard  to  honour  or 
principle.  She  was  no  national  queen  like  Elizabeth.  When  she 
came  to  Scotland  her  people  were  already  hopelessly  alienated  from 
her  creed  and  her  French  friends,  and  she  was  perforce  compelled 
to  play  a  more  personal  game  than  that  of  her  rival.  Yet  the  long 
struggle  between  them  was  not  only  the  contest  of  rival  queens ;  it 
involved  the  last  great  struggle  between  the  old  and  the  new  faiths 
of  which  circumstances  had  made  them  the  champions. 

16.  Even  more  than  the  preceding  generation  the  age-  of 
Elizabeth  is  pre-eminently  a  period  of  religious  conflict.  Though 
Lutheranism  had  lost  its  early  energy,  Calvinism  j. 
was  still  in  its  full  career  of  conquest.  It  had  over-  Counter- 
whelmed  Scotland  and  threatened  England.  It  was  Reforma- 
making  great  strides  in  France,  and  becoming  in- 
creasingly powerful  in  the  Netherlands.  But  side  by  side  with  the 
growth  of  Calvinism  the  forces  of  Catholicism  had  revived.  The 
laxity  and  corruption  of  the  old  Church,  which  had  made  easy 
the  preaching  of  Luther,  were  swept  aside  by  a  great  religious 
revival  in  Catholic  lands,  called  the  Counter-Reformation,  or 
the  Catholic  Reaction.  The  papacy  had  reformed  itself,  and  the 
popes  were  no  longer  politicians  or  patrons  of  art,  but  zealots  and 
religious  leaders.  New  religious  orders  had  been  set  up  to  teach 
the  old  faith  to  the  heathen,  the  heretic,  or  the  indifferent.  Con- 
spicuous among  these  was  the  Order  of  Jesus,  set  up  in  1540  by  the 
Spaniard,  Ignatius  Loyola,  and  already  conspicuous  all  over  Europe 
for  its  zeal,  tact,  and  devotion,  its  iron  discipline,  its  influence  on 
the  education  of  the  youth,  and  its  willingness  to  sacrifice  everything 
to  further  the  service  of  the  Church.  Jesuit  missionaries  soon 
became  the  most  ardent  and  successful  champions  of  the  Counter- 
Reformation,  while  for  those  whom  no  argument  would  reach  there 
was  still  the  Inquisition,  revived  and  reorganized,  a  Church  court 
which  sought  out  and  tried  heretics  and  handed  them  over  to  the 
state  to  burn  them.     The  worst  abuses  of  the  Church  had  been 


378      ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     I1559- 

removed,  its  faith  defined,  and  its  discipline  improved  by  the  Council 
of  Trent,  which  held  its  final  sessions  in  1563.  Thus  the  reform  of 
Catholicism  and  the  counter  growth  of  Calvinism  had  the  result  of 
dividing  Europe  into  two  religious  camps,  bitterly  opposed  to  each 
other,  and  ready  to  plunge  into  mortal  conflict.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  next  forty  years  saw  religious  strife  taking  the  place  of  the 
old  struggle  of  the  nations  for  supremacy.  National  hatreds  were 
almost  forgotten  in  the  fierce  sectarian  animosities  that  divided 
every  nation  in  middle  Europe  into  two  factions,  and  soon  was  to 
bring  about  warfare  in  nearly  every  land.  We  shall  never  rightly 
understand  the  policy  of  Elizabeth  if  we  do  not  realize  that  all 
her  action,  at  home  and  abroad,  was  determined  by  her  relation 
to  the  great  struggle  which  was  convulsing  Europe. 

17.  The  point  of  European  history  in  which  the  Counter-Refor- 
mation began  to  complicate  the  general  course  of  politics  coincided 
Thetreatv  r011ghly  with  Elizabeth's  accession.  The  war  which 
of  Le  Cateau-  Philip  EL  had  waged  with  English  help  against 
Cambre-sis.  France  still  lingered  on,  but  Philip  had  so  fully 
secured  victory  that,  in  April,  1559.  France  was  compelled  to 
make  peace.  This  was  done  in  the  treaty  of  Le  Cateau- Cambresis, 
by  which  Spain  finally  obtained  the  chief  control  of  Italy,  but 
allowed  the  French  to  keep  Calais,  so  that  England  had  to  pay  the 
price  of  her  ally's  success.  This  peace  marks  the  end  of  the  long 
struggle  for  supremacy  in  Europe  which  had  begun  with  the  war 
of  Louis  xii.  against  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand,  and  had  culminated 
in  the  rivalry  of  Francis  I.  and  Charles  v.  Though  the  dominions 
of  Charles  v.  were  divided,  his  son,  Philip  of  Spain,  the  lord  of 
the  most  important  of  his  possessions,  was  incontestably  the  first 
power  in  Europe.  The  death  of  Henry  11.  of  France  soon  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  added  still  further  to  Philip's  pre- 
dominance. There  were  no  more  strong  kings  of  France  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  during  which  period  the  three  worthless  sons  of 
Henry  11.  successively  ruled. 

18.  Among  the  motives  for  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Le 
Cateau  was  the  recognition  by  both  the  French  and  Spanish  kings 

tt  &*&  ^  was  mexPedien^  f°r  the   ^w°  chief   Catholic 

and  the "  monarchs  to  continue  fighting  when  neither  of  them 
Counter-  was  able  to  stop  the  growth  of  Protestantism  in  his 
Re  ma-  own  dominions.  Philip  now  set  himself  to  work  with 
a  will  to  stamp  out  Calvinism  in  his  Netherlandish 
possessions,  while  Francis  11.  of  France  was,  through  his  wife  Mary 
Stewart,  induced  by  her  mother's  kinsfolk,  the  house  of  Guise, 


-1563.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     379 

the  most  strenuous  upholders  of  Catholicism  in  France,  to  take 

vigorous  measures  to  suppress  the  Calvinists  of  France,  who  were 

more  generally  called  Huguenots.    National  animosities,  however, 

could  not  die  down  in  a  day,  and  Spain  and  France  long   Fpancls  ji 

remained  so  exceedingly  jealous  of  each  other  that  and  his 

they  found  it  impossible  to  work  together  for  a  common   Queen. 

purpose.    This  was  particularly  fortunate  for  England  since  French 

illwill  had  by  no  means  ceased  at  the  peace.     Not  content  with 

her  position  as  queen  of  France  and   Scotland,   Mary   Stewart 

assumed  the  title  of  queen  of  England,  and  strict  Catholics  were 

reminded  that  the  pope  had  never  sanctioned  the  marriage  of 

Anne  Boleyn  to  Henry  viii.,  and  that  their  daughter  could  never 

be  therefore  the  legitimate  queen  of  England.     In   Rivalry  of 

the  face  of  such  a  challenge  Elizabeth  can  hardly  be    Mary  and 

blamed  for  helping  the  Scottish  Protestants  to  establish   Elizabeth- 

their  supremacy.     The  result  of   the  triumph  of   the   Scottish 

Reformation  was  the  practical  destruction    of    Mary   Stewart's 

power   in   her   native  land,  since  the   Scots   had  effected   their 

revolution  without  seeking  for  or  obtaining  her  good  will,  and 

the  effect  of  their  action  was  to  set  up  a  Calvinistic  republic  in 

Scotland. 

19.  Before  many  months,  however,  the  sickly  Francis  11.  died, 

and  his  brother  and  successor  Charles  ix.  was  controlled  by  their 

mother,  Catharine  de'  Medici,  a  cunning-  Italian,  who   _    . 

.  .  The  loss 

feared  the  Guises,  and  sought  to  maintain  the  royal   Cf  Le 

power  by  balancing  the  Protestants  against  the  Havre, 
Catholics.  Religious  war  broke  out  as  the  result  of  1563* 
this  in  France,  and  the  Huguenots,  who  were  but  a  minority  of 
Frenchmen,  were  so  soon  beaten  that  they  called  upon  Elizabeth 
for  help.  Elizabeth,  though  professing  a  great  reluctance  to  help 
rebels,  soon  succumbed,  as  in  Scotland,  to  the  temptation  of  making 
her  profit  out  of  the  divisions  of  her  enemies.  She  sent  some  help 
to  the  Protestants,  who  in  return  put  her  in  possession  of  Le 
Havre,  which  she  hoped  to  hold  as  an  equivalent  for  Calais.  Un- 
luckily for  her  the  French  factions  made  peace,  and  in  1563  united 
to  expel  the  English  from  their  new  foothold  beyond  the  Channel 
But  the  weak  rule  of  Charles  ix.  and  the  continuance  of  religious 
struggles  prevented  France  from  inflicting  harm  on  England. 
Moreover,  French  hostility  to  England  made  Philip  11.  anxious  to 
keep  up  his  alliance  with  her,  despite  his  disgust  at  the  religious 
changes  brought  about  after  Elizabeth's  succession.  Thus  Elizabeth 
was  able  to  steer  between  the  rivalries  of  the  chief  continental 


380     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     [1561- 

powers.  The  continuation  of  the  old  national  animosities  saved 
England  from  the  greatest  danger  that  she  could  encounter — the 
danger,  namely,  of  a  combination  of  Catholic  powers  against  her. 
With  great  skill  and  cunning  Elizabeth  kept  England  as  free  as 
she  could  from  the  intrigues  of  the  continent,  and  sought  to  work 
out  her  country's  destinies  after  her  own  fashion. 

20.  In  1561  Mary  Stewart  returned  to  Scotland.  She  had  no 
prospects  of  power  in  France  after  her  husband's  death,  and  her 

bold  spirit  preferred  to  abandon  the  comfort  and  repose 

?fasrcyo?sUeen  that  ihe  land  of  her  a110?*1011  sti11  offered  the  queen 
restored  to  dowager  for  the  risks  and  excitement  of  attempting 
Scotland,  to  play  the  royal  part  in  the  country  that  hated  her 
religion  and  rejected  her  authority.  She  was  coldly  re- 
ceived in  Scotland,  but  she  showed  marvellous  tact  and  self-restraint, 
and  gradually  won  over  many  of  the  nobles  to  her  side.  She  was 
content  to  let  the  country  be  ruled  in  her  name  by  her  brother, 
James  Stewart,  earl  of  Moray,  an  illegitimate  son  of  James  v.  She 
accepted  the  establishment  of  Calvinism,  and  only  required  liberty 
to  hear  mass.  The  only  person  unmoved  by  her  blandishments 
was  Knox.  He  bitterly  denounced  the  services  of  the  queen's 
private  chapel.  "  One  mass,"  he  declared,  "  is  more  fearful  to  me 
than  ten  thousand  armed  enemies." 

21.  Four  years  of  inaction  taught  Mary  that  she  had  not  much 
to  hope  for  in  Scotland.  She  was  too  ambitious  to  endure  for 
Th  D  nlev  ever  ^e  Posi^on  °^  a  nominal  queen,  and  as  she 
marriage,  could  not  get  real  power  in  Scotland,  she  once 
1565.  more  began  to  make  England  the  chief  centre  of  her 
efforts.  The  English  Roman  Catholics  were  g-etting  more  and  more 
disgusted  with  the  rule  of  Elizabeth,  and  were  hoping  that  Mary 
would  some  day  become  their  queen  and  restore  their  faith. 
Mary  was  delighted  to  become  their  champion,  and  preferred  to 
see  Elizabeth  driven  from  the  throne  by  force  to  the  remote  chance 
of  waiting  for  her  death.  In  1565  she  declared  to  the  world  her 
interest  in  English  affairs  by  choosing  as  her  second  husband 
her  cousin,  Henry  Stewart,  Lord  Darnley,  the  son  of  the  earl  of 
Lennox,  and  near  to  the  succession  of  the  English  throne,  since 
his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Margaret  Tudor,  the  widow  of 
James  iv.,  by  her  second  husband  the  earl  of  Angus.  Darnley, 
who  had  been  brought  up  in  England,  was  a  sort  of  leader  of 
the  English  Catholics,  and  Elizabeth  was  so  disgusted  with  the 
marriage,  that  she  incited  Moray  and  the  Scots  nobles  to  rise  in 
revolt  against  it.     Mary  now  felt  strong  enough  to  act  for  herself. 


-1567.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     38 1 

She  completed  her  marriage  with  Darnley,  defeated  Moray,  and 
drove  him  out  of  Scotland. 

22.  Mary  soon  found  that  her  husband  was  so  foolish  and 
treacherous  that  he  was  useless  to  help  her  to  carry  out  her  plans. 
She  gradually  gave  her  chief  confidence  to  an  Italian 

named  David  Riccio,  whom  she  raised  from  the  riCcIo  1566. 
position  of  one  of  the  singing-men  of  her  chapel  to 
be  her  secretary.  Darnley  grew  furiously  jealous  of  the  Italian 
upstart,  and  joined  with  some  of  the  Scottish  nobles  in  an  intrigue 
against  him.  On  March  9,  1566,  while  Riccio  was  supping  with 
the  queen  at  Holyrood  Palace  in  Edinburgh,  the  conspirators 
suddenly  burst  into  the  room,  dragged  the  shrieking  secretary 
from  her  presence,  and  stabbed  him  to  death  in  an  ante-chamber. 
Stung  to  profound  indignation  by  her  favourite's  murder,  Mary 
kept  her  presence  of  mind  with  remarkable  fortitude.  She  soon 
persuaded  her  weak  husband  to  give  up  his  associates  and  return  to 
her  side.  Then  she  fell  upon  the  murderers  and  drove  them  out  of 
the  country.  Like  Moray,  they  fled  to  England,  where  Elizabeth 
readily  sheltered  them.  Three  months  after  Riccio's  murder, 
Mary's  only  child  was  born,  the  future  James  vi.  of  Scotland  and 
i.  of  England. 

23.  Mary  and  Darnley  soon  began  to  quarrel  again.  The 
queen  now  found  a  stronger  and  more  capable  instrument  of 
her  ambition  in  James  Hepburn,  earl  of  Bothwell,  a  Murdep  0* 
ruffianly  border  noble  of  rare  courage,  energy,  and  Darnley, 
cleverness.  Mary  became  his  absolute  slave,  and  1567« 
scandal  became  busy  with  their  names.  Bothwell  made  it  his 
object  to  get  Darnley  out  of  the  way  so  that  Mary  might  be 
free  to  marry  him.  Accordingly  he  met  some  of  the  discontented 
nobles  at  Craigmillar  Castle,  near  Edinburgh,  where  they  signed 
what  was  "called  the  Bond  of  Craigmillar,  by  which  the  con- 
spirators pledged  themselves  to  Darnley's  death.  Darnley,  who 
was  just  recovering  from  a  dangerous  illness,  now  took  up  his 
quarters  at  a  lonely  house  called  the  Kirk  o'  Field,  a  little  to 
the  south  of  Edinburgh.  On  the  night  of  February  9,  1567, 
the  Kirk  o'  Field  was  blown  up  by  gunpowder,  and  Darnley's 
body  was  found  not  far  from  the  ruined  house.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  Bothwell  had  accomplished  the  murder.  What 
share  Mary  had  in  it  is  not  easy  to  determine ;  but  it  is  probable 
that  she  both  knew  and  approved  of  what  Bothwell  was  doing, 
and  it  is  certain  that  he  in  no  wise  forfeited  her  favour. 

24.  Lennox,  Darnley's  father,  accused  Bothwell  of  his  son's 


582     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     [1567- 

murder,  and  Mary,  who  was  forced  to  seem  anxious  to  avenge 
her  husband's  death,  fixed  a  day  for  his  trial.  But  good  care  was 
taken  to  make  the  proceedings  a  mere  farce.    Lennox  himself  was 


SCOTLAND 

in  the  16th.  &  17th.  Centuries 

Clan  names  nnrlerlineij    CAMERONS 


Emery  WalJccr  sc 


-1568.]     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS      383 

afraid  to  appear,  and  no  man  ventured  to  give  evidence  against 
the  queen's  favourite.  The  court  therefore  acquitted  Bothwell, 
and  Mary  made  its  action  the  excuse  for  once  more  j)eposition 
giving  him  her  open  support.  Even  now  she  was  of  the 
afraid  towed  herself  to  the  man  whom  all  suspected  as  gUefn?567 
her  husband's  assassin.  It  was  accordingly  arranged 
that  Bothwell  should  fall  upon  her  as  she  was  riding  from  Stirling 
to  Edinburgh  and  make  a  show  of  forcing  her  to  become  his  wife. 
But  the  pretence  was  too  transparent  to  deceive  any  one.  All  Scot- 
land rose  in  revolt  against  the  queen  and  her  ruffianly  husband. 
Even  the  nobles  who  had  helped  Bothwell  were  delighted  to  have 
an  excuse  in  his  crime  for  attacking  the  royal  power.  It  was  to  no 
purpose  that  Mary,  for  the  first  and  last  time  in  her  life,  showed 
a  disposition  to  abandon  her  religion  rather  than  give  up  the  fierce 
noble  who  had  won  her  heart.  She  attended  Protestant  sermons, 
and  sought  to  put  herself  at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  party. 
But  the  very  soldiers  she  called  upon  to  protect  her  from  the  rebels 
refused  to  strike  a  blow  in  her  favour.  At  Carberry  Hill,  outside 
Edinburgh,  her  partisans  deserted  her,  and  she  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  rebel  lords.  Bothwell  fled  from  Scotland,  and  died  a  few 
years  later.  Mary  was  deprived  of  her  throne,  and  her  infant 
son  proclaimed  James  vi.  Moray  and  the  Protestant  exiles 
returned  and  assumed  the  government  in  his  name. 

25.  For  nearly  a  year  the  deposed  queen  was  kept  a  captive  in 
the  island-castle  of  LocMeven  in  Kinross-shire.  But  the  victorious 
nobles  soon  began  to  quarrel  among  themselves,  and   Marv>s 

in  1568  the  great  Clydesdale  house  of  Hamilton  raised  flight  to 
a  revolt  in  her  favour.    Mary  escaped  from  Lochleven,    England, 
and  was  once  more  at  the  head  of  an  army.   On  May  13, 
however,  she  was  defeated  by  Moray  at  Lcmgside,  near  Glasgow. 
Unable  to  bear  up  any  longer  against  her  enemies  in  Scotland, 
Mary  took  the  bold  step  of  throwing  herself  upon   the  mercy 
of  Elizabeth.     She  rode  from  the  field  of  Langside  to  the  Solway, 
crossed  its  waters  in  a  fishing-boat,  and  landed  in  England,  im- 
ploring her  cousin's  protection.    From  this  moment  a  new  stage  in 
their  rivalry  began.     The  fugitive  was  henceforth  to  be  a  greater 
source   of    trouble   to    Elizabeth  than   ever   she  had  been  when 
mounted  on  the  thrones  of  Prance  and  Scotland. 

26.  Elizabeth  was  immensely  embarrassed  by  Mary's  appeal. 
She  dared  not  offend  her  allies,  the  Scottish  Protestants,  by 
restoring  the  exiled  queen,  and  she  was  equally  afraid  to  let  her 
escape  to  France,  where  her  claims  on  England  might  once  more 


384     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS       [1568- 

be  taken  up.     Yet  she  was  almost  equally  alarmed  at  the  pros- 
pect of  keeping-  Mary  in  England,  where  she  would  be  at  hand 

to  be  the  centre  of  every  Catholic  conspiracy,  and 
Drisonment     ^g^  a^  anJ  moment  be  raised  from  her  prison  to 

the  throne.  Under  such  circumstances  Elizabeth  found 
it  easy  to  adopt  the  policy  of  hesitation  and  delay  on  which  she 
was  always  willing"  to  fall  back.  Her  strongest  reason  for  not 
helping"  Mary  was  the  fatal  business  of  the  murder  of  Darnley. 
Accordingly,  she  announced  that  before  taking  any  decided  steps 
in  the  matter  she  must  investigate  the  charges  brought  against 
the  queen  of  Scots,  and  for  that  purpose  she  appointed  a  com- 
mission, at  the  head  of  which  was  the  duke  of  Norfolk.  Moray 
and  the  Protestant  lords  laid  before  this  body  all  the  evidence 
they  could  find  as  to  Mary's  griilt.  Chief  amongst  it  was  a  series 
of  letters  and  love-poems,  called  the  Casket  Letters,  because  it  was 
said  that  they  had  been  found  in  a  casket  at  Carberry  Hill,  at  the 
time  immediately  before  Mary's  deposition.  If  geruine,  the  casket 
letters  were  convincing  proofs  of  Mary's  gmilt,  but  her  friends 
have  always  declared  them  to  have  been  forged  by  Moray  and  his 
friends.  Anyhow,  the  commissioners  never  came  to  any  decision 
in  the  matter.  Elizabeth  preferred  that  Mary  should  be  neither 
condemned  nor  acquitted,  but  rather  remain  in  captivity  under 
a  cloud,  so  that  she  might  be  used  or  condemned  accordingly  as 
future  events  might  determine.  Mary  was  therefore  retained  in 
honourable  imprisonment  in  England,  while  Moray  and  the  Scots 
lords  went  back  home,  secure  of  Elizabeth's  support. 

27.  Eighteen  years  of  plots  and  rebellions  were  Elizabeth's 
punishment  for  lacking  courage  to  take  a  decided  course.  The 
The  revolt  nex^  year  (1569)  the  Catholics  of  the  north  rose  in 
of  the  revolt  under  the  leadership  of  the  two  chief  repre- 

northern         sentatives  of  the  ancient  noble  houses  that  had  so 

long  been  their  natural  leaders.  These  were  Thomas 
Percy,  earl  of  Northumberland,  and  Charles  Neville,  earl  of 
Westmorland.  It  was  another  Pilgrimago  of  Grace,  and  showed 
that  the  north  country  was  still  strongly  in  favour  of  the  old 
religion.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  to  free  the  queen  of 
Scots,  which  was  defeated  by  Mary  being  moved  to  the  midlands 
far  beyond  the  northerners'  reach.  Then  the  earl  of  Sussex  put 
down  the  insurrection,  and  soon  drove  the  two  earls  to  find  a  refuge 
in  exile.  The  collapse  of  the  rebellion  immensely  strengthened 
Elizabeth's  position.  For  the  rest  of  her  reign  none  of  her  enemies 
succeeded  in  exciting  an  open  rising. 


-157 i.l     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     385 

28.  Other  resources  were  still,  however,  open  to  the  foes  of 
Elizabeth.  In  1570  the  regent  Moray  was  assassinated  in  Scotland, 
and  three  years  of  civil  war  and  confusion  ensued.  _.  ...  f 
These  did  nothing,  however,  to  help  Mary's  cause,  and  excom- 
in  1573  another  strong  regent  was  found  in  the  earl  of  munication, 
Morton,  who  successfully  upheld  Protestant  ascendancy 
and  good  order  in  the  name  of  the  little  James  vi.  Of  more  value 
to  Mary  than  her  brother's  death  was  the  intervention  of  the  pope 
in  her  favour.  The  pope  was  now  Pius  v.,  an  old  Inquisitor,  and 
a  bitter,  if  high-minded,  zealot  for  the  Counter-Reformation.  In 
February,  1570,  Pius  issued  a  bull  excommunicating  Elizabeth 
and  deposing  her  from  the  throne.  Parliament  answered  him  by 
passing  acts  that  made  it  treason  to  introduce  papal  bulls  into  the 
country  or  to  become  a  convert  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 
Henceforward  there  was,  as  long  as  Elizabeth  lived,  war  to  the 
knife  between  England  and  Rome.  It  was  almost  impossible  for 
an  Englishman  to  remain  a  good  Catholic  and  a  faithful  subject 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  a  series  of  Catholic  plots  to  depose  Eliza- 
beth and  put  Mary  in  her  place,  showed  the  result  of  the  pope's 
action  on  the  minds  of  the  more  zealous  of  his  disciples. 

29.  In  1571  a  Florentine  banker  named  Ridolfi,  who  had  long 
resided  in  England,  and  was  a  secret  agent  of  the  pope  and  Philip 
of  Spain,  persuaded  the  duke  of  Norfolk  to  put  himself 

at  the  head  of  a  rebellion  to  release  Mary  Stewart  and  2J5  .  Ji . 
restore  Catholicism.  Norfolk,  a  son  of  the  poet  earl 
of*  Surrey,  was  the  only  duke  left  in  England,  and,  though  he  .had 
always  conformed  to  Elizabeth's  Church,  he  was  very  lukewarnj 
in.  his  support  of  the  Reformation,  and  was  indignant  that  a  man 
of  his  high  rank  should  have  so  little  power  at  court.  He  was 
tempted  by  the  proposal  that  he  should  be  married  to  Mary,  who 
might  then  be  restored  to  the  Scottish  throne  and  recognized  as 
Elizabeth's  successor.  After  trying  for  a  time  to  reconcile  loyalty 
to  Elizabeth  with  the  acceptance  of  this  glittering  prospect,  the 
duke  was  talked  ever  by  Ridolfi  into  overt  treason.  But  Cecil  and 
his  spies  had  discovered  all  about  the  plot,  and  in  1572  Norfolk 
was  convicted  of  treason  and  executed.  For  the  next  few  years 
England  enjoyed  comparative  peace.  Despite  the  papal  excom- 
munication, Elizabeth  seemed  stronger  than  ever. 

30.  France,  distracted  by  civil  war,  had  now  dropped  into  a 
secondary  position  in  politics.  In  1572  Protestant  Europe  was 
horrified  by  the  cold-blooded  massacre  of  the  French  Protestants 
on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  at  the  instigation  of  Charles  IX.     This 

o 


386     ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS       [1572. 

was  but  an  isolated  act  of  cruel  policy,  and  the  French  monarchy, 
floating-  helplessly  between  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  parties, 
was  powerless  to  hurt  England.  Philip  of  Spain,  as 
and  the  *  ^ne  avowed  leader  of  Catholicism,  was  gradually  be- 
revoltof         coming  the  supporter  of  the  English  Catholics  and 

land^etheP      the  chief  hope  of  the  caPtive  <lneen  of  Scots-     But 
Philip's    attention  was  much   taken  up  with  other 

matters,  and  he  was  still  so  jealous  of  France  that  he  tried  to 
keep  on  good  terms  with  England.  Philip  had  had  to  contend 
since  1572  with  a  formidable  revolt  in  the  Netherlands,  where 
his  attempts  to  make  himself  a  despot  and  to  crush  out  Pro- 
testantism had  completely  failed.  For  five  years  his  ruthless 
general  Alva  had  ruled  the  seventeen  provinces  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  with  an  iron  hand.  But  it  was  impossible  by  persecu- 
tion to  change  the  faith  of  a  whole  nation,  and  the  only  result 
of  Alva's  repression  was  that  Holland  and  Zealand,  the  most 
Protestant  and  energetic  of  the  provinces,  rose  in  revolt,  and 
heroically  defied  the  whole  resources  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 
Not  only  did  Philip  fail  to  put  down  the  Hollanders ;  in  1576 
all  the  other  provinces  followed  their  example,  and  united  in  the 
Pacification  of  Ghent,  by  which  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  dis- 
tricts alike  agreed  to  protect  their  ancient  political  liberties  from 
Philip.  This  comprehensive  union  did  not  last  long,  and  Philip's 
illegitimate  brother,  Don  John  of  Austria,  who  was  now  governor 
of  the  Netherlands,  soon  persuaded  some  of  the  southern  provinces, 
which  were  mostly  Catholic,  to  recognize  Philip's  rule  on  condition 
that  he  gave  up  his  attacks  on  their  political  liberties.  Thereupon 
the  seven  northern  provinces,  headed  by  Holland,  formed  in  1579 
the  union  of  Utrecht,  by  which  they  became  a  federal  Calvinistic 
commonwealth  under  William,  prince  of  Orange,  as  their  stadt- 
holder,  or  governor.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
of  the  Seven  Provinces  of  the  United  Netherlands.  As  England 
sympathized  strongly  with  the  rebels,  there  was  fresh  reason  for 
ill-will  between  Elizabeth  and  Philip.  But  neither  dared  attack 
the  other  yet. 

31.  Elizabeth  found  compensation  for  these  troubles  in  the 
increasing  loyalty  of  her  subjects,  and  their  increasing  willingness 
Th  to  accept  her  ecclesiastical  policy.     So  feeble  was  the 

seminary  position  of  Catholicism  in  England  that  the  leaders 
priests.  0f  the  Church  took  the  alarm,  and  made  a  determined 

effort  to  rekindle  the  zeal  of  the  English  Romanists.  A 
Lancashire  priest  named  "William  Allen,  who  had  forsaken  his 


1572.]      ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     387 

country  rather  than  recognize  the  royal  supremacy,  set  np  at 
Douai,  within  Philip's  Netherlandish  dominions,  a  college  or 
seminary,  to  train  young  Englishmen  for  the  priesthood,  that  they 
might  return  to  their  homes  as  missionaries  of  the  old  faith.     The 


Emery  Walker  sc. 


college  at  Douai,  soon  transferred  to  Reims,  in  French  territory, 
became  very  flourishing,  and  sent  forth  a  stream  of  missionary 
clergy  to  England,  where  their  energy  gave  new  life  to  the 
Catholic  cause.  Up  to  this  time  many  Roman  Catholics  had 
been  content  to  attend  the  services  of  their  parish  churches,  and 


388      ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     [1577- 

to  take  little  part  in  politics.  The  seminary  priests,  as  the 
pupils  of  the  college  were  called,  soon  put  an  end  to  such  laxity, 
and  excited  the  alarm  of  the  government.  The  severe  laws  passed 
in  a  panic  in  1571  were  employed  against  them,  and  in  1577 
Cuthbert  Mayne,  executed  at  Launceston  for  denying  the  royal 
supremacy  and  having  a  papal  bull  in  his  possession,  was  the 
first  Catholic  martyr  which  Douai  sent  forth. 

32.  Three  years  later  even  greater  fear  was  excited  among 
the  Protestants  by  the  first  appearance  of  the  Jesuits  in  England 
The  Jesuit  (1580).  Their  leaders  were  Robert  Parsons,  a  subtle 
invasion,  and  dexterous  intriguer,  and  Edmund  Campion,  a 
1580.  high-souled  enthusiast,  who  was  careless  about  politics, 
and  thought  only  of  winning  souls  over  to  his  Church.  In  great 
alarm  fresh  laws  were  passed  against  popish  recusants,  and  a  keen 
search  made  for  the  Jesuits,  who  wandered  in  disguise  throughout 
the  land,  stirring  up  the  zeal  of  their  partisans.  Parsons  escaped 
to  the  continent  in  safety,  but  Campion  was  captured.  He  could 
not  be  proved  to  be  disloyal  to  Elizabeth,  and  was  cruelly  tortured 
in  the  hope  of  extracting  some  sort  of  confession  from  him.  In 
due  course  he  was  convicted  and  hung  as  a  traitor  at  Tyburn.  He 
was  as  much  a  martyr  as  any  of  the  Protestants  who  suffered  under 
Mary.  During  the  rest  of  Elizabeth's  reign  scores  of  Catholic 
priests  and  laymen  incurred  the  fate  of  Mayne  and  Campion. 

33.  The  sanguinary  persecution  of  the  missionaries  had  a  sort 
of  justification  in  the  fact  that  many  of  them,  like  Parsons,  were 
The  Bond  of  s^eePe^  ^o  the  -^Ps  m  treason.  Plot  after  plot  was 
Association,  framed  to  compass  Elizabeth's  death  and  bring  Mary 
1584>  to  the  throne.  Philip  of  Spain  gave  help  to  the 
conspirators,  and  in  1584,  on  the  failure  of  a  scheme  to  murder 
Elizabeth,  the  Spanish  ambassador  was  ordered  to  quit  London. 
Burghley  and  Walsingham  drew  up  a  document  called  the  Bond  of 
Association,  which  all  classes  of  Englishmen  eagerly  signed.  The 
members  of  the  bond  pledged  themselves  to  defend  Elizabeth 
against  her  enemies,  and  bound  themselves,  in  the  event  of  her 
murder,  to  put  to  death  any  person  on  whose  behalf  the  deed  was 
committed.  This  meant  that  if  Elizabeth  were  slain,  the  queen 
of  Scots  would  be  at  once  executed.  In  1585  parliament  legalised 
the  association  and  passed  fresh  laws  against  the  Catholics.  It 
banished  all  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests,  and  made  the  return  of 
any  one  of  them  an  act  of  treason. 

34.  In  1586  a  new  plot  was  formed  to  murder  Elizabeth.  Its 
instigator  was  the  seminary  priest,  John  Ballard,  and  its  instrument 


-1587.]    ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS     389 

a  foolish,  and  vain  young  Catholic  gentleman,  named  Anthony 
Babington.     Babington  was  so  proud  of    his  boldness  that  he 
rashly  boasted  of  what  he  was  going  to  do,  and  soon 
enabled  Walsingham's  spies  to  find  out  all  about  the   Babington 
conspiracy.     At  last  Walsingham  got  into  his  hands   conspiracy, 
letters  of  Mary  written  to  Babington,  in  which  she   lo86, 
expressed  her  approval  of  the  attempt  to  murder  Elizabeth.     Then 
he  fell  on  Babington,  and  put  him  and  his  accomplices  to  death. 

35.  The  chief  importance  of  the  Babington  conspiracy  is  that  it 
supplied  Walsingham  with  evidence  of  Mary's  complicity  in  an 
assassination  plot,  and  frightened  Elizabeth,  who  had  _ 
hitherto  been  afraid  to  proceed  to  extremities  against  0f  Mary 
Mary,  into  allowing  the  queen  of  Scots  to  be  tried  for  Queen  of 
treason.  A  court  for  the  trial  of  Mary  was  held  at  co  s' 
Fotheringhay  Castle,  near  Peterborough.  Mary  refused  to  answer 
before  the  court  on  the  ground  that  as  a  crowned  queen  she  was  no 
subject  of  Elizabeth,  and  could  not,  therefore,  commit  treason 
against  her.  Nevertheless,  she  was,  in  October,  1586,  sentenced  to 
the  block  as  a  traitor,  though  Elizabeth  long  delayed  the  execution 
of  the  sentence.  Parliament  urged  her  in  strong  terms  to  put  Mary 
to  death  at  once,  but  Elizabeth  delayed  until  February,  1587,  before 
she  would  allow  anything  to  be  done.  Even  after  signing  the  order 
for  her  rival's  death,  she  would  not  allow  it  to  be  sent  down  to 
Fotheringhay,  till  at  last  the  council,  which  fully  shared  the 
opinions  of  parliament,  ordered  Davison,  the  secretary  of  state,  to 
despatch  the  warrant.  On  February  8, 1587,  Mary  was  beheaded  in 
the  great  hall  of  Fotheringhay  Castle,  meeting  her  end  with  rare 
courage  and  dignity.  Elizabeth  loudly  protested  that  the  deed  was 
not  of  her  ordering,  and  ruined  the  unlucky  Davison  for  breaking 
her  commands..  This  she  did  partly  to  evade  responsibility,  and 
partly  so  as  to  give  some  specious  excuse  to  her  ally,  James  vi.,  for 
his  mother's  execution.  But  Elizabeth  was  the  chief  gainer  by  her 
rival's  death.  There  was  no  longer  any  use  in  murdering  the  queen 
of  England  when  her  successor  would  be  the  Protestant  king  of  Scots. 
The  worst  of  Elizabeth's  troubles  was  over  after  the  tragic  fate 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  LATTER  YEARS  OF  THE  REIGN  OF 
ELIZABETH   (1587-1603) 

Chief  Dates : 

1588.  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada. 

1591.  The  fight  of  the  Revenge. 

1596.  The  capture  of  Cadiz. 

1597-  First  Monopolies  contest. 

1598.  The  Irish  rebellion. 

1601.  Second  Monopolies  contest. 

1603.  Death  of  Elizabeth. 

1.  During  the  years  of  Mary's  imprisonment  England  and  Spain 
were  slowly  drifting  into  war.  Philip  was  the  instigator  of 
The  every  plot  for  the  release  of  the  captive  queen,  and 

relations  England  retaliated  by  giving  as  much  help  to  the 
between  Netherlandish  rebels  as  Elizabeth  would  allow.    More- 

and  Spain  over'  -P^^P  sen'k>  a&  we  snau  see>  troops  and  priests  to 
Ireland  to  stir  up  the  Irish  against  England  and  Pro- 
testantism, while  he  kept  up  active  intrigues  in  Scotland,  and  strove, 
though  but  to  little  purpose,  to  persuade  James  VL,  who  was  now 
growing  up  to  manhood,  to  take  up  the  Catholic  cause,  and  make 
efforts  on  behalf  of  his  mother,  There  was  even  more  friction 
between  England  and  Spain  by  sea  than  by  land,  and  each  power  had 
done  so  much  harm  to  the  other  that  in  any  ordinary  times  open 
war  would  certainly  have  ensued  between  them.  Yet  after  nearly 
twenty  years  of  ceaseless  friction  nominal  peace  still  prevailed. 
This  was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  both  Elizabeth  and  Philip  were 
somewhat  irresolute  in  temperament  and  too  timid  to  run  the 
risks  which  war  involved.  But  the  chief  reason  of  the  hesitation 
of  Philip  was  the  general  political  condition  of  Europe.  Though 
nearly  thirty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  outbreak  of  a  national 
war  like  those  which  had  been  waged  before  1559,  yet  the 
old  jealousy  between  France  and  Spain  was  by  no  means  dead. 
Philip  was  still  afraid  that  if  he  attacked  England,  France  would 
take  advantage  of  his  plight  and  fall  upon  firm  with  all  her  might. 
390 


1581.]       LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    39I 

Thus  it  was  that,  though  as  the  champion  of  Catholicism  he  would 
have  dearly  loved  to  conquer  England,  as  the  chief  monarch  of 
Europe  he  was  so  conscious  of  the  risk  to  his  authority  that  a  fight 
with  Elizabeth  implied,  that  he  still  preferred  to  let  things  drift, 
and  still  professed  to  value  English  friendship  after  the  feeling 
between  the  two  countries  had  become  very  bitter. 

2.  Philip  had  a  special  motive  for  hesitation  in  the  revolt  of  the 
Netherlands.  Thanks  to  Don  John  of  Austria,  he  was  making  slow 
but  steady  progress  in  winning  back  his  position  over 

the  southern  and  central  provinces,  though  the  north   £"|l!°h 
still  defied  his  efforts.    Don  John  of  Austria  soon  died,   lnterven- 
but  a  worthy  successor  to  him  was  found  in  Alexander  tlon  in  the 
Farnese,  duke  of  Parma,  one  of  the  best  generals  of   i^ds*'* 
that  age.     His  advance  soon  frightened  both  Elizabeth 
and  Henry  in.  of  France,  and  dread  of  the  imminent  triumph  of 
Spain  brought  about  for  the  moment  that  alliance  between  England 
and  France  which  Philip  dreaded  more  than  anything  else.    It  was 
proposed  in  1581  to  cement  this  friendship  by  a  marriage  between 
Elizabeth  and  Francis,  duke  of  Anjou,  the  younger  brother  of 
Henry  in.,  who  in  1574  had  succeeded  his  brother  Charles  ix.  as 
king  of  France.     The  scheme  was  the  more  formidable  to  Philip 
since  it  was  hoped  that  Anjou  would  be  accepted  by  both  the 
Protestant  and  Catholic  Netherlander  as  their  ruler.     Thus  the 
result  of  the  Anglo-French  alliance  was  to  be  the  establishment  of 
a  French  prince  on  the  ruins  of  the  Spanish  power  in  the  Low 
Countries.     It  was  as  severe  a  blow  as  could  be  directed  against 
Philip  n. 

3.  There  had  been  constant  talk  of  the  marriage  of  Elizabeth 
ever  since  her  accession.     Her  people,  anxious  that  she  should  have 
a  direct  heir,  had  long  urged  her  to  choose  a  husband,   The  Aniou 
and   Elizabeth  had  so   far  gratified   them  that  she   marriage 
entered  into  numerous  negotiations  with  a  view  to  her   scheme, 
marriage,  though  she  had  made  up  her  mind  never  to 

share  her  throne  with  a  husband.  Now,  when  the  queen  was  nearly 
fifty  years  of  age,  the  most  serious  of  her  marriage  projects  was 
started.  Anjou,  an  ugly,  contemptible  fellow,  more  than  twenty 
years  her  junior,  came  to  England,  and  Elizabeth  received  him  as 
her  future  husband.  Before  long,  however,  realizing  the  folly  of 
her  position,  she  was  glad  to  send  off  Anjou  to  the  Netherlands, 
and  showed  an  unwonted  liberality  in  supplying  him  with  men  and 
money  for  carrying  out  his  projects.  Anjou's  incompetence,  how- 
ever, soon  wrecked  all  the  fine  schemes  formed  by  England  and 


392     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1584- 

France  to  lay  low  the  power  of  Philip.  In  a  short  time  he  was 
driven  away  by  the  Netherlander  themselves,  and  went  back  to 
Frar  ce,  where  he  soon  died.  Long  before  this,  the  fantastic  notion 
of  wedding  him  to  Elizabeth  had  been  quite  forgotten. 

4.  The  chief  importance  of  the  Anjou  marriage  scheme  was 
that  it  induced  Elizabeth  to  take  an  active  part  in  supporting  the 
Lei  ester  In  rev°lted  Netherlander  against  the  king  of  Spain, 
the  Nether-  After  Anjou' s  failure,  Parma  renewed  his  advance, 
lands,  1586.  ^d  goon  the  provinces  were  reduced  to  the  greatest 
straits.  In  1584  their  heroic  leader,  William  of  Orange,  was 
murdered  by  a  Catholic  fanatic.  It  was  the  same  year  in  which 
Elizabeth  expelled  the  Spanish  ambassador  for  complicity  in  an 
assassination  plot.  In  1585  Parma  captured  Antwerp,  and  thus 
broke  the  back  of  the  resistance  of  the  southern  provinces.  In 
their  despair  the  Netherlander  offered  to  make  Elizabeth  their 
ruler  if  she  would  protect  them  from  Philip's  assaults.  Too 
prudent  to  accept  this  sovereignty,  Elizabeth  sent  an  army  to.  help 
them,  at  the  head  of  which  she  placed  her  favourite,  the  earl  of 
Leicester.  But  Leicester  was  almost  as  incompetent  as  Anjou,  and 
his  arrival  brought  little  relief.  The  most  famous  episode  in  his 
campaign  was  a  fight  against  the  Spaniards  near  Zutjohen,  in 
which  his  accomplished  nephew,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  the  pattern 
Elizabethan  gentleman,  poet,  romance-writer,  courtier,  and  soldier, 
received  his  death-wound.  Before  the  end  of  1586  Leicester 
quarrelled  with  the  Dutch  and  went  back  to  England.  Then 
came  the  Babington  conspiracy  and  the  execution  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots.  At  last  even  the  sluggish  Philip  felt  that  the  cup  of 
English  offences  was  full  to  the  brim,  and  prepared  to  wreak  a 
signal  vengeance  upon  the  English  heretics. 

5.  A  generation  of  conflict  between  Englishmen  and  Spaniards 
on  the  ocean  made  the  long- delayed  rupture  more  complete  and 

more  bitter.  The  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus 
^Pain^.nd       had  opened  up  for  Spain  a  mighty  empire  in  Southern 

and  Central  America,  and  had  forced  a  nation  of 
soldiers  and  priests  to  produce,  almost  in  its  own  despite,  navi- 
gators, colonisers,  and  traders.  The  commercial  position  of  Spain 
was  made  much  stronger  when,  in  1580,  Philip  conquered  Portugal 
and  its  colonies,  and  so  extended  his  power  to  Brazil  and  over  the 
remnants  of  the  great  Eastern  Empire  which  the  Portuguese  had 
set  up,  following  on  the  tracks  of  Vasco  da  Gama,  who  had  first  dis« 
covered  the  sea-road  to  India  and  the  East.  At  first  the  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese  had  no  rivals  in  their  quest  of  wealth,  conquest, 


-1586.]     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    393 

and  adventure  in  strange  lands.  Least  of  all  was  competition  to  be 
expected  from  England,  whose  people,  np  to  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  were  distinguished  neither  for  their  seamanship, 
commerce,  nor  love  of  adventure.  Englishmen  remained  what  they 
had  been  in  the  Middle  Ages,  an  easy-going,  stay-at-home  people, 
loving  hard  fighting  and  good  living,  but  so  indifferent  to  trade" 
and  money-making,  that  they  were  still  content  that  the  larger 
share  of  the  external  trade  of  their  island  should  remain  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners. 

6.  Signs  of  a  new  spirit  of  activity  were  dimly  discernible 
in  early  Tudor  times.  The  marvellous  discoveries  of  Columbus 
and  Yasco  da   Grama   stirred  the  skiggish  fancy  of 

Henry  vn.,  who  sent  John  Cabot,  a  Venetian  settled   ginnings 
in  Bristol,  on  a  voyage  to  America,  which  resulted   of  English 
in  the  discovery  of  the  coast  of  Labrador.    Nothing   m^rl"™1ee 
practical  came    of  this,  however,  until  the  private 
enterprise  of  the  merchants  of  Bristol,  the  adopted  home  of  Cabot, 
sent  out  expeditions  of  discovery  that  won  for  England  a  small 
share  in  the  Newfoundland  fisheries  and  the  trade  with  West 
Africa.     Plymouth  adventurers,   conspicuous  among  whom  was 
William  Hawkins,  opened  out  commerce  between  England  and 
South  America.      In  London,  the  Company  of  Merchant  Adven- 
turers, which,  as  the  chief  society  of  English  traders,  had  long 
competed  for   the    Baltic    and   Scandinavian  markets  with   the 
German  merchants  of  the  Steelyard,  showed,  under  the  guidance  of 
Sebastian  Cabot,  the  son  of  the  discoverer  of  Labrador,  an  enterprise 
foreign  to  earlier  generations.     In  1553,  at   Cabot's   chancellor's 
suggestion,  the  first  native  English  voyage  of  dis-    voyage, 
covery  was  undertaken  by  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  and    1553« 
his  pilot,  Richard  Chancellor,  who  strove  to  open  up  new  trading 
centres  in  northern  and  eastern  lands,  and  to  discover,  if  possible, 
a  north-east  passage  to  China  through  the  Arctic  seas.     Ill  luck 
attended  this  pioneer  expedition,  and  only  Chancellor  with  a  few 
of  the  ships  made  any  discovery  of  importance.     He  found  his  way 
into  the  White  Sea,  and  opened  up  trading  relations  with  Russia 
of  such  importance  that  a  Muscovy  or  Russia  Company  was  started 
to  work  it. 

7.  Though  Chancellor's  voyage  was  undertaken  under  Mary, 
the  new  impulse  which  drove  Englishmen  to  adventure  and  dis- 
covery was  the  direct  result  of  the  great  stirring  of  men's  minds 
that  followed  the  Reformation.  Though  no  theologians,  and 
greedy,  cruel,  and  reckless  in  their  lives,  most  of  the  English 

02 


394     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1562- 

seamen  were  sound  Protestants  and  great  haters  of  the  pope. 
Already  in  Mary's  reign  some  of  the  Protestant  refugees  took  to 
Protes-  ^e  sea  anc*  r°kbed  their  Catholic  fellow-countrymen 

tantism  and  with  special  zest.  A  few  years  later  the  struggling 
maritime  Protestants  of  France  and  the  Netherlands  followed 
their  example,  and  the  water-beggars,  as  the  Calvinist 
shipmen  of  Holland  and  Zealand  were  called,  found  an  easy 
prey  in  the  richly  freighted  galleons  of  Spain.  Thus  the  Pro- 
testant sailors  of  England  and  Holland  alike  found  that  to  plunder 
Spaniards  was  a  shorter  way  to  get  rich  than  to  trade  honestly 
on  their  own  account.  Religious  zeal  made  it  a  pious  work  to 
despoil  the  papist  subjects  of  Philip  11.  Moreover,  the  Spaniards 
kept  their  American  colonies  under  strict  control,  and  claimed 
an  absolute  monopoly  of  trade  with  them.  The  dearness  which 
followed  monopoly  made  the  Spanish  colonists  themselves  welcome 
any  merchants  daring  enough  to  disregard  the  navigation  laws 
and  sell  them  the  goods  of  which  they  had  urgent  need.  Hence 
smuggling  commodities  into  Spanish  colonies  became  another  way 
of  making  money  easily.     The  impulse  to  adventure  had  begun. 

8.  The  special  want  of  the  Spaniards  in  America  was  that  of 
labourers  to  work  their  mines  and  till  their  plantations.  They 
„     ..  were  too  few  and  too  proud  to  work  themselves  in  a 

and  the  tropical  climate,   and  the  native   Americans   of  the 

slave-trade,  West  India  islands  died  off  like  flies  when  forced  to 
labour  for  their  new  masters.  John  Hawkins,  son  of 
the  William  Hawkins  of  the  reign  of  Henry  viii.,  made  voyages 
in  his  father's  track,  and  soon  learnt  that  an  easy  way  to  win  riches 
was  to  kidnap  or  buy  shiploads  of  strong  and  hardy  negroes  in 
West  Africa,  and  sell  them  to  the  Spaniards  in  America  and  the 
West  Indies.  In  1562  and  in  1564  Hawkins  made  two  slaving 
voyages  to  the  Guinea  coast,  and  sold  his  human  cargo  to  such 
profit  in  Hispaniola  and  Mexico  that  he  came  home  a  wealthy  and 
a  famous  man.  Philip  11.  was  much  incensed  at  the  daring  heretic. 
When,  in  1567,  Hawkins  attempted  a  third  voyage  on  a  larger 
scale,  the  Spanish  officials  would  not  allow  him  to  transact  business. 
Hawkins  tried  to  force  his  wares  upon  the  colonists,  but  was  en- 
trapped into  the  narrow  harbour  of  Vera  Cruz  in  Mexico,  and 
overborne  by  numbers.  He  lost  most  of  his  ships  and  profits,  but 
returned  safely  to  England,  and  showed  the  way  to  other  adven- 
turers. He  was  the  founder  of  the  negro  slave-trade  which  made 
possible  the  colonization  of  tropical  America  by  a  planter  aristo- 
cracy cultivating  its  lands  by  black  labour,  and  which  for  more 


-1567.]     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    395 


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396     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1577- 

i  hau  two  hundred  years  was  to  be  a  source  of  immense  gain  to 
English  merchants.  Neither  English  nor  Spaniards  had  the  least 
care  of  the  cruelty  and  wickedness  of  this  traffic  in  human  flesh. 

9.  Hawkins  was  a  mere    man   of   business,    though    terribly 
efficient  at  his  work.     His  example  was  soon  followed  by  others, 

in  some  of  whom  his  greedy  commercial  spirit  was  in 
voyage  somewise  ennobled  by  romantic  love  of  adventure  and 

round  the  a  sort  of  crusading  enthusiasm  against  the  Spanish 
1577-1580.  Papists.  Conspicuous  among  the  higher  sort  of  ex- 
plorers was  Martin  Frobisher,  a  Yorkshireman  who 
made  three  voyages  to  the  frozen  coasts  of  Labrador  in  the  hope 
of  finding  a  north-west  passage  to  China,  and  Francis  Drake,  a 
Devonshire  man  and  a  kinsman  of  Hawkins,  who,  after  having  on 
a  voyage  to  Panama  climbed  a  hill  from  which  he  could  look  down 
on  the  Pacific,  formed  a  resolution  to  sail  an  English  ship  upon 
that  strange  ocean  which  had  hitherto  been  navigated  by  the 
Spaniards  alone.  With  this  object  Drake  set  forth  in  15V7  with 
a  fleet  of  five  small  vessels,  hoping  to  redeem  his  vow.  He  was 
away  from  England  for  three  years,  and  met  with  countless  perils 
from  storms,  mutinies,  and  the  hostility  of  the  Spaniards.  He  lost 
all  his  ships  save  his  own  vessel,  the  Pelican,  which  he  rechristened 
the  Golden  Hind.  He  crossed  the  South  Atlantic,  sailed  through 
the  dangerous  straits  of  Magellan  to  the  open  Pacific,  where  he 
plundered  the  Spaniards  at  his  will,  and  at  last,  loaded  with 
precious  booty,  sailed  westwards  over  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  safely 
got  home  in  1580  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  being  the  first 
captain  who  had  sailed  round  the  world  and  returned  alive  to  port. 
His  success  made  him  the  hero  of  the  moment,  and  Elizabeth, 
visiting  the  Golden  Hind  as  it  lay  in  the  Thames  at  Deptford, 
dubbed  him  a  knight  on  his  own  quarter-deck. 

10.  The  Spaniards  rightly  denounced  Drake  as  a  pirate,  and 
demanded  his  surrender  and  the  restitution  of  the  property  he  had 

stolen.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Jesuit  invasion  and 
between*311  ^e  Anjou  marriage  scheme,  and  Elizabeth  was  of  no 
England  mind  to  give  up  the  adventurer  to  his  enemies.     She 

and  Spain,      pUt  cff  the  Spaniards  with  fair  words,  and  encouraged 

Drake  as  much  as  she  could.  New  sources  of  offence 
now  arose  daily  between  the  two  countries.  After  the  expulsion  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador  in  1584,  Philip  retaliated  by  confiscating 
all  English  ships  and  property  found  in  his  dominions.  Drake 
and  Frobisher  were  for  the  first  time  commissioned  in  the  queen's 
service  to  make  reprisals  on  Spanish  ports.   In  1585  they  plundered 


-1588.]     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    397 

Vigo,  and  led  a  fresh  expedition  to  the  West  Indies.  In  1587 
the  execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  at  length  goaded  Spain 
into  open  war,  and  in  great  indignation  Philip  prepared  a  fleet 
that  would  avenge  English  insults  to  his  coasts  and  his  religion 
by  pouring  an  army  into  their  island.  When  his  plans  were  still 
but  half  ready,  Drake  sailed  into  Cadiz  harbour  and  sank  or  burnt 
his  ships.  Philip  was  more  than  ever  bent  upon  revenge,  and 
fitted  out  another  fleet  which  was  to  invade  England  in  1588. 

11.  Philip's  plan  was  to  send  his  fleet  to  Flanders,  whence  it 
was  to  carry  the  duke  of  Parma's  army  over  the  narrow  seas  to 
England.     It  was  hoped  that  on  the  landing  of  the  , 
Spaniards  the  English  Catholics  would  gladly  join  pians  f0P 
with  them  in  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the  heretic   invading 
queen,  and  William  Allen,  now  made  a  cardinal,  wrote    EnS'and. 
an  exhortation  to  the  English  to  accept  Philip  as  the  executor  of 
Pius  v.'s  sentence  of  deposition.     Philip's  hands  were  set  free  by 
the  death  of  Mary,  whom  he  had  always  suspected  by  reason  of  her 
French  connections.    He  claimed  the  English  throne  himself,  as  a 
nearer  descendant  of  John  of  Gaunt  than  the  Tudors. 

12.  England  had  no  regular  troops  to    oppose  the    Spanish 
veterans,  and  her  best  chance  was  to  meet  her  enemies  at  sea,  where 
the  English  had  so  often  beaten  the  Spaniards  in  recent    Tte  gn^sh 
years  that  they  had  no  great  reason  to  fear  them  now.    Armada, 
Since  Henry  vm.'s  time  the  royal  navy  of  England    1588. 

had  been  an  efficient  and  growing  force,  and  Hawkins,  of  late 
years  Treasurer  to  the  Navy,  had  built  a  large  number  of  new 
ships,  on  better  lines  than  any  of  the  Spanish  vessels.  Lying 
lower  in  the  water  than  the  Spaniards,  and  with  fewer  "  castles,"  or 
decks,  piled  up  high  fore  and  aft,  the  English  vessels  looked  smaller 
than  the  Spanish,  even  when  they  were  much  of  the  same  size.  But 
they  were  easier  to  manage,  more  seaworthy,  quicker,  and  better 
equipped  than  those  of  the  enemy.  Moreover,  they  were  built  to 
fight,  and  were  not,  like  many  of  the  Spaniards,  mere  transports 
crowded  with  soldiers,  and  ill  found  for  a  long  voyage.  Even  the 
armed  merchantmen  which  swelled  the  scanty  numbers  of  the  royal 
vessels  were  trained  by  a  long  career  of  privateering  or  piracy,  and 
the  crews,  accustomed  to  the  boisterous  seas  of  the  Atlantic  fishing- 
grounds,  were  much  better  sailors  than  their  opponents.  Both 
fleets  alike  were  commanded  by  great  noblemen,  the  Spaniards  by 
the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  a  young  grandee  with  no  great  know- 
ledge of  the  sea,  and  the  English  by  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
a  cousin  of  the  Norfolk  beheaded  in  1572.     However,  while  the 


39^     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1588- 


subordinate  commanders  on  the  Spanish  side  were  also  noble- 
men whose  experience  was  on  land  and  whose  skill  that  of  the 
soldier,  Lord  Howard's  immediate  subordinates  were  practical 
seamen,  who  had  already  had  long  acquaintance  with  Spanish  war- 
fare. Sir  Francis  Drake  was  second  and  John  Hawkins  third  in 
command,  while  the  largest  ship  in  the  fleet  had  as  its  captain 
Martin  Frobisher,  who,  with  Hawkins,  was  knighted  during  the 
struggle.  A  land  army  was  hastily  levied,  the  command  over 
which  Elizabeth  insisted  on  giving  to  Leicester,  whose  last  months 

of  life  were  devoted  to 
this  supreme  service  to  his 
mistress.  Despite  the 
efforts  of  Allen,  Catholics 
joined  with  Protestants  in 
resisting  the  invaders.  It 
was  no  longer  a  war  of 
religions,  but  a  struggle 
between  two  nations. 

13.  The  Spaniards  were 
impressed  by  the  magni- 
tude of  Philip's  prepara- 
tions, and  proudly  styled 
their  fleetthe  Invincible  Ar- 
mada. Misfortune  dogged 
its  path  from  the  begin- 
ning. Starting  in  May 
from  Lisbon,  it  was  driven 
back  by  rough  weather  and 
insufficient  equipment  into 
the  ports  of  northern 
Spain,  whence  it  did  not 
finally  sail  until  July.  On 
July  19  the  Armada  en- 
tered the  Channel,  and 
was  rapidly  blown  by  a  favourable  south-wester  towards  the  straits 
of  Dover.  The  English  admiral,  who  had  waited  for 
it  in  Plymouth  Sound,  allowed  the  enemy  to  pass 
his  anchorage,  whereupon  he  sailed  out  and  closely 
hung  upon  the  Spaniards'  rear.  A  running  fight  ensued  for 
the  best  part  of  a  week.  The  English  had  the  advantage 
of  attacking  on  the  windward  side,  and  their  greater  power  of 
sailing  close  to  the  wind  enabled  them  to  escape  action  at  near 


SPAIN 


'  Lisbon 
Way  1588 


EmeryWalker  sc. 
THE   COURSE   OF   THE   SPANISH   AEMADA. 


The  Armada 
in  the 
Channel. 


-1589.]     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    399 

quarters,  which  wus  what  the  Spaniards  wanted.  Ship  after 
ship  of  the  Armada  was  cut  off  and  captured  by  the  English. 
The  long  artillery  fight  used  up  the  ammunition  of  both  fleets. 
The  English,  however,  could  get  fresh  supplies  from  the  shore, 
while  the  Spaniards  had  no  such  resource  open  to  them.  From 
the  very  beginning  the  Spaniards  had  the  worst  of  the  encounter, 
and  at  last  cast  anchor  in  Calais  roads,  fully  conscious  of  failure. 

14.  Lord  Howard  now  began  to  adopt  bolder  tactics.  He  drove 
the  enemy  from  their  anchorage  by  sending  fireships  among  them, 
which  forced  them  to  cut  their  cables  to  avoid  being  ^e 
burnt  to  pieces.  Then,  on  July  29,  the  English  bore  battle  off 
down  on  the  Spaniards  off  Gravelines,  where  the  Gravelines. 
decisive  battle  was  waged  for  nine  hours  without  intermission. 
The  Spaniards  were  likely  to  do  better  in  a  regular  engagement 
than  in  the  preliminary  skirmishing.  They  now  fought  with 
great  courage,  and  though  beaten  in  the  end,  were  able  to  retreat  in 
good  order.  But  as  the  wind  still  blew  from  the  south,  Sidonia's 
only  way  of  retreat  was  to  sail  northwards,  and  finally  make  his 
way  home  by  doubling  the  north  of  Scotland.  High  gales  proved 
fatal  to  many  of  the  war-worn  and  storm-tried  ships,  and  many 
wrecks  strewed  the  western  coasts  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  It 
showed  rare  tenacity  among  the  Spaniards  that  Sidonia  was  able  to 
bring  back  nearly  half  his  fleet  to  Spain. 

15.  Thus  the  attack  on  England  utterly  failed.      The  defeat 
of  the  Armada  left  England  free  to  settle  her  own  destinies  for 
herself,  and  saved  English  Protestantism.    By  making 
England  a  great  naval  power,  it  prepared  the  way  for    0f  tne 

our  commerce  and  colonies.  It  made  easy  the  union  Protestant 
with  Scotland  and  the  conquest  of  Ireland,  which  victory* 
were  soon  to  come.  "Nor  were  its  effects  limited  to  England.  It 
inflicted  the  greatest  check  ever  encountered  on  the  triumphant 
forces  of  the  Catholic  reaction.  It  secured  the  freedom  of  the 
Seven  United  Provinces,  which,  like  the  fate  of  England,  had 
hitherto  been  trembling  in  the  balance.  It  thus  limited  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  to  the  Catholic  provinces  of  the  south. 

16.  Even  in  Erance  the  results  of  the  Protestant  victory  were 
strongly  felt.     There  the  strife  between  Calvinists  and  Catholics 
had  just  reached  its  crisis.     The  weak  Henry  in.  had   „         _v 
been  repudiated  by  the  extreme  Catholics,  who  looked   king  of    "' 
upon  Philip  of  Spain  as  their  leader,  and  hoped  with   France, 

his  help  to  make  Erance  as  strenuous  in  its  devotion   1589, 

to  the  old  faith  as  was  Spain  itself.    Henry  was  therefore  forced 


400     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1589- 

to  go  over  to  the  Protestants,  and  was  soon  afterwards  mnrdered 
by  a  Catholic  zealot.  His  death  made  his  distant  cousin,  Henry, 
duke  of  Bourbon  and  king-  of  Navarre,  Henry  iv.  of  France.  Thus 
the  house  of  Valois,  which  had  reigned  in  France  since  1328,  gave 
place  to  the  house  of  Bourbon,  which  was  henceforth  to  rule 
France  as  long  as  France  was  to  be  governed  by  kings.  Henry  iv., 
though  the  Protestant  leader,  was  no  bigot,  but  a  clear-headed, 
selfish,  and  capable  politician,  who  looked  on  religion  much  in  the 
same  way  as  Elizabeth  did.  He  saw  that  as  a  Protestant  he 
had  no  chance  of  ruling  France,  so  he  turned  Catholic,  and  soon 
the  French,  weary  of  religious  warfare,  rallied  round  him.  His 
conversion  meant  that  France  remained  a  Catholic  country,  but  it 
was  a  liberal,  tolerant  Catholicism,  very  different  from  the  bigoted 
faith  of  Spain.  Henry  gave  the  Protestants  toleration  by  the 
edict  of  Nantes,  showed  that,  like  Elizabeth,  he  wished  to  be  king 
over  all  his  people,  restored  the  declining  fortunes  of  France, 
and  gradually  won  back  for  it  the  first  place  in  Europe.  With 
this  object  he  formed  a  close  alliance  with  the  English  queen 
against  Spain,  and  for  ten  more  years  both  powers  were  at  war 
against  Philip. ,  In  1598  Philip  made  peace  with  France,  and  died 
shortly  afterwards.     With  him  ended  the  greatness  of  Spain. 

17.  England  and  Spain  continued  fighting  until  after  the 
death  of  Elizabeth.  The  main  struggle  was  still  at  sea,  where  the 
The  war  efforts  of  England  were  not  so  successful  as  they  had 
with  Spain,  been  earlier.  Thus,  in  1589,  Drake  failed  in  an  attack 
1589-1603.  on  Lisbon;  and  in  1591  an  expedition  sent  to  the 
Azores  under  Dord  Thomas  Howard  was  compelled  to  retreat 
before  a  stronger  Spanish  fleet.  One  of  Howard's  ships,  the 
_  .  .  Revenge,  commanded  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  was- 
of  the  so  slow  in  withdrawing  that  it  was  cut  off  from  its 
"Revenge,"    fellows  by  the  Spanish  fleet.     Thereupon   Grenville 

formed  the  rash  resolve  to  cut  his  way  through  the 
whole  of  the  enemies'  squadron.  He  was  soon  assailed  on  every  side, 
and,  mortally  wounded  after  a  long  resistance,  was  forced  to  sur- 
render. He  showed  such  heroism  that  the  fight  of  the  Revenge  was 
long  remembered  among  the  most  brilliant  deeds  of  English  seamen. 

18.  In  1595  Drake  and  Hawkins  led  a  last  expedition  to  the 
West  Indies.  The  Spaniards  were  now  used  to  the  English  way 
The  capture  °^  fighting,  and  better  prepared  to  meet  it.  Accord- 
of  Cadiz,  ingly  the  fleet  captured  no  treasure  and  won  few 
*596,  successes.  Both  Drake  and  Hawkins  died  at  sea,  and 
altogether  the  voyage  was  a  failure.     Next  year  Philip  fitted  out 


-1598.]    LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    401 

a  new  Armada  at  Cadiz,  whereupon  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham 
and  Robert  Devereux,  earl  of  Essex,  sailed  to  the  Spanish  port, 
destroyed  the  ships  in  harbour  after  a  fierce  fight,  and  took  Cadiz 
itself  by  storm.  This  rude  lesson  kept  the  Spaniards  quiet  for  some 
years,  and,  after  Philip  u.'s  death  in  1598,  the  war  languished  for 
the  rest  of  the  reign. 

19.  The  last  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  saw  the  first  attempts 
to  found  English  colonies  in  America.    As  early  as  1583,  Sir 
Humphrey    Gilbert    strove    to    plant    an    English   _.    fl 
settlement  on  the  dreary  coast  of  Newfoundland,  but  attempts 
failed  utterly,  and  perished  at  sea  on  his  way  home,   at  English 
His    half-brother,    Sir    Walter    Raleigh,    the    most  colonies- 
brilliant  and  many-sided  of  the  Devonshire  heroes  of  the  reigdfc 
took  up  Gilbert's  ideas,  and  between  1585  and  1590  made  three 
attempts  to  set  up  an  English  colony  in  a  part  of  the  mainland 
of  North  America,  which  he  called  Virginia,  in  honour  of  the 
virgin  queen.    But  Raleigh  was  too  bu|y  pushing  his  fortunes 
at  court  to  go  himself  to  Virginia,  and,  without  his  guidance,  the 
effort  came  to  nothing.    When  the  queen  died  there  was  not  a 
single  English  settlement  on  the  American  continent. 

20.  Englishmen  who  wished  to  find  a  new  home  beyond  sea 
obtained  what  they  sought  in  Ireland  rather  than  over  the  Atlantic. 
We  have  seen  how,  under  Henry  vnr.,  the  first  iPeiand 
English  king  of  Ireland,  vigorous  efforts  had  been  under 
made  to  make  the  rule  of  the  English  monarchs  a  Mapy  lU«or. 
reality,  and  the  limited  amount  of  success  that  had  attended 
them.  They  were  continued  under  his  two  daughters,  and  the 
first  great  extension  of  the  English  power  occurred  under  Mary, 
when  the  districts  called  Leix  and  Offaly,  hitherto  governed  by 
Irish  clan  chieftains,  were  conquered  by  the  queen's  deputy,  or 
governor,  the  earl  of  Sussex,  and  were  made,  as  the  phrase  went, 
shire-ground.  By  that  it  was  meant  that,  as  in  Wales,  the  setting 
up  of  English  law  followed  the  establishment  of  new  counties. 
The  newly  conquered  Irish  districts  were  called  King's  County  and 
Queen's  County,  and  their  county  towns  Philipstown  and  Mary* 
borough,  in  honour  of  Philip  and  Mary.  This  was  the  last  advance 
of  the  English  power  in  Ireland  during  the  days  when  English 
and  Irish,  though  divided  by  race  and  language,  still  agreed  about 
religion. 

21.  Elizabeth  extended  to  Ireland  her  English  ecclesiastical 
policy,  th6ugh  there  were  few  Protestants  there,  either  among  the 
native  Irish  or  the  Norman  lords.     She  was  so  thrifty,  and  had  so 


402     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1558- 

much  to   do  at  home,  that   she  was  very  anxious  not  to  incur 
expense  by  pursuing  an  energetic  policy  in  Ireland,  and  was  willing 

to  rule  the  island  through  the  local  chieftains,  as  her 
O'Neill  and  father  had  done.  Quarrels  among  the  O'Neills,  the 
Elizabeth,       chief  native  Irish  sept,  or  family,  in  Ulster,  soon  made 

this  idea  impracticable.  The  head  of  the  O'Neills  had 
been  made  earl  of  Tyrone  by  Henry  vm.  in  the  hope  of  winning 
him  over  to  the  English  side.  Shane  O'Neill,  the  ablest  and  fiercest 
of  his  sons,  was  disgusted  to  find  his  father  obtain  from  the  English 
permission  to  make  another  of  his  children  his  successor  as  earl. 
He  therefore  rose  in  revolt,  murdered  his  brother,  and  drove  his 
father  out  of  the  country.  The  O'Neills  elected  the  victorious 
Shane  as  chief  of  the  sept,  or,  as  he  was  called,  The  O'Neill,  and  the 
successful  rebel  made  himself  absolute  master  of  Ulster.  Elizabeth 
strove  in  vain  to  treat  with  him,  but  Shane  was  so  strong  that  he 
openly  defied  her ;  and  in  1567,  the  deputy,  Sir  Henry  Sidney, 
the  father  of  Sir  Philip,  was  compelled  to  wage  war  against 
him.  Before  long  Shane  was  murdered  by  a  rival  clan  which 
envied  the  power  of  the  O'Neills. 

22.  Sidney  made  Ulster  shire-ground,  and  "Walter  Devereux, 
first  earl  of  Essex,  tried  to  establish  a  settlement  of  Protestant 
Ireland  and  c°l°nis^s  ^  Antrim,  which  was  soon  an  utter  failure, 
the  Counter-  Before  long  Ulster  fell  back  into  its  old  lawless  freedom, 
Reforma-        an(i  Sidney's  work  seemed  to  be  altogether  in  vain. 

A  great  change  was  now  beginning  to  bring  Irish 
politics  into  closer  relations  with  the  great  world.  Up  to  now 
Ireland  had  been  quite  separated  from  all  European  movements. 
But  the  constant  trouble  which  Ireland  gave  Elizabeth  tempted  the 
queen's  Catholic  enemies  to  avail  themselves  of  the  Irish  hatred  of 
England  and  the  English  religion,  and  make  their  land  a  centre 
of  the  Counter-Reformation.  The  pope  sent  priests  and  the  king  of 
Spain  sent  soldiers  to  Ireland,  and  these  kindled  a  new  rebellion  in 

1579.  This  was  not,  like  the  revolt  of  Shane  O'Neill, 
The  the  work  of  a  native  clan.    Its  centre  was  the  Munster 

rebellion  branch  of  the  great  Norman  house  of  Fitzgerald, 
1579,  and  whose  head  was  the  earl  of  Desmond.  Elizabeth  put 
the  Planta-  down  the  revolt  with  great  cruelty,  and  reduced  the 
Munster.         Desmond  country  to  a  desert.     The  rebels'  lands  were 

forfeited  to  the  crown,  and  in  1584  a  systematic 
attempt  was  made  to  establish  English  colonists  in  Munster.  This 
was  called  the  Plantation  of  Munster.  The  forfeited  estates  were 
divided  among  gentlemen  adventurers,  who  were  to  let  out  their 


-1584.]     LATTER   YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    403 

lands  to  English  farmers.  But  most  of  the  grantees  remained  in 
England,  and  sought  to  make  profit  out  of  their  estates  by  hiring 
them  out  for  as  much  rent  as  they  could  get.  Few  Englishmen 
would  pay  high  rents  for  land  in  Ireland,  where  they  stood  a  good 
chance  of  being  murdered  by  the  natives,  and  were  certain  to  live 
rough  and  uncomfortable  lives.  The  result  was  that  the  Plantation 
of  Munster  proved  a  failure.  A  few  poor  gentlemen,  one  of  whom 
was  the  poet  Edmund  Spenser,  settled  down  in  the  old  homes  of 


^'y.  >->-J  of  •  Cork 


<??&< 


aFitzgerald  Influence,.  L_j 
\Butler  Influence .fiH 


Emery  Walker  so 
IRELAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS. 


the  Desmonds,  but  the  mass  of  the  forfeited  lands  were  granted  to 
Irishmen,  who  alone  would  offer  the  impossible  terms  demanded 
by  their  landlords.  Before  long  rebellion  made  short  work  of  the 
scattered  English  settlers,  and  the  only  real  result  of  the  move- 
ment was  the  establishment  of  some  great  English  landlords  in  the 
estates  once  held  by  the  Desmond  family. 

23.  The  suppression  of  the  Desmond  revolt  left  Ireland  in  com- 
parative peace  for  twenty  years.     During  this  period  bitter  hatred  of 


404     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     [1598- 

the  English  and  the  new  zeal  of  the  Irish  for  Catholicism  were  rapidly- 
breaking  down  the  barriers  which  separated  clan  from  clan  and  the 
The  Irish  °^  Irish  from  the  descendants  of  the  Normans.  When 
revolt  of        revolt  again  broke  ont  in  1598,  it  was  not  confined  to 

1598.  a  sjngie  family,  race,  or  district.  When  the  head  of 
the  O'Neills,  Shane's  nephew  Hugh,  earl  of  Tyrone,  raised  Ulster, 
he  had  among*  his  supporters  the  rival  clan  of  the  O'Donnells, 
because  he  was  not  like  Shane  fighting  simply  for  his  own  clan, 
but  for  the  pope  and  all  Ireland.  Moreover,  the  rising  spread  to 
Munster,  where  the  return  of  the  exiled  earl  of  Desmond  gave,  the 
signal  for  a  general  revolt,  which  soon  swept  away  the  English 
colonists.  Soon  all  Ireland  was  ablaze  with  rebellion.  It  was  the 
first  combined  national  and  Catholic  movement  against  English 
supremacy. 

24.  Robert  Devereux,  earl  of  Essex,  the  son  of  the  would-be 
colonizer  of  Antrim,  and  the  hero  of  the  Cadiz  expedition  of  1596, 
Essex  in  was  a  gallant  and  showy  young  nobleman,  and  the 
Ireland,  chief  favourite  of  the  old  queen.   Though  his  wayward- 

1 599.  negs  ka(j  already  irritated  his  sovereign,  she  entrusted 
him,  in  1599,  with  the  difficult  task  of  suppressing  the  Irish 
rising.     Essex,  however,  managed  matters  very  incompetently,  and 

soon  gave  up  the  task  in  disgust.  In  1600  a  stronger 
stress7  1,uler  was  found  ^  Charles  Blount,  lord  Mountjoy, 
the  rebel-  under  whom  the  Irish  resistance  was  gradually  broken 
lion>  down.    Though  a  large  Spanish  force  come  to  their  help, 

Mountjoy's  energy  and  ruthlessness  finally  prevailed 
over  all  opposition.  The  O'Neills  held  out  longest,  but  about  the  time 
of  Elizabeth's  death,  Mountjoy  pressed  them  so  hard  that  Tyrone  was 
forced  to  make  his  submission.  Thus  Ireland  was  at  last  conquered ; 
but  the  cruelty  of '  the  process,  largely  the  result  of  the  queen's 
over-thriftiness,  left  the  bitterest  memories  behind  it.  The  Irish 
loathed  the  foreign  yoke,  and  were  only  k|pt  down  by  sheer  force. 

25.  While  Ireland  was  thus  conquered  by  Elizabeth,  important 
steps  were  being  taken  to  bring  about  the  union  of  Britain.   Wales, 

united  to  England  on  equal  terms  by  Henry  viii.,  was 
towards  under  Elizabeth  for  the  first  time  won  over  to  Pro- 
British  testantism  by  native  bishops,  of  whom  the  most  im- 

portant  was  William  Morgan,  bishop  of  St.  Asaph, 
whose  single-minded  zeal  procured  the  publication  of  a  translation 
of  the  whole  Bible  into  Welsh,  so  that  it  became  easy  to  preach 
Protestantism  with  effect  to  the  Welsh  people  in  their  own  tongue. 
Moreover,  the  new  friendship  which  common  Protestantism  had 


-1603.]    LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    405 

brought  about  between  England  and  Scotland  was  working  out  its 
natural  results.  Though  the  will  of  Henry  vin.  had  provided  that 
the  succession  to  the  English  throne  should  go  to  the  descendants 
of  his  younger  sister,  Mary,  duchess  *of  Suffolk,  no  one  paid  any 
serious  regard  to  the  children  of  Lady  Catharine  Grey,  Lady  Jane's 
sister.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  when  the  old  queen  died,  the 
next  monarch  would  be  the  king  of  Scots,  though  Elizabeth  herself 
was  so  jealous  of  power  that  she  could  never  bear  to  have  mentioned 
the  question  of  the  succession. 

26.  The  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  were  a  period  of 
wonderful  prosperity.  Britain  was  at  peace ;  Ireland  was  being 
conquered ;  the  Spaniards  were  beaten,  and  the  pope  71,0  Cecils 
and  the  Jesuits  were  no  longer  dangerous.  The  newly  Essex,  and 
found  restlessness  and  energy  which*  had  disputed  with  Rale'8h. 
Spain  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas,  and  won  for  England  the 
beginnings  of  her  commerce  and  maritime  greatness,  found  other 
outlets  in  the  most  wondrous  outburst  of  literature  that  Eng- 
land was  ever  to  witness.  Hardly  moved  by  these  new  glories, 
Elizabeth  grew  old  in  increasing  loneliness  as  her  old  favourites 
and  ministers  were  taken  away  by  death.  Burghley,  the  last  of 
the  band,  died  in  1598,  and  was  lucky  in  handing  on  his  power  to 
his  son,  Sir  Robert  Cecil.  While  Robert  Cecil  upheld  the  cautious 
views  of  his  father,  Essex  and  Raleigh  represented  the  party  that 
wished  to  prosecute  the  war  with  Spain  with  more  activity  than 
the  prudent  Cecils  would  allow.  Essex,  the  favourite  of  the  queen's 
old  age,  finally  lost  her  f  avour  by  his  incompetence  in  Ireland.  On 
his  return  without  leave  from  his  Irish  government,  Elizabeth  put 
him  into  prison.  He  was  soon  released,  but  ordered  not  to  show 
himself  at  court.  Like  a  spoilt  child  he  fretted  under  his  sovereign's 
displeasure.  As  he  could  not  persuade  Elizabeth  to  receive  him 
again,  he  strove,  in  1601,  to  excite  a  revolt  among  the  Londoners, 
hoping  thereby  to  drive  the  Cecils  from  power  and  compel  the  old 
queen  to  readmit  him  to  his  former  position.  Essex's  attempt 
utterly  failed,  and  he  was  convicted  and  executed  as  a  traitor. 
The  result  of  his  folly  was  to  establish  Robert  Cecil  more  firmly 
than  ever  as  chief  minister  until  the  old  queen's  death. 

27.  As  troubles  from  abroad  lessened,  Elizabeth  had  increased 
difficulties  with  her  own  subjects.  Some  of  this  was  perhaps  due 
to  that  arbitrary  temper  which  resented  all  opposition  as  disloyalty, 
and  continued  measures  barely  justifiable  in  a  time  of  great  crisis 
when  the  crisis  was  almost  over.  Thus  Whitgift  continued  to 
harry  the   Puritans  as  if  their  excesses  were  still  a  danger  to 


406     LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH    [1558- 

Protestantism.  Long  after  England  had  ceased  to  have  any  real 
need  to  fear  the  pope,  the  Roman  Catholics  were  still  persecuted 
almost  as  cruelly  as  in  the  days  of  the  life-and-death 
persecution  strugg^6  °f  the  two  faiths  in  the  years  immediately 
of  Puritans  succeeding  the  bull  of  Pius  v.  The  prisons  remained 
and  crowded  witli  popish  recusants,  and  the  ghastly  execu- 

tions of  Catholic  priests  as  traitors  were  still  numerous. 
But,  in  addition  to  her  old  troubles,  Elizabeth  now  had  to  face 
difficulties  in  dealing  with  her  parliaments. 

28.  Like  Henry  viii.,  Elizabeth  had  striven  to  base  her  govern- 
ment on  the  support  of  parliament.  Even  under  Mary  the  House 
Eli  beth  °^  Commons  had  begun  to  show  signs  of  restiveness, 
and  her  and  Elizabeth  was  soon  to  discover  that  the  days  of 
Parlia-  her  father  were  over,   and  that  neither  Lords  nor 

Commons  would  submissively  ratify  all  her  commands. 
Her  early  parliaments  gave  her  general  support,  and  were  liberal 
in  making  grants,  but  they  irritated  her  by  urging  her  to  marry, 
to  conciliate  the  Puritans,  and  take  up  a  more  Protestant  foreign 
policy.  She  therefore  resolved  to  have  as  little  to  do  with  parlia- 
ments as  she  could,  and  practised  great  parsimony  so  as  to  avoid 
frequent  occasion  for  calling  them  together,  so  that  there  were 
only  thirteen  sessions  of  parliament  during  the  forty-five  years 
of  her  reign.  Moreover,  she  showed  much  skill  in  keeping  the 
House  of  Commons  in  good  humour  whenever  she  had  occasion  to 
assemble  it.  She  increased  her  influence  over  it  by  creating  a  large 
number  of  new  boroughs,  mostly  small  places,  which  were  sure  to 
return  any  members  that  she  selected.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  also,  though 
her  chief  minister,  remained  a  commoner,  and  sat  in  every  parlia- 
ment, being  perhaps  the  first  English  statesman  who  took  great 
pains  to  manage  the  House  of  Commons  and  persuade  it  to  uphold 
his  policy.  If  parliament  got  out  of  hand,  Elizabeth  did  not 
scruple  to  rebuke  it,  to  silence  it,  or  to  send  the  leading  commoners 
to  the  Tower.  Such  arbitrary  action  only  increased  the  Commons' 
irritation,  and  made  them  excessively  jealous  of  their  rights. 

29.  Elizabeth's  tact  and  insight,  and  the  Commons'  confidence 
in  her  general  policy,  postponed  serious  conflict  until  the  concluding 
Th  M  o-  years  °^  her  reig"n-  At  last,  in  1597,  the  Commons 
lies  contest,  sen^  UP  a  grave  remonstrance  against  the  queen's  over- 
1597  and        lavish  grants  of  monopolies.     A  monopoly  was  the 

exclusive  right  to  sell  a  certain  article,  so  that  the 
holder  of  the  privilege  could  enrich  himself  by  raising  its  price 
without  fear  of  competition.     Such  an.  exclusive  right  given  to  an 


•i6o3.]    LATTER    YEARS  OF  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH     407 


inventor  or  discoverer  is  common  enough  nowadays,  and  does 
more  good  than  harm.  But  Elizabeth  found  that  the  grant  of  a 
monopoly  was  the  cheapest  way  in  which  she  could  reward  her 
favourites  and  courtiers,  and  she  soon  created  so  many  monopolies 
in  common  articles  of  necessity  that  they  became  a  serious  burden 
to  her  people.  Even  the  remonstrances  of  the  parliament  of  1597 
bore  little  fruit,  and  in  1601  a  new  parliament  met  and  renewed 
the  complaints  of  its  predecessor.  When  the  list  of  monopolies 
was  read  before  the  Commons,  a  member  exclaimed,  "  Is  not  bread 
among  the  number  ?  Nay,  but  it  will  be  if  no  remedy  be  found 
before  the  next  parliament."  So  loud  was  the  outcry  that 
Elizabeth  gave  way.  She  promised  to  revoke  all  monopolies  that 
weighed  heavily  upon  her  people,  and  graciously  thanked  the 
Commons  for  calling  her  attention  to  grievances  of  which  other- 
wise she  would  have  had  no  knowledge.  Thus  her  tact  triumphed 
over  the  arbitrary  temper  of  her  family,  and  though  England  had 
outgrown  the  Tudor  despotism,  men  bore  willingly  the  rule  of  so 
popular  a  queen  and  so  good  an  Englishwoman. 

30.  Elizabeth's  health  was    now  breaking  up,  but    she    still 
refused    to    nominate    her    successor,  though    all   her  ministers 
wished  to  have  the  king  of  Scots.    As  she  lay  dying,   Death  of 
they  urged  her  to   declare  her  wishes.     When  her   Elizabeth, 
statesmen  spoke  of  the  king  of  Scots,  she  gave  no  sign ;    1603. 
but  when  they  mentioned  Lord  Beauohamp,  the  son  of  Catharine 
Grey,  she  fired  up,  and  cried,  "  I  will  have  no  rascal's  son  in  my 
seat ! "    At  last  she  died  on  March  24, 1603,  when  nearly  seventy 
years  old , 

THE  CECIL  AND  BACON  FAMILIES 


Sir  Anthony  Cooke 


Mary  m.  (1)  William  Cecil,  (2)  m.  Mildred  Cooke 
Che'ke           Lord  Burghley, 
d.  1598.  , 
(1)  I (2) 


Anne  m 
Cooke 


Sir  Nicholas 

Bacon,  Lord 

Keeper 


Thomas  Cecil, 
first  Lord  Exeter. 

Richard  Cecil, 
ancestor  of  present 
Marquis  of  Exeter. 

Edward  Cecil, 

Viscount  Wimbledon, 

d.  1638. 


Robert  Cecil,  first 

earl  of  Salisbury, 

d.  1612, 

ancestor  of  the 

Marquis  of  Salisbury, 

prime  minister  of 

Queen  Victoria. 


Francis  Bacon, 

Viscount  St.  Albans 

and  Lord  Chancellor, 

d.  1626. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  TUDORS 

1.  The  Tudor  period  saw  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the 

beginnings  of  modern  times.    It  was  a  season  of  great  revolutionary 

The  beein-      changes.     It  was  the  age  of  the  Renascence,  or  the  new 

nings  of  birth  of  thought,  and  learning,  and  of  the  Kef  ormation 

modern  which  saw  the  break  up  of  the  unity  of  the  Church  of 

times  n 

the  Middle  Ages.     Though  the  Counter-Reformation 

threatened  both  Renascence  and  Reformation,  it  was,  so  far  as 

England  went,  powerless  to  change  the  direction  of  our  national 

life.      Elizabeth   saved  the  Reformation  which'  Henry  vni.  had 

begun,  and  restored  the  greatness  of  the  English  state.    Under  her 

the  Renascence  first  took  a  firm  hold  of  her  people,  and  manifested 

itself  in  the  great  outburst  of  many-sided  energy  that  marked  the 

last  five  and  twenty  years  of  her  reign. 

2.  Such  a  time  of  revolutionary  storms  needed  strong  pilots  to 
steer  the  ship  of  state,  and  the  veiled  despotism  of  the  Tudors  gave 

England  a  form  of  government  which  carried  it  success- 
monarchy       ^^7  through  the  age   of   crisis.     Yet  the  vigorous 

power  exercised  by  these  sovereigns  was  not  due  to  any 
formal  change  „in  the  constitution  so  much  as  to  the  confidence  of 
the  people,  the  ability  of  the  monarchs,  the  needs  of  the  times,  and 
the  decay  of  the  two  great  checks  that  had  curbed  the  power  of 
mediaeval  monarchs.  The  Church  had  fallen,  and  the  nobility  had 
lost  its  old  independence.  Prelate  and  noble,  the  rivals  of  earlier 
kings,  were  now  the  chief  supports  of  the  throne.  The  independent 
Commons  had  not  yet  arisen. 

3.  Parliament  continued  to  hold  its  ancient  position,  and  it  was 
a  part  of  Tudor  statecraft  to  obtain  parliamentary  sanction  for 
Parliament  ^s  most  arbitrary  acts.  Up  to  the  end  of  Elizabeth's 
under  the  reign  the  Commons  could  always  be  trusted  to  endorse 
Tudors.  ^ie  rovai  policy.  Changes  in  the  constitution  of  parlia- 
ment tended  to  increase  its  subservience  on  the  crown.  Thus  the 
House  of  Lords  became  quite  different  from  the  House  of  Lords  of 

408 


1603.]  ENGLAND  UNDER   THE   TUDORS  409 

the  Middle  Ages.  It  had  been  an  independent  body,  mainly  ecclesi- 
astical in  character.  It  became  a  preponderatingly  lay  assembly, 
and  strictly  submissive  to  the  crown.  Even  before  the  mitred 
abbots  were  removed  by  Henry  vm.  there  was  a  small  lay  majority. 
After  1539  the  ecclesiastical  element,  only  represented  by  the 
bishops,  became  insignificant.  Even  a  more  important  change  was 
brought  about  by  the  dying  away  of 'the  ancient  baronial  houses, 
and  the  rise  in  their  place  of  new  families,  enriched  by  the  spoils  of 
the  monasteries,  and  owing  their  importance  to  the  service  of  the 
crown.  Few  6ld  families  like  the  Howards,  Nevilles,  and  Percies 
still  stood  out  among  the  Russells,  Cavendishes,  Cecils,  and  other 
ministerial  houses  of  recent  date.  Though  the  number  of  lay  peers 
was  still  very  small,  the  majority  was  well  under  the  control  of  the 
crown.  Not  many  Tudor  bishops  were  bold  enough  to  disobey  the 
orders  of  their  supreme  governor.  While  the  Lords  on  the  whole 
declined  in  number,  the  number  of  the  Commons  was  added  to  by 
Henry  vin.'s  new  members  from  Wales  and  Cheshire,  and  by 
frequent  creations  of  boroughs.  Many  of  these  latter  were  places 
of  no  importance,  and  were  only  called  upon  to  return  members  in 
order  to  increase  the  influence  of  the  crown. 

4.  There  was  little  friction  between  crown  and  parliament, 
since  the  province  of  the  two  authorities  were  recognized  as 
distinct.     Parliament  raised  taxes,  passed   laws,  and    „   ' 

sent  up   complaints  if  anything  went  amiss.      The   between 
spending  of  money,  and  the  execution  of  the  laws  were   Crown  and 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  crown.    The  great  feature   Papliament- 
of  the  constitutional  history  of  the  time  is  the  strengthening  of  the 
executive  power  of  the  monarchy,  both  in  its  central  and  local  organs. 

5.  The  king  was  his  own  chief  minister,  and  held  in  his  own 
hands  all  the  strings  of  policy.    But  the  task  of  ruling  a  great 
country  was  so  laborious  that  he  was  forced  to  share   The  king 
the  burden  with  his  ministers.     These  ministers  were   and  his 
partly  great  noblemen,  who  held  as  of  prescriptive   mimsters- 
right  the  ancient  high  offices  of  .state,  such  as  those  of  treasurer, 
admiral,  or  chancellor.     But  a  great  noble  was  not  always  clever 
or  hard-working,  and  could  not- always  be  trusted  to  play  the  king's 
game.     The  result  was  that   important  and  confidential  business 
was  increasingly  left  to  the  king's  two  secretaries,  who  were  called 
under  Elizabeth  the  secretaries  of  state.     The  Tudor  secretaries 
were  men  of  humbler  rank  but  greater  ability  than  the  high 
officials.     They  were  professional  statesmen,  and  quite  devoted  to 
their  master.     From  their  staff  of  clerks  and  subordinates  we  have 


4IO  ENGLAND    UNDER   THE   TUDORS  [1485- 

the  beginning  of  the  elaborate  civil  service  and  the  complicated 
machinery  of  government  of  the  modern  state. 

6.  When  the  king  wanted  advice  he  went  to  his  council,  now 
sometimes  called  the  privy  council.     This  was  a  smaller  and  more 

confidential  body  than  the  Concilium  ordinarium  of 
earlier  times,  which  was  now  practically  extinct.  The 
Tudor  council  was  a  small  board  of  less  than  twenty  members,  and 
including  as  a  rule  men  of  different  ways  of  thinking,  so  that  the 
king  could  hear  all  sorts  of  opinions  in  it.  It  was  so  active  and 
powerful  that  the  Tudor  period  has  well  been  described  as  the  age  of 
government  by  council.  Yet  it  was  the  king  or  queen  that  acted : 
the  council  only  advised.  When  the  crown  had  decided,  it  was  the 
business  of  the  council  to  carry  out  the  royal  will.  Besides  its 
main  consultative  and  administrative  function,  the  council  issued 
ordinances  or  proclamations,  which  were  not  very  different  from 
new  laws,  and  which  encroached  on  the  powers  of  Parliament.  In 
the  same  way  council  encroached  upon  the  law  courts  by  its  ever- 
increasing  judicial  activity. 

7.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  council  was  an  inheritance  from  the 
Middle  Ages,  but  was  largely  added  to  in   Tudor  times.     Its 

judicial  functions  were  largely  handed  over  to  a  corn- 
Chamber  mittee,  which  soon  became  identified  with  the  special 
and  the  tribunal  set  up  for  the  trial  of  great  offenders  by  Henry 

local  vn.'s  statute   against  livery  and  maintenance.    This 

councils  y~, 

body,  which  acquired  the  name  of  the  Star  Chamber 

from  holding  its  sessions  in  a  room  whose  ceiling  was  painted  with 
stars,  became  in  substance  the  council  in  its  judicial  aspect,  includ- 
ing all  the  councillors  and  some  of  the  chief  judges.  It  did  good 
work  all  through  Tudor  times,  partly  by  making  great  offenders 
obey  the  law,  and  partly  by  taking  a  quicker,  wider,  and  more  equit- 
able view  of  cases  than  was  possible  for  the  common  law  courts  with 
their  stiff  traditions  of  what  the  law  should  be.  A  feature  of  Tudor 
times  was  the  establishment  of  local  courts  of  the  same  type  as  the 
Star  Chamber,  such  as  the  Council  of  the  North  at  York,  and  the 
Council  of  Wales  at  Ludlow.  The  Court  of  Sigh  Commission,  set 
up  at  Elizabeth's  accession,  did  for  the  Church  what  the  other  pre- 
rogative courts  did  for  the  state.  This  last  body  always  provoked 
much  opposition,  but  it  was  hardly  until  Stewart  times  that  the  lay 
courts  became  oppressive.  All,  however,  owed  their  authority 
to  the  crown,  and  worked  without  a  jury  and  without  the  traditional 
regard  to  fixed  legal  principles  which  were  both  the  glory  and  the 
limitation  of  the  common  law  courts. 


-1603.]  ENGLAND   UNDER  THE   TUDORS  411 

8.  Local  administration  was  in  the  hands  of  the  country  gentry. 
The  shire  moot  was  now  obsolete  except  for  parliamentary  elections, 
having  been  superseded  by  the  justices  of  the  peace,   Local 

who  acted  under  royal  commissions,  yet  were  not  state  govern*  • 
officials,  but  the  independent  and  unpaid  gentry  of  the  ment. 
district.  The  justices  as  individuals  tried  petty  offenders,  and  all  the 
justices  of  the  county  met  from  time  to  time  in  quarter  sessions, 
which  discharged  the  whole  functions  of  local  government.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  popular  character  of  the  Tudor  monarchy 
that  it  felt  itself  strong  enough  to  hand  over  such  important  work 
to  the  local  gentry.  The  schooling  in  law  and  administration  which 
his  work  as  justice  gave  every  country  squire  was  of  immense 
importance  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  time  when  a  new  genera- 
tion of  the  landed  gentry  led  in  the  House  of  Commons  the  revolt 
against  the  Stewarts. 

9.  Another  aspect  of  the  popular  Tudor  despotism  was  its  power 
to  govern  without  the  aid  of  a  strong  military  force.  There  were 
no  regular  soldiers  in  Tudor  England,  save  a  corps   -gy|*JL_ 

of    yeomen    to    guard    the    king's    person,    and  the   weakness 
permanent  garrisons  of   Calais,   Berw'.ck,  and  a  few   *•£ tne 
fortresses.     Henry  vni.  hired  foreign  mercenaries  in 
the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  but  they  soon  disappeared  after  his 
death.     The  main  defence  of  the  country  still  fell  upon  the  local 
militia,  to  serve  in  which  was  one  of  the  duties  of  a  citizen.     It 
was  commanded  by  a  lord  lieutenant,  appointed  for  every  county 
since  the  days  of  Edward  vi.  and  Mary.    Under  him  were  deputy- 
lieutenants,  who  belonged,  like  the  justices  of  the  peace,  to  the 
local  gentry.     Thus  even  military  commands  were  entrusted  by  the 
Tudors  to  the  country  squires.     More  was  done  by  the  state  for 
the  navy  than  the  army,  but  even  in  a  cri&'s  like  the  Armada,  tha 
forces  of  the  crown  had  to  be  supplemented  by  armed  merchant- 
men. 

10.  Competition  became  fiercer,  and  careers  were  more  readily 
opened  to  talent  as  the  modern  spirit  became  stronger.     The  sup- 
pression of  the  monasteries  did  much  to  uproot  the  old    «    , 
social  and  economic  order,  and  the  annals  of  Henry  vm.    economic 
and  Edward  vi.  show  how  the  spirit  of  unrest  was   changes, 
abroad,  and  how  much  suffering  was  involved  in  the  displacement 
of  the  ancient  landmarks.     Yet  class  distinctions  remained  strong, 
even  when  it  was  easier  to  rise  from  one  class  to  another.     The 
gentry  were  still  a  class  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  community ;  but 
the  professional  and  merchant  classes  were  attaining  increased 


412  .       ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  [1485- 

importance.  The  one  great  mediaeval  profession,  that  of  the  clergy, 
lost  power,  wealth,  and  social  estimation.  A  married  clergy  fonnd 
it  hard  to  live  on  the  scanty  remnants  of  the  old  endowments,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  parish  priests  were  ill  educated  as  well  as 
poor.  But  lawyers  made  great  fortunes,  and  the  medical  profession 
begins  to  have  a  status  when  Henry  viii.  set  up  the  Colleges 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Trade  grew,  and  with  it  the  wealth 
and  importance  of  the  merchants,  until  the  highest  classes  in 
the  land  became  infected  with  the  commercial  spirit.  Elizabeth 
herself  took,  shares,  and  made  her  profit  out  of  Drake's  piratical 
attacks  on  Spain.  Landholders  regarded  their  estates  as  a  com- 
mercial investment  which  must  return  them  a  high  rate  of  interest 
for  their  outlay.  The  permanent  result  of  this  spirit  was  by  no 
means  all  evil.  As  the  century  grew  old,  new  ways  of  employ- 
ment were  opened  up,  which  got  rid  of  the  sturdy  beggar  more 
effectively  than  the  cruel  laws  of  an  earlier  time.  Corn-growing 
again  became  profitable  as  population  increased  and  markets 
were  developed.  Fresh  crops,  such  as  hops  and  many  new  fruits  and 
vegetables,  were  introduced  from  the  continent,  and  before  the 
great  queen's  death  the  cultivation  of  the  potato  was  brought  in 
from  America.  There  were  more  manufactures,  and  emigration, 
especially  to  Ireland,  afforded  careers  for  those  without  occupation 
at  home.  Thus  both  the  yeomen  and  the  craftsmen  flourished. 
Many  yeomen  were  able  to  buy  up  the  lands  of  the  unthrifty 
gentry,  and  the  successful  trader  from  the  towns  was  constantly 
becoming  absorbed  in  the  landed  classes.  Anxiety  to  keep  up  the 
supply  of  skilled  workmen  took  the  shape  of  Elizabeth's  famous 
Act  of  Apprentices  of  1563,  which  declared  that  no  one  should 
exercise  a  trade  until  he  had  served  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship  in 

it.  The  same  year  saw  the  first  attempt  of  the  state 
Laws°°P         ^°  se^  UP  a  sys^ma^c  and  pompulsory  system  of  poor 

relief.  This  culminated  in  the  most  famous  of  the 
Elizabethan  poor  laws,  passed  in  1601.  By  it  the  justices  were 
empowered  to  nominate  overseers  in  every  parish,  and  these  had 
authority  to  tax  every  inhabitant,  so  as  to  provide  the  sums  neces- 
sary to  support  the  poor  of  the  parisli.  Thus  grew  up  our  system 
of  poor  relief,  which  remained  much  the  same  until  the  new  poor 
law  of  1834. 

11.  One  sign  of  the  growth  of  English  resources  was  the 
wonderful  raising  of  the  material  standards  of  comfort  and  civiliza- 
tion. The  gross  abundance  of  earlier  times  had  given  Englishmen 
plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  and  the  upper  classes  lived  with  great 


-1603.]  ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  413 

outward  state  and  magnificence.  Now  the  ordinary  man's  house 
was  built  more  solidly  and  comfortably,  and  lovers  of  old  ways 
denounced  the  effeminate  luxury  that  rejected  round  inepease  0f 
logs  for  pillows  and  bolsters,  clean  straw  or  rushes  for  refinement 
carpets  and  tapestry,  and  a  hole  in  the  roof  to  let  out  and  luxurv- 
the  smoke  for  a  chimney.  Forks  came  into  general  use  instead  of 
fingers.  Food  also  became  more  varied  and  wholesome.  The  intro- 
duction of  hops  improved  the  quality  of  beer,  and  towards  the  end  of 
the  period  American  explorers  introduced  a  new  luxury  in  tobacco. 
Men  ate  so  much  flesh  meat  that  the  state,  not  so  much  for 
religious  reasons  as  for  the  sake  of  encouraging  the  fisheries,  strove 
to  keep  up  the  old  habit  of  fasting  on  Fridays.  Dress  became 
exceedingly  rich  and  gorgeous,  and  the  clothes  both  for  men  and 
women  became  less  tasteful  and  more  barbaric  in  Elizabeth's  days. 
Conspicuous  articles  of  ladies'  attire  were  the  ruff,  an  exaggerated 
collar,  towering  high  above  the  neck,  and  the  farthingale,  or  hoop, 
which  assumed  a  ridiculous  stiffness  and  enormous  dimensions. 

12.  Education  became  wider,  and  affected  larger  classes  of 
society.  Though  the  changes  in  religion  resulted  in  much  un- 
necessary havoc  among  the  schools  and  colleges  that 
had  come  down  from  the  Middle  Ages,  some  effort  was  «5d  travel 
made  to  set  up  new  ones  in  their  place,  and  education 
was  no  longer  regarded  as  simply  a  training  for  scholars  and  pro- 
fessional men.  A  certain  amount  of  culture  was  demanded  from 
every  gentleman  and  lady.  A  gentleman  was  expected  to  be  well 
read,  fond  of  poetry  and  music,  an  expert  in  fencing  and  horse- 
manship, polished  in  his  manner,  and  elegant  in  his  garb.  For 
an  education  so  comprehensive  as  this,  travel  was  one  of  the  best 
schools,  and  the  educated  scholar  and  gentleman  made  a  point  of 
going  abroad,  particularly  to  Italy,  which  was  still  the  traditional 
centre  of  European  intellectual  life.  Lovers  of  old  ways  com- 
plained that  many  Englishmen  got  more  harm  than  good  from 
their  foreign  experience,  and  denounced  the  profligacy  and  irre- 
ligion  that  too  often  made  the  "  Italianate  Englishman  a  devil 
incarnate."  Travel  was  facilitated  by  the  better  police  of  the  seas 
that  kept  down  piracy,  and  within  England  by  the  introduction  of 
coaches,  which,  however  heavy  and  cumbrous  they  seem  to  us,  were 
denounced  as  dangerous  luxuries,  only  permissible  to  the  aged  and 
infirm.  Men  still  mainly  made  their  journeys  on  horseback,  and 
gentlemen  carried  arms,  partly  as  a  sign  of  their  gentility,  but 
partly  as  a  means  of  protection  against  the  robbers  that  infested 
every  highway. 


414  ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  [14S5- 

13.  Another  sign  of  modern  times  was  the  dying  out  of  Gothic 
architecture,  though  this  took  place  very  slowly.  Under  Henry  vni. 
Renascence  so  s^tely  a  Gothic  "building  as  Bath  Abbey  could  still 
apchitec-  be  erected,  while  the  methods  of  mediaeval  construction 
ture.  lingered  on,  notably  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  until 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  age  of  the  Reforma- 
tion did  not  build  churches,  but  pulled  them  down,  so  that  it  is  to 
domestic  and  civil  rather  than  to  ecclesiastical  architecture  that  we 
must  look  if  we  would  study  the  change  of  fashion  that  now  came 
in.  Italian  influence  made  itself  felt  about  the  middle  of  the  century, 
though  few  great  houses  were  erected  in  the  pure  Renascence  or 
Italian  style.  The  gorgeous  palaces  of  Elizabethan  nobles  were  still 
Gothic  in  their  general  outline,  but  the  details  and  the  ornamen- 
tation were  those  which  the  classic  revival  had  borrowed  from  Italy. 
As  good  examples  of  this  mixed  Elizabethan  or  Jacobean  style,  as 
it  is  called,  we  may  mention  the  two  great  houses  of  Burghley,  near 
Stamford,  and  Hatfield,  in  Hertfordshire,  which  were  erected  by 
William  and  Robert  Cecil.  Though  the  style  may  easily  be  criti- 
cized as  a  confused  medley  of  different  types,  it  is  picturesque, 
appropriate,  and  dignified.  The  mansions  erected  in  it  were  much 
more  comfortable  to  live  in  than  the  castles  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

14.  Other  arts  were  less  flourishing  than  architecture.     There 

was  a  real  English  school  of  Church  musicians,  and  the  Elizabethan 

composers  could  set  appropriate  music  to  the  delicate 
Othepapts.     .     .         .    , ,       ,     ,   rr    r  e    ^     ,.  ,  ... 

lyrics    01    the    best    age   01     English    song-writing. 

English  painting  and  sculpture  were,  however,  at  a  low  ebb, 
as  many  a  bad  picture  in  old  houses,  and  still  more  numerous 
stiff  and  clumsy  sculptured  tombs  of  Elizabethan  worthies  show. 
Henry  vni.,  who  loved  art  and  splendour,  gave  pensions  to  foreign 
artists,  though  many  of  them  were  not  much  more  skilled  in  their 
craft  than  their  English  rivals.  Some  of  Henry's  foreign  artists, 
however,  were  men  of  real  distinction.  The  Italian  sculptor, 
Torrigiano,  wrought  for  him  the  beautiful  effigies  of  Henry  vn.  and 
the  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort,  his  mother,  in  the  new  Henry  vn.'s 
chapel  of  Westminster  Abbey,  which  is  itself  one  of  the  glories 
of  sixteenth-century  Gothic  architecture.  The  German  Hans 
Holbein  spent  nearly  twenty  years  in  England  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  vni.,  and  has  painted  and  drawn  tho  men 
of  that  age  with  uncompromising  truthfulness  and  consummate 
technical  skill.  Very  inferior  to  this  great  artist  were  the  common- 
place painters  who  came  from  Italy  and  Flanders  to  portray  the 
worthies  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth. 


-1603.]  ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  415 

15.  For  the  first  three-quarters  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
output  of  good  literature  in  England  was  not  great.  But  the 
activity  of  the  numerous  printing-presses  showed  how 

love  of  learning  and  a  taste  for  reading  had  spread.  merature°r 
Poets  still  followed  the  fashion  set  by  Chaucer,  but 
it  was  in  Scotland  rather  than  in  England  that  the  Chaucerian 
tradition  was  most  fruitful  of  good  work.  The  real  literary 
importance  of  the  early  part  of  Henry  vin.'s  reign  is  not  so  much 
the  actual  literature  produced  as  the  impulse  which  men  like  Colet 
and  More  set  towards  the  humanism  of  the  Renascence.  The 
most  notable  book  produced  by  this  circle  of  reformers  was  More's 
Utopia.  Though  written  in  Latin,  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  very 
definitely  English  in  its  unsparing  analysis  of  the  evils  from  which 
our  country  was  then  suffering.  The  next  generation  saw  the 
effects  of  the  Reformation  in  such  work  as  Latimer's  homely  and 
outspoken  Sermons,  while  the  habitual  use  of  the  various  English 
translations  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Edwardian  Booh  of  Common 
Prayer  did  much  to  set  up  a  high  standard  of  dignified  English 
prose.  The  fashion  of  writing  became  less  cumbrous  and  more 
direct  in  the  straightforward  English,  written  much  after  the 
fashion  of  homely  speech,  which  came  from  the  pen  of  the  school- 
master and  reformer,  Roger  Ascham,  whose  works  mark  the 
beginnings  of  a  more  modern  style  of  English  prose. 

16.  Towards  the  end  of  Henry  vin.'s  reign  a  new  school  of  poets 
arose,  which  derived  its  chief  impulse  from  Italy.  At  its  head 
were  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey,  the  headstrong  ' 
lord  beheaded  by  Henry  vm.  in  1547,  and  Sir  Thomas  nings  0f 
Wyatt,  the  father  of  the  rebel  against  Queen  Mary.  Elizabethan 
This  school  brought  in  Italian  metres  such  as  the  litepatupe. 
sonnet  and  blank  verse,  and  their  occasional  poems  became  widely 
read  in  manuscript  in  courtly  circles,  though  they  were  first  printed 
in  Tottel's  Miscellany,  a  collection  of  verses  published  by  a  book- 
seller named  Tottel  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  Erom  the  issue  of 
this  epoch-making  collection  the  new  inspiration  to  poetry  began. 
It  was,  however,  but  very  slowly  that  the  new  spirit  made  itself 
generally  felt.  The  first  twenty  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
were  not  much  more  productive  than  the  generation  that  preceded 
them.  Then  the  true  Elizabethan  literature  burst  forth  with 
strange  suddenness  and  overwhelming  glory,  in  those  days  of  fierce 
struggle  when  England  was  fighting  for  her  existence  against  the 
Jesuits  and  the  Spaniards,  when  Drake  was  sailing  round  the 
world,  and  when   Gilbert  and  Raleigh  were  first  dreaming  of 


4l6  ENGLAND   UNDER  THE   TUDORS  [1485- 

an  English,  colonial  empire.  A  wonderful  output  of  the  nohlest 
works  illustrated  the  last  five  and  twenty  years  of  the  queen's  reign, 
and  continued  well  intd  the  next  century.  Much  of  what  is  most 
distinctly  regarded  as  Elizabethan  was  written  under  James  1. 

17.  The  publication  of  Edmund  Spenser's  Shepherd's  Calendar 
in  1579  begins  the  flowering  time  of  Elizabethan  poetry,  and 
S  Denser  revealed  to  the  world  the  greatest  poet  of  the  new  era. 
and  the  Spenser  was  soon  called  away  from  literary  work  to* 
poets.  take,  part  in  the  plantation  of  Munster,  whence,  after 
twenty  years  of  prosperity,  he  was  driven  out  by  the  last  Desmond 
rebellion,  to  die  ere  long  in  London,  poor  and  disappointed,  but 
never  neglected.  His  great  unfinished  epic,  the  Faerie  Queen, 
written  in  Ireland,  and  published  in  1589  and  1598,  sets  forth  in 
the  richest  and  most  musical  of  verse  all  that  was  best  in  the 
spirit  of  the  English  Renascence — imagination,  chivalry,  love  of 
beauty,  enthusiasm  for  knowledge,  delight  in  allegory,  mystery, 
adventure,  and  fairy  tales,  burning  devotion  to  England  and  her 
queen,  earnest  moral  purpose,  and  fierce  hatred  of  the  pope  and 
Spain.  Spenser's  work  stands  alone,  but  some  share  of  his  poetic 
spirifwas  reflected  in  a  crowd  of  lesser  writers.  His  love-sonnets 
increased  the  fashion  for  long  sonnet  cycles,  which  had  already 
obtained  much  vogue  through  the  following  of  foreign  examples, 
•and  through  the  sonnets  wherein  Spenser's  friend  and  patron,  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  described  his  unhappy  love  for  Stella.  This  tendency 
reached  its  supreme  height  in  the  wonderful  sonnets  of  Shakespeare. 
Nothing,  however,  better  shows  how  the  spirit  of  poetry  was  in 
the  air  than  the  grace  and  spontaneity  of  many  a  nameless  lyric 
that  can  be  found  in  the  song-books  and  plays  of  this  great  age. 

18.  Most  of  all  is  the  spirit  of  the  Elizabethan  period  reflected  in 
the  development  of  the  dramatic  literature,  which  is  its  special  glory. 

The  mediaeval  taste  for  mysteries  and  moralities  had 

The  first  spread  among  the  people  a  great  taste  for  shows  and 

theatres  theatrical  entertainments,  which,  inspired  by  the  classic 

and  their        spirit  of  the  Renascence,  found  a  new  outlet  in  repre- 

perform-  sentations  of  Latin  plays  by  scholars  at  the  universities 
ances 

and  Inns  of  Court,  and  finally  led  to  their  imitation  in 

English.  At  last  the  rude  beginnings  of  a  more  national  English 
drama  began  to  appear,  and  as  the  taste  for  their  representation 
gTew,  regular  theatres  were  opened  in  which  plays  could  be  acted. 
In  1576,  James  Burbage,  the  first  famous  Elizabethan  actor,' opened 
the  first  building  set  apart  for  dramatic  performances  at  Shore- 
ditch,  just  outside  the  city  of  London.     It  soon  had  many  rivals 


-1603.]  ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  417 

and  successors,  of  which,  the  best  known  was  the  Globe  theatre 
in  Sonthwark.  These  Elizabethan  playhouses  were  but  rude 
structures,  built  of  wood  and  roofed  with  thatch  at  the  sides. 
They  were  exposed  in  the  centre  to  the  weather,  except  on  the  side 
of  the  stage,  where  the  wealthy  patrons  of  the  drama  sat  on  stools 
among*  the  actors,  while  the  ordinary  spectators  stood  in  the  exposed 
pit,  and  the  few  ladies  who  ventured  to  be  present,  hid  themselves 
away  masked,  in  boxes  ranged  round  the  covered  sides  of  the  house. 
Performances  took  place  in  the  afternoon,  and  Sunday  was  the 
favourite  day  for  them,  though  the  Puritans  looked  askance  on 
this  violation  of  the  sabbath  as  well  as  at  the  reckless  profligacy 
of  many  of  the  actors,  and  the  lax  morality  of  many  of  the  pieces. 
There  was  hardly  any  scenery  and  properties,  though  the  actors 
often  wore  rich  dresses.  Boys  acted  women's  parts,  which  were, 
however,  but  few  as  compared  with  the  number  of  male  characters. 
Though  there  was  little  money  to  be  got  by  writing  plays,  success- 
ful managers  and  actors  were  able,  with  prudence,  to  make  a  fortune. 

19.  The  opening  of  public  theatres  soon  brought  about  a 
wonderful  change  in  the  quality  of  the  pieces  performed  in  them. 
A  group  of  young  men  who  had  acquired  a  taste  for  Marlowe  and 
the  drama  at  the  universities,  settled  down  in  London,  the  early 
where  they  lived  riotous  lives  and  wrote  plays  which,  pama  lsts- 
with  much  bombast  and  crudity,  revealed  real  fire  and  action  and 
a  vein  of  true  poetry.  The  great  age  of  the  drama  began  when 
Christopher  Marlowe,  the  most  gifted  of  the  band,  produced  his 
Tamburlaine  the  Great  in  1587.  In  Marlowe's  short,  riotous,  and 
tragic  career  the  first  stage  of  Elizabethan  tragedy  reached  its 
height.  Cut  off  in  a  tavern  brawl  before  he  was  thirty,  he  had  left 
work  behind  bim  whose  force  and  passion  gave  him  a  permanent 
rank  among  the  great  poets  of  the  world. 

20.  About  the  time  that  Marlowe  wrote  Tamburlaine,  "William 
Shakespeare,  a  youth  of  two  or  three  and  twenty,  left  his  home  and 
family  at  Stratford-on-Avon  and  went  to  London  to   shake- 
push  his  fortunes.     He  soon  found  profitable  employ-    speare  and 
ment  in  working  up  old  plays  for  representation,  and     1S  se  00  * 
before  long,  inspired  largely  by  Marlowe's  genius,  began  to  attempt 
original  flights  of  his  own.     After  essays  at  fantastic  and  boisterous 
comedy,  his  fervid  love  tragedy  of  Romeo   and  Juliet,  and  his 
stirring  patriotic  dramas  from  English  history,  secured  for  him  a 
foremost  position  in  his  craft,  while  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  pro- 
duced in  1594,  a  few  months  after  Marlowe's  success,  first  demon- 
strated the  full  extent  of  his  powers.     Shrewd,  businesslike,  and 


41 8  ENGLAND   UNDER   THE   TUDORS  [1485- 

thrif ty,  lie  had  attained  before  Elizabeth's  death  a  competent  fortune, 
a  high  social  position,  and  a  reputation  quite  unique  among'  nis 
contemporaries.  His  profound  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  his 
breadth,  naturalness,  and  self-restraint,  his  deep  passion,  abundant 
humour,  ripeness  of  judgment,  and  wonderful  command  of  the 
mother  tongue,  stand  by  themselves  in  all  literature.  Round  him 
gathered  a  great  school  of  dramatists,  whose  work,  attaining  its 
climax  under  James  1.,  slowly  decayed  under  his  successor,  until  the 
great  civil  war  brought  it  to  an  end. 

21.  Elizabethan  prose  did  not  attain  the  level  of  Elizabethan 
poetry  or  the  drama.     There  were  few  received  standards  of  prose 

composition,  and  the  force  and  spirit  of  the  age  were 
prose!ethan    kali:  hidden  away  by  the  quaint  conceits  and  tangled 

and  inartistic  periods  of  many  able  writers.  Richard 
Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  which  raised  ecclesiastical  pamph- 
leteering into  sound  and  dignified  literature,  and  Sir  Francis 
Bacon's  famous  Essays,  first  published  in  1597,  were  the  greatest 
masterpieces  of  Elizabethan  prose.  The  patriotic  impulse  of  the 
age  was  reflected  in  the  large  output  of  historical  work,  of  which 
Holinshead's  Chronicles,  from  which  Shakespeare  derived  so  much 
of  his  history,  are  a  conspicuous  example.  A  feature  of  the  time 
was  the  extensive  literature  of  travel  and  adventure,  foremost 
among  which  was  Hakluyt's  Principal  Navigations  of  the  English 
Nation  (1587),  wherein  the  simple  narration  of  the  great  deeds  of 
the  Elizabethan  seamen  brings  home  vividly  to  us  the  close  connec- 
tion between  the  life  and  the  literature  of  the  time.  It  was  the 
richest,  fullest,  and  most  heroic  period  of  English  history. 

Books  recommended  fob  the  Further  Study  of  the  Period 

1485-1603 
Gairdner's  Henry  VII. ;  Creighton's  Wolsey  (both  in  Macmillan's  Twelve 
English  Statesmen) ;  Brewer's  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.  (to  the  fall  of  Wolsey) ; 
Pollard's  Henry  VIII.  and  the  Protector  Somerset ;  Fronde's  History  of  England 
from  the. fall  of  Wolsey  to  the  death  of  the  Armada  (12  vols.),  brilliant,  preju- 
diced and  inaccurate,  but  of  value  for  the  reign  of  Elizabeth ;  Creighton's 
Queen  Elizabeth ;  Seebohm's  Protestant  Revolution  (Epochs  of  Modern  His- 
tory), useful  for  foreign  relations  in  the  early  sixteenth  century.  For  eccle- 
siastical history,  Gairdner's  History  of  the  English  Church  from  Henry  VIII. 
to  Mary;  W.  H.  Frere's  History  of  the  English  Church  under  Elizabeth  and 
James  I.,  and  Perry's  Reformation  in  England  (Epochs  of  Church  History). 
More' s  Utopia,  R.  Robinson's  translation,  Harrison's  Description  of  England, 
and  Payne's  Voyages  of  Elizabethan  Seamen  illustrate  important  aspects  of 
this  period.  The  chapters  on  England  in  the  Cambridge  Modern  History  pre- 
sent in  a  succinct  form  the  facte  of  our  history  from  1485  onwards  ;  more 
details  are  in  Pol.  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  vn  1485-1547,  by  H.  Fisher,  and 
vol.  vL,  1547-1603,  by  A.  F.  Pollard. 


-1603.] 


ENGLAND   UNDER  THE  TUDORS 


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BOOK    VI 

THE  STEWARTS  (1603-1714)   • 

CHAPTER  I 

JAMES  I.  (1603-1625) 

Chief  Dates  : 

1603.  Accession  of  James  i. 

1605.  Gunpowder  Plot. 

1607.  Plantation  of  Virginia. 

1610.  Plantation  of  Ulster  and  Dissolution  of  James'  First  Parliament. 

1614.  The  Addled  Parliament. 

1618.  Execution  of  Raleigh  and  Beginning  of  Thirty  Years'  War. 

1620.  Voyage  of  the  Mayflower. 

1621.  Fall  of  Bacon. ; 

1624.  War  with  Spain. 

1625.  Death  of  James  i. 

1.  The  house  of  Stewart,  which,  had  been  reigning  over  Scotland 
for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  mounted  the  English  throne  at 

the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Its  accession  to  the 
of  the1  throne  meant  much  more  than  is  ordinarily  involved 

English  and  in  the  change  of  one  dynasty  for  another.  The  peace- 
Scottish  ful  union  of  the  rival  monarchies  of  England  and 

Scotland  was  a  great  thing  in  itself;  and  it  became 
more  important  since  James  I.,  the  new  king,  was  very  anxious  to 
make  the  union  as  complete  as  he  could.  He  saw  that  the  personal 
union  of  the  two  crowns  under  the  same  king  was  not  enough.  As 
long  as  England  and  Scotland  remained  two  countries  with  different 
laws,  institutions,  and  traditions,  and  even  with  different  customs 
as  to  the  succession,  the  feeble  tie  of  a  common  monarch  might  be 
snapped  at  any  moment.  He  therefore  assumed  the  title  of  King 
of  Great  Britain,  and  strove  to  build  up  a  single  state  out  of  the 
two  very  different  lands  over  which  he  ruled.  Though  he  had 
grown  up  to  middle  life  as  king  of  Scots,  and  in  most  ways  never 
420 


I6i8.]  JAMES  I.  421 

« 
ceased  to  be  a  thorough  Scotchman,  James's  long  experience  made 

him  realize  how  much  better  off  was  the  powerful  English  monarch 
than  the  weak  king  of  Scots,  the  puppet  of  his  nobles  and  the 
Puritan  clergy.  His  idea  of  union  was,  therefore,  to  make  Scotland 
as  much  like  England  as  possible,  and  his  old  subjects  soon  resented 
the  way  in  which  he  preferred  English  to  Scottish  fashions.  He 
set  this  policy  to  his  successors,  and  all  the  Stewart  kings  more  or 
less  embroiled  themselves  with  their  own  country  in  their  efforts 
to  bring  English  fashions  into  the  northern  realm.  For  this  reason 
the  Scots  disliked  further  attempts  at  union.  But  the  English 
were  little  better  pleased  with  them.  They  were  quite  contented 
with  things  as  they  were,  and  had  no  love  for  change.  More- 
over, they  were  suspicious  lest  a  race  of  Scottish  kings  should 
upset  the  good  old  English  constitution  in  favour  of  their  northern 
fellow-countrymen  and  to  the  loss  of  the  native-born  English 
subjects.  While,  therefore,  James,  inspired  by  his  solicitor-general, 
Sir  Francis  Bacon,  hopefully  anticipated  the  time  when  the  two 
lands  should  have  one  parliament,  one  law,  one  Church,  and  one 
nation,  his  parliament  looked  with  distrust  on  his  plans.  The  result 
was  that  James  only  ventured  to  ask  his  parliament  for  a  very 
little.  He  was  content  to  demand  that  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen 
should  no  longer  be  treated  as  foreigners  in  each  other's  country, 
and  that  there  should  be  freedom  of  trade  between  the  two 
nations. 

2.  In  1607  the  House  of  Commons  rejected  both  these  proposals. 
The  only  step  towards  union  which  James  could  secure  from  the 
English  side  was  a  decision  of  the  judges  that  all 
Scotsmen   born  after  his   accession  to   the   English  james>s  pP0. 
throne  possessed  the  full  rights  of  English  citizens,  jeets  for 
He  had  more  success  in  assimilating  Scottish  institu-   5°ff  5J5L. 
tions  to  those  of  England.   In  1610  he  restored  bishops 

to  the  Scots  Church,  though  they  had  little  power.  In  1618  he 
imposed  on  the  Scots  the  Five  Articles  of  Perth,  which  introduced 
into  Scotland  some  of  the  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  and  Church 
holidays  which  prevailed  south  of  the  Tweed.  These  measures 
excited  deep  antagonism  among  the  fiercely  Presbyterian  Scots. 
With  such  strong  suspicions  on  both  sides  of  the  border,  it  was 
easy  to  understand  why  a  full  union  of  England  and  Scotland  was 
still  a  hundred  years  off. 

3.  The  moment  of  James's  accession  had  witnessed  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Tudor  conquest  of  Ireland,  so  that  James  ruled 
Ireland  as  fully  as  Great  Britain,  and  was  thus  the  first  monarch 


422 


JAMES  I. 


[1607- 


of  the  three  kingdoms.  The  Irish  remained  "bitterly  discon- 
tented with  English  and  Protestant  rnle,  and  were  only  kept 
down  by  main  force.  In  1607  the  earl  of  Tyrone 
strove  once  more  to  attack  the  English  power,  and, 
failing  ntterly,  fled  from  Ireland.  His  estates  and 
those  of  his  friends  were  declared  forfeited  for  treason, 
and  in  1610  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  James's  deputy, 
divided  the  forfeited  lands  among  English  and  Scottish  settlers, 
and  thus  carried  out  the  famous  plantation  of  Ulster. 
This  had  more  permanent  success  than  the  Elizabethan 
plantation  of  Munster.  Though  the  wild  west  of 
Ulster  still  remained  fully  Irish,  eastern  Ulster  became 
the  home  of     a   vigorous  and   energetic   English-speaking  and 


The  com- 
pletion of 
the  con- 
quest of 
Ireland. 


The  Plan 
tation  of 
Ulster, 
1610. 


The  shaded  part  shows  the  Protestant  districts 
in  Ireland,  which  resulted  from  James  /'*. 
Plantations. 

IRELAND  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Protestant  population.     Henceforth  the  Ulster  settlers  remained 
as  a  Protestant  garrison  in  Ireland.      Though  this  immensely 


-1632.]  JAMES  I.  423 

strengthened  the  English  power,  it  Drought  new  difficulties  with 
it.  The  Irish  problem  became  more  complicated,  since  side  by 
side  with  the  old  Catholic  and  Celtic  Ireland  a  new  Protestant 
and  Saxon  Ireland  was  created.  Bitterly  hating  the  aliens  who 
persecuted  their  religion  and  robbed  them  of  their  lands,  Celtic 
Ireland  sullenly  waited  for  the  hour  of  vengeance. 

4.  James  i.'s  reign  saw  the  first  establishment  of  new  Englands 
beyond  the  sea,  as  well  as  extension  of  English  influence  over  the 
three  kingdoms  of  Britain.      The  impulse  towards   BeK|nnin»s 
expansion  which  had  inspired  both  the  Irish  planta-    of  English 
tions,   and  the  failures  of   Gilbert  and  Baleigh  in   colonies. 
America,  now  led  to  the  first  successful  establishment  of  English 
colonies  beyond  the  Atlantic.     In  1607  Virginia  was  settled  by  a 
small  band  of  emigrants,  who  named  their  first  settle-   piantation 
ment  Jamestown  in  honour  of  the  English  king.    At   of  Virginia, 
first  they  suffered  terribly  from  disease,  famine,  and   1607» 

the  constant  attacks  of  the  Indian  tribes,  but  these  were  successfully 
overcome,  and  as  the  colony  grew  in  numbers  and  strength  it 
received  a  free  constitution  with  a  Bouse  of  Burgesses  like  the 
House  of  Commons  at  home.  A  few  years  later  Lord  Baltimore,  a 
Catholic  nobleman,  established  Maryland  immediately 
to  the  north  of  Virginia,  receiving  in  1632  a  charter  ^n<J  ^^ 
from  Charles  1.,  which  made  him  supreme  lord  of  the 
whole  settlement.  Maryland  was  the  first  proprietary  colony, 
controlled  by  a  great  landlord.  In  1625  the  settlement  of  Barbados 
was  the  first  step  towards  the  establishment  of  English  plantations 
in  the  "West  India  islands.  The  settlers  were  not  willing  to  do 
hard  work  themselves.  The  land  was  divided  into  great  estates 
and  plantations,  whose  proprietors  cultivated  tobacco,  sugar,  and 
other  products  of  warm  climates.  For  long  they  had  much 
difficulty  in  obtaining  labour,  but  at  last  fell  back  upon  the  labour 
of  negro  slaves,  imported  from  Africa  and  compelled  to  work  for 
their  masters. 

5.  Other  colonies  arose  in  the  colder  regions  to  the  north  of 
Virginia,  which  received  the  name  of  New  England.  The  first 
of  these  settlements  owed  its  origin  to  a  little  band 

of    English  separatists,  who,  finding    it   impossible   Nation 
to  worship  God  after  their  own  fashion  in  England,   of  New 
resolved  to  seek  freedom  in  the  wilderness  beyond  the   ?"g*?gL. 
Atlantic.     In  1620  a  little  band,  afterwards  called  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  sailed  in  a  small  ship  called  the  Mayflower  from 
Southampton.     They  settled  near  Cape  Cod,  and  called  their  new 


424  JAMES  I.  [1600 

home  Plymouth.  Soon  larger  settlements  arose  round  them,  the  first 
and  chief  of  which  was  Massachusetts,  established  in  1629,  with 
Boston  as  its  capital  Many  other  small  colonies  were  planted  in 
New  England  under  Charles  I.  The  New  England  colonies  formed 
a  class  by  themselves,  and  were  soon  clearly  marked  off  from  the 
southern  plantations.  They  became  a  land  of  yeoman  proprietors, 
farmers,  fishermen,  and  traders,  with  neither  a  wealthy  planter 
aristocracy  nor  a  large  population  of  slaves.  They  lived  a 
free  and  strenuous  but  somewhat  hard  and  narrow  life,  prizing 
their  democratic  institutions  and  their  Puritan  faith,  and  perse- 
cuting those  who  did  not  hold  their  religion.  In  Massachusetts 
no  one  could  be  a  citizen  who  was  not  a  member  of  an  Independent 
church ;  but  another  of  the  colonies,  Rhode  Island,  practised  from 
the  beginning  complete  religious  toleration.  Virginia  and  the 
West  India  Islands  generally  accepted  the  doctrines  and  worship 
of  the  English  Church.  Their  planter-aristocracies  were  quite 
as  jealous  of  freedom  as  was  the  Puritan  democracy  of  New 
England.  Both  types  of  colonies  soon  began  to  thrive  exceedingly. 
By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century -their  success  ensured  the 
extension  of  the  English  race  and  tongue  over  the  greater  part  of 
the  eastern  seaboard  of  North  America.  It  is  through  these  first 
pioneers  that  the  foundations  of  a  world-wide  "  Greater  Britain  " 
were  laid. 

6.  James  I.'s  reign  witnessed  an  expansion  of  English  trade 
corresponding  with  the  growth  of  English  colonization.     Here,  as 

with  the  plantations,  the  Elizabethan  impulse  achieved 
The  begin-  j^.g  gxea-fcest  results  after  the  queen's  death.  After  the 
the  East  conquest  of  Portugal  by  Philip  11.,  the  Dutch  robbed 

India  Com-  the  Spaniards  of  much  that  remained  of  Portuguese 
pany,  .    commerce  an(j  empire   in  the   East.     Their  success 

inspired  English  adventurers  to  follow  in  their  footsteps,  and  in 
1600  Elizabeth  gave  a  charter  to  the  English  East  India  Company, 
which  at  once  entered  into  rivalry  with  the  Dutch  merchants. 
Soon  commercial  antagonism  sharply  divided  two  nations  which 
common  religion  and  common  hostility  to  Spain  had  hitherto  closely 
united.  The  struggle  was  sharpest  in  the  archipelago  of  further 
India,  then  called  the  Spice  Islands,  because  the  centre  of  the 
The  Am-  lucrative  spice  trade.     Its  most  striking  incident  was 

boyna  the  massacre  by  the  Dutch,  in  1623,  of  the  English 

massacre,       settlers  in  the  little  island  of  Amboyna.     In  India 

itself  the  English  merchants  soon  obtained  a  stronger 
position  than  the  Dutch.      They  obtained  grants  of  factories  or 


-1651.]  JAMES  I.  425 

trading  settlements  from  the  Mogul  or  Mohammedan  emperors  who 
in  those  days  ruled  over  the  greater  part  of  India.  The  first  of  these 
to  become  important  were  Surat,  set  np  in  1612,  and  Madras, 
established  in  1639.  Other  English  trading  settlements  were 
made  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  where  also  Dutch  competition 
was  keen.  After  the  Dutch  settled  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
as  a  good  halfway  house  to  India,  the  English  East  India  Company 
founded  an  intermediate  station  of  its  own  in  the  island  of 
St.  Helena  in  1651.  Thus  the  same  generation  which  saw  the 
origin  of  our  colonies  saw  the  rise  of  our  commerce  with*  remote 
lands,  and  the  faint  beginnings  of  our  modern  empire  in  the 
East.  For  all  these  reasons,  our  history  can  no  longer  be  limited  to 
the  story  of  the  British  Islands  after  the  accession  of  the  Stewart 
kings. 

7.  England  itself  saw  great  changes  under  Stewart  rule.  The 
land  had  outgrown  the  need  for  the  Tudor  despotism.  The  parlia- 
ment of  the  active  and  energetic  England  of  these  days 

was  no  longer  content  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  kings,   Stewarts 
and  thus  the  great  event  of  the  Stewart  period  is  the   and  Parlia- 
century  of  struggle  between  the  king  and  the  House  of   ment. 
Commons,  which  only  terminated  when  parliament  had  secured  its 
control  over  the  crown.      The  accession  of  a  foreign  race  of  kings 
with  narrower  sympathies,  less  knowledge  of  English  ways,  and 
less  broad  intelligence  than  the  Tudors,  precipitated  and  intensified 
the  contest.     Yet  even  if  rulers  as  strong  as  Elizabeth  had  been 
given  to  England,  the  contest  would  have  been  inevitable. 

8.  James  1.  was  ill  adapted  to  deal  with  the  situation  that  he 
had  to  face  in  his  new  kingdom.  He  was  able,  well-educated, 
and  the  most  scholarly  king  of   his  time.     He  was 

good  tempered,  kindly,  and  honestly  loved  peace  and  Character 
moderation.  But  he  had  formed  all  his  habits  before  • 
he  came  to  England,  and  never  really  understood  English  ways. 
He  was  very  conceited  and  obstinate,  and  was  destitute  of  the 
royal  bearing  of  his  predecessor.  Lazy,  vacillating,  and  pro- 
crastinating, he  preferred  to  live  in  retirement  in  the  country, 
amusing  himself  with  hunting  and  study,  and  loving  to  shift 
the  hard  work  of  government  on  to  his  favourites  and  ministers. 
Yet  he  was  proud  of  his  statecraft,  and  delighted  to  dogmatize 
on  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  sin  of  opposing  the  Lord's 
anointed.  He  was  shrewd  enough,  however  to  take  broader  views 
of  many  questions  than  the  majority  of  his  subjects.  Yet  even 
when  his  policy  was  right  he  was  unable  to  carry  it  out  effectively. 

P2 


426  JAMES  I.  [1603- 

His  worst  fault  was  his  incurable  habit  of  distinguishing  between 
his  own  interests  and  those  of  his  subjects. 

9.  James's  general  idea  was  to  follow  as  closely  as  he  could  the 
policy  of  Elizabeth.  But  he  neither  fully  understood  his  pre- 
Robert  Cecil  ^ecessor's  aims,  nor  was  he  able  to  give  effect  to  his 
and  his  intentions.  He  was  wise  enough,  however,  to  continue 
enemies.  ^he  ministers  of  Elizabeth  in  office,  and  Sir  Robert 
Cecil,  made  earl  of  Salisbury  in  1605,  remained  chief  adviser  to  the 
crown,  and  carried  on,  until  his  death  in  1612,  the  traditions  of 
Elizabethan  statecraft.  Cecil's  continuance  in  power  drove  his 
enemies  into  a  series  of  plots  to  overthrow  him.  Chief  among  these 
was  the  Main  Plot  as  it  was  called,  whose  instigator  waa  Lord 
Cobham.  Another  conspiracy  was  the  Bye  Plot,  a  foolish  sch'eme 
of  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  named  Watson,  to  keep  James  a 
prisoner  until  he  gave  freedom  to  the  Catholics  and  made  the 
plotters  his  chief  advisers.  Both  designs  were  easily  discovered, 
and  the  chief  conspirators  were  punished.  Among  them  was  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  a  known  enemy  of  Cecil,  whose  condemnation  was 
only  secured  by  very  doubtful  measures.  Raleigh  was  not,  however, 
executed,  but  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tower  with  the  death 
sentence  still  hanging  over  his  head. 

10.  James's  continuation  of  Elizabeth's  policy  provoked  bitter 
discontent  among  both  Puritans  and  Roman  Catholics.  The 
The  HamD-  Puritans  who  had  long  suffered  severely  from  Whit- 
ton  Court  gift's  persecution,  had  hoped  great  things  from  a 
conference,    Presbyterian  king.     On  his  way  to  London,  a  large 

number  of  Puritan  clergy  presented  to  him  what  they 
called  the  Millenary  Petition,  which  begged  for  a  relaxation  of  the 
ceremonies  so  much  disliked  by  the  Puritans.  James  fell  in  with 
their  wishes  so  far  as  to  hold  a  conference  between  the  two  parties 
in  the  church  at  Hampton  Court,  in  1604.  Proud  of  his  theo- 
logical learning,  the  king  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates 
and  showed  bitter  hostility  to  the  Puritans  when  he  realized  that 
they  wanted  to  introduce  the  Scottish  system  into  England. 
"  Scottish  Presbytery,"  he  declared,  "  agreeth  as  well  with  monarchy 
as  God  with  the  devil."  Under  such  circumstances,  nothing  im- 
portant came  of  the  Hampton  Court  conference.  A  few  changes 
were  made  in  the  Prayer-book,  but  they  gave  no  satisfaction  to  the 
Puritans.  The  only  solid  result  was  the  ordering  of  a  new  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible.  This  led  to  the  Authorized  Version  of  1611, 
which  soon,  through  its  merits,  became  the  single  translation  used 
by  English-speaking  Protestants. 


-1605.]  JAMES  I.  427 

11.  When  Whitgift  died  in  1604,  Bancroft,  who  was  bishop  of 
London,  and  had  taken  the  chief  part  in  opposing  the  Puritans  at 
Hampton  Court,  became  his  successor.  He  was  one  of  Archbishops 
the  first  Protestant  divines  to  teach  that  a  Church  Bancroft 
without  bishops  was  no  Church  at  all,  and  he  dealt  and  Abbot, 
as  severely  with  the  Puritans  as  Whitgif  t  had  done.  His  successor, 
Archbishop  Abbot  (1610  to  1633),  inclined  to  Puritan  views,  but 
he  gradually  lost  all  influence  at  court,  and  the  main  current  of 
Church  opinion  was  setting  steadily  against  him.  A  new  school 
of  churchmanship  now  arose,  whose  leader  was  the  saintly  Bishop 
Andrewes  of  Winchester,  and  whose  most  active  partisan  was 
William  Laud,  who  became  bishop  of  London.  They  were  called 
Arminians,  because  they  followed  the  Dutch  professor  Arminius 
in  rejecting  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  predestination.  They  also 
believed  in  the  necessity  for  bishops,  held  the  doctrine  of  the  Real 
Presence,  loved  elaborate  ritual  in  divine  worship,  and  claimed 
continuity  with  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  rise  of  this 
school  further  embittered  the  lot  of  the  Puritans. 

12.  The  Roman  Catholics  expected  great  things  from  the  son 
of  Mary  Stewart,  and  James,  who  was  more  tolerant  than  most 
rulers  of  his  time,  made  himself  unpopular  with  rigid  jyie  Gun_ 
Protestants  by  his  unwillingness  to  send  priests  to  powder 
the  scaffold.  He  made  no  attempt,  however,  to  alter  plot»  1605. 
the  severe  laws  against  the  Catholics,  and  many  still  suffered  for 
their  faith.  In  despair  of  lightening  their  lot  by  peaceful  means, 
a  band  of  Catholic  enthusiasts  turned  to  treason.  Headed  by 
Robert  Catesby,  a  Warwickshire  gentleman,  a  knot  of  recusants 
formed  a  plot  to  blow  up  the  king  and  parliament  with  gunpowder 
on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  parliament  on  November  5,  1605. 
Guy  Fawkes,  an  old  soldier  in  the  Spanish  service,  became  the 
chief  instrument  of  the  conspirators.  Some  cellars  were  hired 
under  the  House  of  Lords ;  there  explosives  were  hidden,  which 
Fawkes  was  to  fire  when  the  king  opened  the  Houses  on  November  5. 
At  the  same  moment  the  Catholic  gentry  of  the  Midlands  were 
to  be  collected  at  Dunchurch,  near  Rugby,  on  the  pretext  of  a  hunt, 
in  the  hope  that  on  the  news  of  the  London  catastrophe  they  would 
seize  the  king's  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  was  living  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, make  her  queen,  and  bring  her  up  as  a  Catholic.  Cecil's 
spies  unearthed  the  plot  before  the  meeting  of  parliament.  On 
November  4  the  cellars  were  searched,  the  powder  discovered,  and 
Fawkes  was  taken  prisoner  and  severely  tortured.  Catesby  escaped 
to  Warwickshire,  hoping  still  to  induce  the  huntsmen  of  Dunchurch 


428  JAMES  I.  [1604- 

fco  rise  in  rebellion.  Failing  altogether  in  this  object,  Catesby 
and  a  few  friends  fled  further,  to  Holbeach  in  Staffordshire,  where 
they  were  soon  surrounded,  and,  after  a  hard  fight  in  which  Catesby 
was  killed,  captured.  Besides  Fawkes,  and  the  actual  conspirators, 
the  persons  executed  for  complicity  included  Henry  Garnett,  the 
•provincial  or  head  of  the  English  Jesuits.  The  chief  evidence 
against  him  was  that  he  had  been  told  of  the  conspiracy  under  the 
seal  of  confession.  The  main  result  of  the  Chinpowder  Plot,  as  it 
was  called,  was  to  frighten  the  king  into  carrying  out  the  recusancy 
laws  with  more  severity  than  ever. 

13.  James  found  great  difficulties  in  dealing  with  his  parlia- 
ments. Never  practising  the  severe  economy  of  Elizabeth,  he  was 
James  and  mucn  more  frequently  compelled  to  ask  parliament  for 
his  Parlia-  money,  and  showed  a  disposition  to  bargain  with  the 
ments.  Commons,  which  was  fatal  to  his  dignity  and  authority. 
The  Commons  severely  criticized  his  harshness  to  the  Puritans,  and 
complained  that  his  foreign  policy  was  not  sufficiently  Protestant. 
They  distrusted  his  great  plans  for  change,  such  as  the  proposed 
union  with'  Scotland,  and  resented  his  habit  of  lecturing  them  on 
his  own  dignity  and  their  insignificance.  The  result  was  that  he 
was  constantly  involved  in  petty  disputes  with  the  Commons. 

14.  James'  first  parliament  met  in  1604,  and  continued  its 
sessions  till  1611.     In  the  very  first  session  there  were  hot  disputes 

about  privilege  of  parliament,  and  the  Commons,  in- 
ImDosrtions  stead  °^  gi^-g  James  a  subsidy,  offered  him  plenty  of 
and  the  unpalatable  advice.     There  were  worse  troubles  when 

Great  Con-      James,  encouraged  by  a  decision  of  the  judges  that  he 
'  '    might  alter  taxes  on  exports  and  imports  without  re- 

course to  parliament  by  virtue  of  his  right  to  regulate  trade,  issued 
what  was  called  the  Booh  of  Rates,  whereby,  of  his  own  mere 
motion,  he  largely  added  to  the  customs-duties.  In  1610  parliament 
denounced  the  New  Impositions,  as  the  taxes  were  called,  as  a 
violation  of  its  rights.  James  and  Salisbury  chose  this  moment 
for  submitting  to  the  Commons  an  elaborate  scheme  called  the 
Great  Contract,  which  was  proposed  to  resign  the  feudal  revenue 
if  the  king's  debts  were  paid  and  his  income  increased  by  £200,000 
a  year.  After  much  time  consumed  in  haggling  about  details, 
James  dismissed  Parliament  in  1611  without  having  obtained  its 
consent  to  his  proposals. 

15.  For  three  years  James  managed  to  get  on  without  parlia- 
mentary grants.  He  was  so  poor  that  he  was  forced  to  offer  the 
new  hereditary  title  of  baronet  to  any  gentleman  of  position  who 


-I6I4-]  JAMES  I.  429 

would  lend  him  a  thousand  pounds,  and  in  1614  was  again  com- 
pelled to  face  the  estates.  Before  parliament  met  James  nego- 
tiated with  some  prominent  members  of  the  last  The  Addled 
House  of  Commons,  who  promised  that  if  he  would  Parliament, 
make  concessions  and  take  their  advice,  they  would  *614' 
keep  the  Commons  in  a  good  temper  and  persuade  it  to  make 
grants.  Those  who  made  this  bargain  with  the  king  were  called 
the  Undertakers.  They  found,  however,  that  parliament,  when  it 
met,  regarded  them  as  traitors  and  repudiated  their  guidance,  and 
took  up  so  fierce  an  attitude  that  James  dissolved  the  House  before 
it  had  passed  an  act  or  made  a  grant.  For  this  reason  the  parlia- 
ment of  1614  was  called  in  derision  the  Addled  Parliament.  After 
this  James  did  not  venture  to  summon  another  parliament  for 
seven  years. 

16.  During  this  period  many  great  changes  happened.  Salis- 
bury died  in  1612,  and  the  same  year  saw  the  death  of  the 
king's  eldest  son,  Henry,  prince  of  Wales,  a  youth  james's 

of  promise,  whose  younger  brother  Charles  became  family  and 
prince  of  Wales  in  his  place.  James  was  so  jealous  favourites« 
of  yielding  up  authority,  and  so  conceited  with  himself,  that  he 
thought  there  was  no  need  for  him  to  have  a  chief  minister 
to  replace  Cecil.  But  he  was  not  hard  working  enough  to  control 
the  state  as  Elizabeth  had  done,  and  was  so  easy-going  and 
good-natured  that  he  soon  felt  the  need  of  a  confidential  adviser, 
who,  without  having  a  policy  of  his  own,  would  save  the  king 
trouble  by  looking  after  details  and  taking  unpleasant  burdens 
on  his  shoulders.  The  result  was  that  royal  favourites  soon  began 
to  wield  a  dangerous  and  discreditable  influence. 

17.  The  first  of  James's  personal  favourites  to  win  much  favour 
was    Robert   Ker,   a  good-looking   Scot   from    a    fierce    Border 
stock,  who,  after  Salisbury's  death,  became  Viscount 
Rochester,  and  wielded  an  immense  influence  over  his 

master.  Ker  was  a  sulky,  obstinate,  and  ignorant  fellow,  so  dull 
that  ho  was  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  advice  of  a  clever,  arro- 
gant man-of-letters  named  Sir  Thomas  Overbury.  Rochester's 
wife  was,  however,  an  enemy  of  Overbury,  and  contrived  to  get 
him  shut  up  in  prison,  where  her  agents  put  him  to  death  by 
poison.  jNTow  matte  Earl  of  Somerset,  the  favourite  remained 
at  the  height  of  his  power  for  two  years  more,  though  he  grew 
so  insolent  and  ill  tempered  that  even  James  became  tired  of.  him. 
At  last  the  confession  of  one  of  Lady  Somerset's  accomplices 
revealed  to  the  world  the  true  story  of  Overbury's  death.    Both 


430  JAMES  1.  [1604- 

earl  and  countess  were  tried  before  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
condemned  to  death,  the  countess  as  a  murderess,  and  her  husband 
as  an  accessory  to  her  crime.  James  pardoned  the  guilty  pair 
their  lives,  but  their  fall  from  power  was  complete  and  final. 
The  hideous  revelations  at  the  trial  did  James  himself  much  harm, 
though  he  was  guiltless  of  anything  worse  than  weakness  and 
credulity. 

18.  James  soon  found  a  new  favourite  in  George  Villiers,  the 
son  of  a  Leicestershire  knight,  a  proud,  quick-witted,  handsome 

man,  rather  shallow  and  vain,  whose  head  was  turned 
Villiers.  ^7  his  success,  and  who  soon  became  unpopular  through 

his  ostentation  and  overbearing  pride.  The  king's 
favour  made  Turn  lord  high  admiral,  and  first  earl  and  then  duke 
of  Buckingham.  All  seekers  after  court  favour  found  it  necessary 
to  procure  his  support,  and  the  gravest  and  wisest  of  the  king's 
counsellors  owed  their  advancement  to  Buckingham's  goodwill 
rather  than  to  their  own  merits.  Laud  drove  Abbot  from  James' 
favour,  and  with  Buckingham's  help  won  the  old  king  over  to  the 
Arminians.  The  great  lawyer  and  brilliant  writer  and  thinker, 
Francis  Bacon,  tardily  attained  the  position  of  chancellor  through 
the  patronage  of  the  favourite. 

19.  Foreign  policy,  always  important,  now  became  the  chief 
concern  of  James  and  his  ministers.  James's  general  ideas  as  to 
James's  English  foreign  policy  were  sound  and  wise,  but,  as 
foreign  usual,  he  was  not  able  to  carry  them  out  in  practice, 
policy.  Like  Elizabeth,  he  loved  peace,  and  thought  that  each 
nation  ought  to  settle  its  religion  for  itself,  so  that  he  was  adverse 
to  the  popular  idea  that  it  was  the  business  of  good  Protestants 
like  the  English  to  wage  war  against  Spain  as  the  chief  enemy  of 
the  faith.  In  1604  James  made  peace  with  Spain,  and  even  sought 
an  alliance  with  her,  though  he  also  strove  to  continue  his  pre- 
decessor's friendly  relations  with  Henry  iv.  of  France.  In  1610 
Henry  iv.  was  murdered  by  a  Catholic  fanatic,  and  during  the 
minority  of  his  son  and  successor,  Louis  xiii.,  Henry's  widow  ruled 
France  in  the  interests  of  Spain  and  the  strict  Catholic  party. 
Thus  Spain  got  back  something  of  the  position  she  had  lost. 

20.  Spain  wished  for  English  support,  and  James  thought  it 
would  be  an  excellent  way  of  proving  the  real  friendship  that 
existed  between  the  two  peoples  if  his  son  Charles,  prince  of 
Wales,  were  married  to  the  Infanta  Maria,  the  daughter  of  Philip 
III.  and  the  sister  of  his  successor,  Philip  iv.  Negotiations  for 
this  match  were  begun  in  1616,  but  almost   at  the  same  tmi9 


-i6i8.]  JAMES  I.  43I 

James's  eager  desire  for  money  led  him  to  listen  to  a  proposal  quite 
incompatible  with  any  real  Spanish  alliance.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
had  in  his  early  years  made  a  voyage  to  Guiana,  and  paiejj,i,»s 
brooded  in  his  weary  imprisonment  over  the  fancied  last  voyage 
splendours  of  that  land,  where  he  believed  there  existed  and  e*e5?" 
gold-mines  of  unheard-of  richness.  He  now  offered,  if  jglS. 
released  from  the  Tower,  to  lead  an  expedition  to  gold- 
mines in  Guiana,  whose  produce  would  make  James  the  wealthiest 
prince  in  Europe.  The  glittering  bait  was  easily  swallowed  by  the 
king,  and  in  1617  Raleigh  was  allowed  to  sail  to  South  America 
in  quest  of  the  promised  mine.  He  was  told,  however,  that  he 
must  on  no  account  molest  the  Spaniards,  the  king's  allies,  and 
must  prosecute  his  quest  entirely  by  peaceful  means.  Raleigh 
readily  agreed  to  all  this;  but  it  was  quite  impossible  to  him  to 
fulfil  his  promise,  since  the  Spaniards  claimed  the  whole  of  the 
region  that  he  sought  to  explore,  and  looked  upon  his  expedition 
as  piracy.  Moreover,  when  South  America  was  reached,  the  old 
spirit  of  lawless  adventure  made  light  of  Spanish  opposition. 
Raleigh  sent  his  ships  up  the  river  Orinoco,  and  when  a  Spanish 
settlement  blocked  the  way,  his  captains  attacked  and  burnt  it 
as  Drake  or  Hawkins  would  have  done.  But  the  Spaniards,  soon 
proved  stronger  than  Raleigh's  cowardly  and  mutinous  followers, 
who,  in  their  fear  of  the  Spaniards,  forced  their  leader  to  sail 
home  to  England.  Long  before  that  the  loud  complaints  of  the 
Spaniards  had  reached  James's  ears.  Gondomar,  their  ambassador, 
demanded  that  Raleigh  should  be  surrendered  to  Spain  to  be  tried 
as  a  pirate,  and  James  was  so  afraid  of  provoking  the  wrath  of 
his  ally  that  he  thought  the  easiest  way  out  of  the  difliculty  was  to 
put  Raleigh  to  death  under  the  old  sentence  of  1603.  This  satisfied 
the  Spanish  complaints,  but  English  opinion  lamented  the  death 
of  the  high-souled  adventurer  as  that  of  a  hero  sacrificed  by  his 
cowardly  king  to  gratify  the  bitter  hatred  of  the  Spaniards. 

21.  In  1618  a  great  religious  war  broke  out  in  Germany,  and 
soon  spread  over  all  Central  Europe.  Lasting  until  1648,  it  was 
called  the  Thirty  Years'  War.     It  had  its  roots  in  the  . 

quarrels  between  the  Catholics  and  Calvinists  in  Ger-    njng.  0f  t^e 
many,  which  had  long  threatened  the  peace  of  that    Thirty 
country.     Its  immediate  origin  was  the  revolt  of  the    y|fgS      ap* 
Bohemian    Protestants    from  their    new    king,    the 
emperor  Ferdinand  11.,  the  head  of  the  house  of  Austria,  and  a 
bigotted  Roman  Catholic.      Thereupon  the  Bohemians  chose  as 
their  king  Frederick,  the  Electoi-  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  leader 


43 2  JAMES  I.  \\tez. 

i 

of  the  German  Calvinists,  and  closely  connected  with  England  by 
reason  of  his  marriage  to  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  James's  only 
daughter.  It  was  hoped  that  James,  who  was  devoted  to  his 
child,  would  assist  Ids  son-in-law  against  Ferdinand ;  but  James 
hated  war,  and  above  all  religious  war,  and  gave  Frederick  no 
help.  Under  these  circumstances,  Frederick  could  not  long  main- 
tain himself.  He  was  first  driven  from  Bohemia,  and  then  from 
his  own  hereditary  dominions.  Though  the  more  strenuous  German 
Protestants  supported  Mm,  the  only  result  of  this  was  to  make  the 
war  more  general.  Bit  by  bit  he  lost  the  Palatinate  as  well  as 
Bohemia,  and  his  expulsion  meant  the  subjection  of  Germany  to 
the  triumphant  Catholics. 

22.  James    had   not  countenanced   Frederick's   aggression    in 
Bohemia,  and  English  Protestant  zeal  had  regarded  his  holding 

back  another  proof  of  his  cowardice  and  want  of 
efforts  to  faith  in  Protestantism.  But  the  same  desire  to  leave 
restore  the  things  as  they  were  which  had  made  him  reluctant 
Elector  -fc0  j^p  his  son-in-law  in  Bohemia,  rendered  him  Very 

1622-1623.     anxious  to  prevent  the  elector  being  deprived  of  his 

hereditary  possessions.  English  volunteers  were  per- 
mitted to  join  Frederick's  army ;  but  even  now  James  shirked 
strong  measures.  He  believed  that  the  best  way  to  set  things 
straight  was  for  him  to  use  his  influence  over  his  Spanish  allies, 
and  thus  bring  about  Frederick's  restoration  by  peaceful  means. 
It  was,  however,  absurd  to  think  that  the  German  Catholics  would 
give  up  their  conquests  to  please  the  Spaniards,  even  if  the 
Spaniards  were  willing  to  ask  them  to  do  so.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Spaniards  had  no  intention  of  procuring  the  Elector  Palatine's 
return.  They  used  James  as  a  tool,  and  encouraged  him  to  resume 
the  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the  Infanta, 
which  had  broken  down  on  the  previous  occasion. 

23.  Spain  was  delighted  to  delay  matters  by  treating  with  Eng- 
land for  the  prince's  hand.    But  it  gradually  became  clear  that  Philip 

-  would  not  really  accept  any  marriage  scheme  unless 
the  Spanish  James  promised  to  give  such  freedom  of  worship  to 
marriage,  his  Catholic  subjects  as  the  English  parliament  would 
1623,  never  allow.     It  suited  the  Spaniards'  game,  however, 

to  waste  time  on  trivial  details,  until  Buckingham,  who  ruled 
Charles  as  absolutely  as  his  father,  persuaded  the  prince  of  Wales 
that  the  best  way  to  settle  the  question  one  way  or  the  other  was 
for  him  to  go  to  Spain  and  woo  the  Infanta  in  person.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1623  the  prince  and  his  friend  made  their  way  to  Madrid, 


1621.]  JAMES  1.  .  433 

only  to  find  that  the  diplomatic  difficulties  remained  as  great  as 
ever,  and  that  Spanish  etiquette  and  the  Infanta's  dislike  of  a 
heretic  wooer  put  fresh  obstacles  in  his  way.  At  last  he  realized 
that  the  Spaniards  were  playing  with  him,  whereupon  he  went 
home,  brimful  of  indignation  and  eager  to  persuade  his  timid 
father  to  take  up  arms  to  restore  the  Elector  Palatine,  since  the 
last  efforts  of  diplomacy  to  effect  this  object  had  so  signally  failed. 
Charles  and  Buckingham  revenged  themselves  on  Spain  by 
negotiating  an  alliance  with  Prance,  which  had  once  more 
begun  to  take  up  a  line  of  its  own.  It  was  agreed  that  Charles 
should  marry  Henrietta  Maria,  sister  of  King  Louis  xm.  This 
proposal  was  less  hated  by  the  English  than  the  Spanish  match, 
but  any  marriage  of  the  heir-apparent  with  a  Roman  Catholic  was 
disliked.  Moreover,  the  French  proved  ineffective  allies,  and 
James's  first  efforts  to  send  help  to  his  son-in-law  were  sorry 
failures. 

24.  Foreign  complications  again  necessitated  recourse  to  parlia- 
ment, and  James  twice  more  met  his  estates  in  1621  and  1624.    His 
third  parliament  in  the  former  year  assembled  at  the   james>s 
time  when  James's  slackness  in  helping   Frederick   third  Pap- 
made    him  unpopular   among    militant    Protestants,    liament, 
James  asked  for  a  large  supply,  though  he  made  it 

clear  that  he  would  not  fight  if  he  could  help  it.  He  was  answered 
by  the  Commons  refusing  to  grant  him  a  subsidy  until  their  chief 
grievances  had  been  redressed.  Conspicuous  among  these  were 
monopolies,  which  had  become  even  more  burdensome  than  in  the 
last  years  of  Elizabeth.  The  indignant  Commons  especially  com- 
plained of  a  monopoly  for  licensing  ale-houses,  which  the  monopo- 
lists, headed  by  Sir  Giles  Mompesson,  had  used  so  selfishly  as 
to  encourage  drunkenness.  Mompesson  fled  from  the  country,  but 
could  not  escape  condemnation. 

25.  The  ministers  of  the   crown  were  also  signalled  out  for 
attack,   chief  among  them  being  the  lord   chancellor  Bacon,   a 
stout  friend  of  monopolies.     Some   aggrieved  suitors   ThQ  j.  „    - 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  complained  that  Bacon  had   Bacon, 
accepted  bribes,    and    that    he  had    given    decisions    1621. 
against  them.     Thereupon  the  Commons  sent  up  to  the  Lords  the 
complaints  made  by  the  suitors,  that  they  might  be  judicially  in- 
vestigated.     This  was  the  practical  revival  of  the  late  mediaBval 

'custom  of  impeachment,  whereby  the  Commons  presented  a  public 
offender  to  be  tried  by  the  Lords  as  judges.  Bacon  did  not 
seriously  defend  himself.     He  declared  that  he  had  never  given 


434  JAMES  I.  [1625 

corrupt  judgments,  though  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  fallen 
into  the  evil  system  then  usual  of  accepting  presents  from  litigants. 
He  was  condemned,  deprived  of  office,  and  for  a  short  time  im- 
prisoned; but  James  soon  released  the  fallen  statesman  from  the 
Tower.  Bacon  died  five  years  afterwards,  a  disappointed  man, 
though  he  found  in  his  release  from  office  opportunity  for  working 
out  some  parts  of  the  great  schemes  for  building  up  a  new  philo- 
sophy which  had  long  amused  his  leisure. 

26.  Both  in  the  matter  of  the  monopolists  and  Bacon,  James 
had  given  way  to  the  Commons.     After  granting  a  subsidy,  there 

was  a  short  prorogation  until  the  autumn,  when  the 
fourth  Par-  same  House  reassembled.  The  renewal  of  the  Spanish 
liament,  negotiations    disgusted    the    Commons,   who  sent   a 

death ai625     reQ.ues*  to  James  that  he  should  marry  his  son  to 

a  Protestant.  James  told  them  it  was  no  business 
of  theirs,  but  they  replied  that  they  had  a  right  to  give  advice  on 
any  subject.  Thereupon  James  angrily  dismissed  them.  "When 
he  next  met  a  parliament  in  1624,  the  breach  with  Spain  had  made 
him  popular,  but  even  now  there  were  disputes  as  to  the  way  the 
war  should  be  carried  on,  and  the  Commons  showed  their  resolu- 
tion by  impeaching  the  lord  treasurer  Middlesex,  and  passing  an 
act  declaring  that  monopolies  were  already  illegal.  On  March  27, 
1625,  the  old  king  died. 


CHAPTER   II 

CHARLES  I.  (1625-1649) 

Chief  Dates : 

1625.    Accession  of  Charles  1. 

1628.  The  Petition  of  Eight. 

1629.  Dissolution  of  Charles'  third  Parliament. 
1633.    Laud  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1638.  Hampden's  Case  and  the  Scottish  National  Covenant. 

1640.  Meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament. 

1641.  Execution  of  Strafford  and  the  Irish  Rebellion. 

1642.  Battle  of  Edge  Hill. 
164  v  Battle  of  Newbury. 

1644.  Battle  of  Marston  Moor. 

1645.  Battle  of  Naseby. 

1648.  Second  Civil  War.  • 

1649.  Execution  of  Charles  1. 

1.  Charles,  prince  of  "Wales,  became  Charles  1.  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five.  Handsome,  dignified,  and  serious,  he  far  surpassed 
his  father  in  all  the  external  graces  of  his  station,  but 
he  was  without  James's  shrewdness  and  wide  know-  of  Varies  I 
ledge.  Though  carefully  brought  up,  he  had  not  very 
great  ability,  and  was  curiously  slow  in  thought  and  action.  He 
could  neither  think  nor  speak  clearly,  and,  unable  to  understand 
any  one  else's  standpoint,  he  lived  in  a  dream-world  of  his  own. 
He  was  proud,  obstinate,  and  unyielding;  yet  he  had  a  great 
difficulty  in  making  up  his  mind  as  to  any  decided  course  of  action. 
His  piety,  gravity,  love  of  culture,  and  care  for  his  friends  attracted 
the  devotion  of  his  personal  followers,  but  he  was  out  of  sympathy 
with  his  people  as  a  whole.  His  ministers  complained  that  he 
would  never  yield  them  his  full  confidence,  and  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  tie  him  down  to  any  fixed  policy.  His  devotion  to 
Buckingham  made  his  people  regard  him  with  distrust.  His 
wife,  Henrietta  Maria  of  France,  was  frivolous  and  intriguing, 
and  her  great  influence  over  him  was  by  no  means  exercised 
for  good. 

2.  When  Charles  became  king,  England  was  already  at  war 

435 


436  CHARLES  I.  [1625- 

with  Spain.  He  was  so  anxious  to  restore  the  Elector  Palatine 
and  to  fight  the  Spaniards,  that  he  promised  large  subsidies  to 
„.  his  uncle,  Christian  of  Denmark,  who  agreed  to  in- 

with  Spain  vade  Germany  and  revive  the  Protestant  cause.  The 
and  f  alliance  with  France  would,  as  he  hoped,  help  both 
first  Par-  ^s  Spanish  and  his  German  designs.  Knowing  that 
liamcnt,  a  Protestant  war  against    Spain    and    the    German 

1625.  Catholics  was  popular,  Charles  reasonably  expected 

that  parliament  would  give  him  sufficient  supplies  to  enable 
him  to  carry  out  his  comprehensive  designs  with  vigour.  But 
when  parliament  met  in  1625,  it  refused  to  make  substantial 
grants  unless  Buckingham  were  removed  from  his  counsels,  and 
showed  an  unexpected  want  of  sympathy  for  his  Protestant  foreign 
policy.  Charles  thought  that  the  Commons  had  played  him  false, 
and  angrily  dismissed  them.  Their  claim  to  withhold  supplies 
until  his  advisers  were  of  their  liking  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  wanton 
attack  on  the  king's  right  to  rule  the  country  as  he  would. 

3.  It  was  clear  that  Charles  was  now  likely  to  be  involved  in  a 
fierce  struggle  with  his  parliaments.  A  prudent  statesman  would 
Home  and  nave  abandoned  his  foreign  designs  in  the  face  of  the 
foreign  attitude  of  the  Commons."  Anyhow,  he  would  have 
policy.  chosen  between  fighting  parliament  and  fighting  the 
Spaniards.  Charles  was  too  confused  a  thinker  to  grasp  this 
point,  and  resolved  to  go  on  with  his  war  whether  the  Commons 
helped  him  or  not.  This  was  a  course  certain  to  make  Charles 
unsuccessful  in  both  struggles. 

4.  The  war  itself  was  mismanaged,  and  Charles's  finances  made 
fighting  on  an  adequate  scale  impossible.    The  French  gave  him  little 

help,  and  an  expedition  sent  from  England  under 
Th6  aFedeh  Edward  Ceci1'  afterwards  Lord  Wimbledon,  to  attack 
Charles's  Cadiz,  and  cut  off  the  American  treasure  fleet  on  its 
second  way  to  Spain,  proved  a  lamentable  failure.     Before 

1626iam      *    kmg"  Charles  quarrelled  with  France  as  well  as  Spain, 

and  in  1626  was  involved  in  hostilities  with  his 
brother-in-law.  Under  these  circumstances  he  was  again  forced 
to  summon  the  estates.  But  Charles's  second  parliament,  which 
met  in  1626,  was  as  uncompromising  as  its  predecessor.  Led  by 
Sir  John  Eliot,  an  eloquent  Cornish  gentleman,  the  Commons 
resolved  to  impeach  Buckingham,  and  Charles  soon  found  that 
the  only  way  to  save  his  favourite  was  to  dissolve  parliament. 

5.  Charles's  foreign  policy  was  already  a  complete  failure.  He 
could  do  no  harm  to  Spain,  and  the  cause  of  the  Elector  Palatine 


-1628.]  CHARLES  I.  437 

became  hopeless  when  Christian  of  Denmark  was  utterly  beaten 
by  the  G-erman  Catholics  in  1626.  Christian  bitterly  complained 
that  the  English  had  broken  their  promise  to  help 
him  with  men  and  money,  but  Charles  was  quite  un-  joan  ^^ 
able  to  redeem  his  word.  Nevertheless  he  now  planned  Darnell's 
an  expedition  against  France,  where  the  revolt  of  the  J52r *  go- 
Huguenots  of  La  Rochelle,  then  the  chief  seaport 
of  western  France,  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  winning  allies 
among  his  enemies'  subjects.  As  the  Commons  would  not  make 
him  grants,  Charles  sought  to  provide  money  for  the  expedition 
by  levying  a  forced  loan  upon  all  his  subjects.  The  legality  of 
this  was  more  than  doubtful,  for  an  act  of  Richard  in.  had 
prohibited  all  benevolences  or  compulsory  gifts  to  the  crown. 
The  king's  lawyers  argued,  however,  that  there  was  no  law  that 
prevented  Charles  borrowing  his  subjects'  money,  and  great 
pains  were  taken  to  force  every  substantial  Englishman  to 
hand  over  to  Charles  the  sum  which  he  fixed  should  be  lent  to 
him.  Soldiers  were  billeted  on  those  who  refused  to  pay,  and 
commissions  of  martial  law  issued  which  sought  to  withdraw  the 
trial  of  offences  wrought  by  such  soldiers  from  the  ordinary  law 
courts.  Many  persons,  including  Eliot  himself,  who  refused  to 
comply  with  the  king's  orders,  were  put  into  prison.  Among  the 
prisoners  were  five  knights,  who  resolved  to  test  the  lawfulness  of 
the  king's  demand  by  requesting  their  release  from  prison  by  what 
was  called  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  By  this  the  gaoler  was  com- 
pelled to  produce  the  body  of  the  prisoner  before  the  judges  in 
court,  and  to  specify  the  offence  for  which  he  was  detained.  If 
the  judges  thought  that  the  prisoner  was  unlawfully  kept  in  prison, 
it  was  their  duty  to  order  his  release.  In  Darnell's  case,  as  this 
case  was  called  from  the  name  of  one  of  the  five  knights,  the  gaoler 
returned  the  answer  to  the  writ  that  the  captives  were  detained  by 
the  special  command  of  the  king.  The  judges  thereupon  ordered 
their  recommittal  to  gaol,  thus  practically  deciding  in  the  king's 
favour  and  admitting  that  the  king  could  imprison  his  subjects 
at  his  discretion.  So  little  success  attended  Charles's  efforts  even 
after  this,  that  in  despair  he  set  the  five  knights  free  and  summoned 
another  parliament.  He  at  length  understood  that  the  only  way 
to  help  La  Rochelle  was  to  obtain  a  parliamentary  grant. 

6.  Charles's  third  parliament  assembled  in  1628.  Besides  Sir 
John  Eliot,  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  a  Yorkshire  landlord,  was 
conspicuous  among  the  leaders  of  the  Commons.  Under  their 
guidance  the  Commons  showed  a  resolute  determination  to  defend 


438  CHARLES  1.  [1628- 

the  liberty  and  the  purses  of  Englishmen  from  Charles's  attacks. 
Wentworth  had  no  wish  to  diminish  the  king's  authority,  but  he 

distrusted  Buckingham  and  wished  to  drive  him  from 
th^d  Par-  power.  He  proposed  that  a  bill  should  be  passed 
liament  and  enacting  that  in  the  future  forced  loans  and  im- 
the  Petition  prisonment  without  legal  warrant  should  be  restrained, 
°628       *         but  Charles  resented  the  proposal  as  an  encroachment 

on  his  prerogative,  and  Eliot  did  not  think  it  went 
far  enough.  In  the  end  Eliot's  counsels  prevailed  over  those  of 
Wentworth,  and  the  Commons  sent  up  to  the  king  a  document 
called  the  Petition  of  Right,  which  declared  that  the  recent  acts 
of  Charles  were  already  against  the  law,  and  in  particular  de- 
nounced as  illegal  the  levying  of  gifts,  loans,  or  taxes  without 
parliamentary  consent,  the  imprisonment  of  persons  without  cause 
shown,  the  billeting  of  soldiers  and  sailors  on  householders  against 
their  wills,  and  the  issuing  of  commissions  of  martial  law. 

7.  At  first  Charles  returned  an  evasive  answer  to  the  Petition 
of  Right,  but  Commons  and  Lords  alike  urged  that  he  should  say 
Charles  ^es  or  no'  an^  ^e  Commons  proposed  to  renew  the 
accepts  the  impeachment  of  Buckingham.  Fear  for  his  friend 
petition,         soon  compelled  Charles  to  yield  the  royal  assent  to  the 

petition.  Parliament  then  made  him  a  large  grant 
of  money,  and  went  home  for  the  holidays,  conscious  that  it  had 
at  last  won  a  complete  triumph  over  the  crown. 

8.  The  subsidy  of  the  Commons  at  last  made  the  expedition  to 
La  Rochelle  possible.  It  was  high  time,  for  Louis  xni.'s  troops 
M  rderof  ^ad  Desieg"ed  the  Protestant  stronghold,  and  unless 
Bucking-  the  English  sent  a  relieving  force  its  capitulation 
ham,  1628.  could  not  be  long  delayed.  Buckingham,  who  as 
lord  admiral  was  to  command  the  fleet,  went  down  to  Portsmouth 
to  hasten  the  preparations.  There  he  was  murdered  by  a  fanatic 
named  Felton,  whose  motive,  however,  was  private  spite,  not  political 
animosity.  Buckingham  was  so  unpopular  that  the  mob  made  a 
hero  of  the  murderer.  Few  save  Charles  lamented  the  dead 
favourite.  His  removal  did  not,  however,  result  in  any  improvement 
in  the  relations  between  Charles  and  his  subjects.  The  king's 
policy  remained  the  same,  and  the  indignation  which .  had  hitherto 
fallen  on  the  duke  now  fell  directly  upon  the  monarch. 

9.  In  1629  Charles's  third  parliament  met  for  a  second  session, 
and,  despite  the  Petition  of  Right,  began  to  attack  the  king  more 
fiercely  than  ever.  The  Commons  complained  that  Charles  still 
levied  some  customs  duties,  called  tunnage  and  poundage,  which  his 


-i629.]  CHARLES  1.  439 

first  parliament,  rejecting  the  custom  of  earlier  times  which  voted 
the  king-  tunnage  and  poundage  for  life,  had  only  granted  him 
for  a  single  year.     Charles  had  thrown  into  prison 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  who  had  refused  0f  chariest 
to  pay  this  tax,  and  the  Commons  now  said  that  this  third  Par- 
was  an  attack  on  the  privilege  of  parliament  to  be   ji1™611*' 
exempt  from  arrest.     Moreover,  Charles  had  recently 
promoted  to  bishoprics  and  other  ecclesiastical  preferment  divines ' 
who  belonged  to  the  Arminian  party,  which  was  so  distasteful 
to  the  Puritan  Commons.     There  was  soon  so  complete  a  breach 
that  the  king  resolved  to  prorogue  parliament.     The  Commons 
shut  the  door  of  the  House  in  the  face  of  the  king's  messenger, 
and  two  members,  Holies  and  Valentine,  held  down  in  his  chair  the 
timid  Speaker,  who  had  sought  to  end  the  sitting.     Amidst  stormy 
scenes  the  Commons  voted,  on  Eliot's  motion,  that  all  who  intro- 
duced Arminianism,  or  brought  in  innovations  in  religion,  or  paid 
tonnage  and  poundage  without  parliamentary  grant,  were  traitors 
to  the  Commonwealth.     Then  the  door  was  opened,  and  the  king's 
messenger  admitted.     The  Commons  streamed  out  to  receive  notice 
that  their  session  was  prorogued,  and  a  few  days  later  parliament 
was  dissolved.      Eliot,   as  the  ringleader,  was  thrown  into  the 
Tower,  where  he  died  three  years  later  of  consumption,  aggravated 
by  the  rigour  of  his  imprisonment. 

10.  The  first  period  of  Charles's  reign  ends  with  the  dissolution 
of  his  third  parliament.     The  second  comprises  the  eleven  years 
from  1629  to  1640,  during  which  Charles  managed  to    _.     .    , 
carry  on  the  government  without  summoning  a  new  arbitrary 
one.     Five  years  of  strife  had  shown,  that  the  claims  rule,  1629- 
of  the  crown  and  of  parliament  were  incompatible  with 
each  other.      The   Commons  were  no  longer  content  to  accept 
the  position  which  had  satisfied  them  under  the  Tudors.      They 
now  demanded  supremacy  in  the  state,  for  they  required  that  the 
king  should  change  his  ministers  whenever  the  Commons  were 
displeased  with  them.     Though  the  Commons  declared  that  they 
were  only  following  up  ancient  precedents,  Charles  can  hardly  be 
blamed  for  resenting  their  interference  as  a  new  and  revolutionary 
pretension.      His    predecessors    had    governed  England  as  they 
would,  and  now  parliament  sought  to  make  his  government  de- 
pendent upon  itself.    Neither  king  nor  Commons  quite  saw  the 
real  issue.     The  real  truth  was  that  the  country  had  outgrown  the 
old  constitution,  and  that  the  future  could  only  be  settled  when  it 
was  seen  whether  king  or  parliament  was  the  stronger.     Two 


440  CHARLES  I.  [1629- 

issues  were  alone  possible.  If  Charles  could  do  without  parliaments 
he  could  make  himself  a  despot,  like  his  brother-in-law  Louis  xiii. 
If  parliament  could  beat  the  king,  then  the  strong  monarchy  of 
the  Tudors  was  dead,  and  the  king  must  henceforth  content  him- 
self with  a  mere  shadow  of  his  former  power.  But  Charles  went 
on  blundering  in  the  old  ways,  and  even  during  those  eleven  years 
never  strove  to  make  himself  strong  and  popular,  so  that  the  people 
might  trust  him  rather  than  the  Commons. 

11.  Charles's  first  efforts  were  now  to  raise  enough  money  to 

be  able  to  live  without  parliamentary  grants.     With  this  object  he 

,  practised  the  greatest  economy  in  all  his  expenses.     He 

expedients     a^  last  saw  how  impossible  it  was  to  fight  foreign 

for  raising      nations  without  parliamentary  help,   and  concluded 

peace  with  both  Spain  and  France,  thus  abandoning 
the  unlucky  Elector  Palatine  to  his  fate.  Meanwhile  the  thirty 
years'  struggle  still  continued  in  Germany,  when  first  Gustavus 
Adolphus  of  Sweden,  and  afterwards  Louis  xiii.  of  France  and  his 
great  minister  Richelieu,  stepped  in  to  save  the  Protestants  from 
destruction.  Peace  was  not  made  until  1648.  Even  when  at  peace 
Charles  found  himself  hardly  pressed  to  obtain  a  revenue.  He 
dared  not  openly  break  the  law  and  raise  taxe3  of  his  own  authority, 
but  he  sought  to  evade  the  spirit  of  the  law  in  all  sorts  of  under- 
hand ways.  His  chief  care  was  to  revive  obsolete  royal  rights,  by 
which  a  little  money  might  be  made.  Thus  he  increased  the 
customs  duties,  because  as  king  he  had  the  right  to  regulate  trade, 
and  on  the  same  ground  continued  to  levy  tunnage  and  poundage. 
He  renewed  an  old  custom,  called  distraint  of  knighthood,  by  which 
the  king  could  fine  all  gentlemen  of  landed  property  who  had 
neglected  to  get  themselves  dubbed  knig"hts.  He  strove  to  increase 
the  limits  of  the  royal  forests  after  the  fashion  of  the  Norman 
kings.  Above  all,  he  revived  an  ancient  right,  whereby  in  ancient 
times  the  different  maritime  districts  had  been  required  to  provide 
the  king  with  ships,  or  had  been  forced  to  pay  instead  a  money 

composition,  called  ship  money,  with  which  the  king 
p  .  might  construct  vessels  for  himself.     There  was,  in- 

deed,  urgent  need  for  increasing  the  royal  navy,  and 
Charles  honestly  spent  the  money  he  thus  got  in  building  ships 
to  protect  the  shores  and  commerce  of  England.  He  was  so 
encouraged  by  the  success  of  his  scheme,  that  he  soon  extended 
ship  money  from  the  coast  region  to  the  inland  counties.  It 
thus  became  practically  a  new  tax  levied  without  parliamentary 
grant. 


-1638.]  CHARLES  I.  44I 

12.  The  old  opponents  of  Charles  in  parliament  were  much 

disgusted  with  ship  money,  and  John   Hampden,  an  able  and 

wealthy  Buckinghamshire  gentleman,  a  former  member 

of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  a  close  friend  of  Sir   Hamp?!n's 

case,  looo. 

John  Eliot,  refused  to  pay  his  quota  of  the  sum 
demanded  from  Buckinghamshire  to  equip  a  new  ship  for  the  king. 
In  1638  his  case  was  tried  before  all  the  judges,  who  decided  by  a 
majority  in  favour  of  the  legality  of  the  tax.  But  Hampden's 
resistance  focussed  the  popular  opposition  to  Charles's  pitiful 
financial  expedients.  Henceforth  ship  money  was  paid  with  in- 
creasing reluctance,  and  dislike  to  the  king's  arbitrary  and  incom- 
petent government  became  widely  spread. 

13.  Charles's  ecclesiastical  policy  had  still  more  share  in 
making  his  rule  odious  than  his  attempts  to  raise  money.  Even 
more  than  Elizabeth  and  James  1.,  Charles  showed  cnapiests 
himself  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  Puritans,  whose  cause  ecelesias- 
was  the  more  odious  to  him  since  it  was  so  popular  tlcal  policy, 
with  the  House  of  Commons.  A  friend  and  disciple  of  Laud, 
Charles  was  a  sincere  Arminian,  and  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
new  school  whose  affinities  with  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages 
made  them  so  antipathetic  to  the  Puritan  Calvinists.  Apart  from 
theological  preference,  however,  Charles  trusted  the  Arminian 
clergy  because  they  were  always  on  the  side  of  the  monarchy,  and 
ever  anxious  to  magnify  the  sacred  character  and  divine  commission 
of  a  crowned  and  anointed  king.  In  1628  he  made  Laud  bishop 
of  London,  and  in  1633,  when  Archbishop  Abbot  died,  raised  him 
to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  Throughout  all  these  years  Laud  was 
Charles's  most  trusted  adviser. 

14  The  new  archbishop  was  a  man  of  learning,  high  character, 
and  wonderful  energy.     He  was  sincerely  anxious  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  Church,  which  was  still  full  of  abuses   ArehbishoD 
and  laxity.     But  he  was  narrow-minded,  meddlesome,    Laud  and 
and  wanting  in  tact,  and  as  incapable  as  Charles  Mm-    tne  Puri- 
self  of  understanding  the  temper  of  people  who  differed 
from  himself.     His  respect  for  antiquity  and  his  martinet's  sense 
of  discipline  made  Laud  regard  rigid  conformity  and  unity  in 
ceremonies  as  equally  important  with  the  maintenance  of  morality 
and  religion.     Under  Abbot  the  Puritan  clergy  had  been  permitted 
to  be  somewhat  lax  in  regard  to  ceremonies,  and  Laud  now  made 
it  his  chief  care  to  establish  a  higher  standard.     The  nonconforming 
clergy  were    ruthlessly  driven   from    their    cures,   and    severity 
naturally  added  considerably  to  the  hitherto  scanty  ranks  of  the 


442  CHARLES  I.  [1629- 

separatists.  Preachers  were  forced  to  read  Common  Prayer 
before  giving-  their  sermons,  and  even  foreign  Protestants  were 
oompelled  to  use  the  Prayer-book.  It  was  required  that  the 
oommunion  tables  should  be  placed  at  the  east  end  of  the  churches, 
and  fenced  with  rails  to  keep  them  from  profanation.  Puritans,  who 
regarded  Sunday  as  a  Christian  sabbath,  were  scandalized  when 
Laud  caused  to  be  read  in  churches  a  proclamation  recognizing 
lawful  sports,  such  as  archery  and  dancing,  after  service  on  Sunday. 
The  indignant  Puritans  were  convinced  that  their  enemy  was 
aiming,  in  league  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  at  the  subversion  of 
Protestantism.  The  Catholic  surroundings  of  the  queen,  even  the 
tolerance  that  refused  to  butcher  Catholic  priests  as  Elizabeth  had 
done,  were  regarded  as  further  proofs  of  the  disloyalty  of  king 
and  archbishop  to  the  Reformation. 

15.  For  a  time  all  opposition  was  stilled.  Laud  strove  to  revive 
and  extend  the  power  of  the  Church  courts,  which  continued  to 
The  victims  exer°ise  intolerable  tyranny  over  all  men.  Great 
of  Charles's  offenders  were  punished  by  the  court  of  High  Corn- 
policy,  mission.  It  was  by  extraordinary  courts  of  this  type 
that  Charles  as  well  as  Laud  found  their  chief  means  of  enforcing 
obedience.  The  Star  Chamber  made  itself  odious  by  the  severity 
of  its  punishments,  the  secrecy  of  its  proceedings,  and  its  absolute 
deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  government.  A  Scottish  physician, 
named  Alexander  Leighton,  was  imprisoned,  flogged,  and  cropped 
of  his  ears  for  writing  a  book  against  bishops.  William  Prynne, 
a  learned  lawer  and  antiquary,  was  put  in  the  pillory,  mutilated, 
and  imprisoned  for  libelling  the  queen,  because  in  writing  a  book 
against  stage  plays  he  had  reflected  on  the  moral  character  of 
actresses,  and  the  queen  was  fond  of  acting  in  masques. 

15.  Laud  believed  that  he  had  restored  the  Church  to  the  great 
position  it  had  lost  at  the  Reformation.     As  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

the  clergy  began  to  hold  the  highest  offices  of  state, 
Wentworth     an^  Juxon>  bishop  of  London,  a  college  friend  and 

close  ally  of  Laud,  was  made  lord  high  treasurer. 
Among  the  lay  allies  of  Laud,  Sir  Thomas  "Wentworth,  now  Lord 
Wentworth,  was  by  far  the  ablest.  We  have  seen  how  Wentworth 
had  had  something  to  do  with  the  passing  of  the  Petition  of  Right, 
and  the  attack  on  Buckingham.  After  Buckingham's  death,  how- 
ever, he  abandoned  his  old  associates  and  joined  the  court  party. 
He  was  no  mere  apostate,  as  has  sometimes  been  thought.  He  had 
always  upheld  the  prerogative,  for,  like  Bacon,  he  believed  that  he 
would    be    more    likely  to   secure    the    strong   government   and 


-I637J  CHARLES  I.  443 

comprehensive  reforms  that  he  loved  from  an  enlightened  king 
than  from  the  conservative  and  puritanical  House  of  Commons. 
"Wentworth,  however,  did  not  fully  enjoy  Charles's  confidence,  for 
the  king  was  too  half-hearted  and  vacillating  for  so  thorough- 
going a  minister.  He  employed  Wentworth  first  as  president  of 
the  council  of  the  north  and  afterwards  as  deputy  of  Ireland.  In 
the  latter  office  Wentworth  showed  extraordinary  vigour  and 
energy,  ruling  Ireland  firmly  but  roughly,  maintaining  peace, 
and  improving  its  agriculture,  trade,  and  material  prosperity. 
He  planned  a  new  plantation  of  Connaught,  which  would  have 
driven  the  native  Irish  from  their  last  retreats.  But  his  master- 
ful ways  alienated  Irishmen  of  every  class.  Wentworth  was  a 
great  friend  of  Laud,  who  shared  his  views.  They  called  their 
system  of  trampling  down  all  opposition  Thorough,  and  Wentworth 
was  soon  able  to  boast  to  the  archbishop  that  the  system  of 
"  thorough "  had  been  completely  established  in  Ireland.  He 
raised  an  army  in  Ireland,  which  might  well  some  day  be  useful 
to  extend  the  reign  of  "  thorough  "  to  Britain. 

16.  Scotland  also  was  to  share  with  Ireland  and  England  the 
new  system  of  government,  of  which  Laud  and  Wentworth  were 
the  great  exponents.  Charles  pressed  on  his  father's  ^  Scottish 
policy  of  extending  his  power  over  the  Scots  by  Ppayer- 
making  Scottish  institutions  as  much  like  those  of  book,  1637. 
England  as  he  could,  and,  in  particular,  by  assimilating  the 
Scottish  Church  to  the  Church  of  England.  In  1633  Charles 
visited  Edinburgh,  and  was  crowned  king  of  Scots.  Laud 
accompanied  him,  and,  by  the  archbishop's  advice,  the  power 
of  the  newly  restored  Scottish  bishops  was  increased,  and  a  new 
bishopric  was  set  up  in  Edinburgh.  Surplices  were  ordered  to 
be  worn  by  the  clergy  when  conducting  divine  worship.  At  last, 
in  1637,  a  great  further  step  was  taken,  when  a  service-book 
was  drawn  up  for  the  Scottish  Church.  The  Scots  hated  all  set 
forms  of  worship,  and  looked  on  the  English  Prayer-book  as  popeiy 
in  disguise.  The  book  Charles  now  ordered  them  to  use  was  based 
upon  the  English  service,  and  alterations  which  were  made  in  it, 
with  the  professed  object  of  giving  the  Scots  a  special  book  of 
their  own,  were  all  of  a  character  that  made  it  more  in  accordance 
with  the  teaching  of  Laud  and  his  school  than  the  English  Common 
Prayer.  So  unpopular  was  the  plan  in  Scotland  that  Charles  did 
not  venture  to  get  the  consent  either  of  the  Scottish  parliament 
or  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  Scottish  Church.  It  was  imposed 
upon  the  country  by  the  royal  prerogative  alone. 


444  CHARLES  I.  [1638- 

17.  All  Scotland  was  indignant  at  the  new  service-book. 
When  the  dean  of  the  new  cathedral  of  St.  Giles's  in  Edinburgh 
The  National  a^empted  to  read  prayers  from  it  for  the  first  time, 
Covenant,  there  was  a  riot  in  the  church.  All  over  Scotland 
1638.  ^he  clergy,  still  Presbyterian  at  heart,  despite  the 
restoration  of  episcopacy,  refused  to  use  the  hated  liturgy,  and 
were  backed  up  by  the  thorough  sympathy  of  their  flocks.  The 
nobles,  who  had  hitherto  supported  the  king  against  the  ministers, 
fell  away,  and,  headed  by  Archibald  Campbell,  earl  of  Argyll,  and 
James  Graham,  earl  of  Montrose,  made  common  cause  with  the 
clergy  in  defending  Scottish  Puritanism  and  Scottish  national 
rights.  Pour  tables,  or  committees,  were  set  up,  representing  the 
nobles,  gentry,  clergy,  and  townsfolk,  and  as  Charles  had  no  means 
of  enforcing  his  will,  these  committees  became  for  all  practical 
purposes  the  rulers  of  Scotland.  In  March,  1638,  Scots  of  all 
ranks  united  in  signing  what  was  called  the  National  Covenant, 
whereby  they  pledged  themselves  to  abhor  "  papistry  "  and  uproot 
all  traces  of  its  "  idolatries,"  to  uphold  the  king's  lawful  authority, 
and  to  labour  to  restore  the  purity  of  the  Gospel  as  "  established 
before  recent  novations."  It  was  in  vain  that  Charles  abandoned 
the  Prayer-book.  A  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  met  at 
Glasgow,  and  soon  showed  so  mutinous  a  spirit  that  the  king 
dissolved  it.  The  assembly  declared  that  the  king  had  no  right 
to  interfere  with  the  spiritual  freedom  of  the  Church,  and  went 
on  with  its  work  all  the  same.  It  formally  abolished  episcopacy, 
and  the  good  will  of  the  whole  nation  secured  that  its  decree 
should  at  once  be  carried  out. 

18.  Charles  thus  saw  his  authority  set  aside  by  his  Scottish 
subjects.  Being  without  an  army,  he  had  no  means  of  restoring 
The  First  ^is  sway.  His  only  chance  was  to  appeal  to  the  old 
Bishops'  hatred  of  the  English  to  the  Scots,  and  raise  a  force 
War,  1639.  jjj  England  by  which  he  might  conquer  Scotland  like 
a  foreign  country.  But  the  English  saw  that  the  Scots  had  a 
common  cause  with  them  against  the  king,  and  honoured  the  Scots 
for  showing  them  the  way  to  resist  him.  The  few  troops  that 
Charles  could  collect  were  mutinous,  ill '  trained,  and  had  no  heart 
for  his  cause.  Against  him  the  Scots  brought  together  a  fine 
army,  many  of  the  soldiers  having,  like  the  general,  Alexander 
Leslie,  been  trained  in  the  art  of  war  when  fighting  as  volunteers 
for  the  Protestant  cause  in  Germany.  The  result  was  that  the 
First  Bishops'  War,  as  men  called  it,  which  Charles  attempted  to 
fight  in  the  summer  of  1639,  was  a  sorry  failure.     Charles,  finding 


-1640.]  CHARLES  1.  445 

his  soldiers  would  not  fight,  was  forced  to  sign  the  treaty  of 
Berwick,  by  which  all  Scottish  grievances  were  to  he  settled  by 
a  free  parliament  and  general  assembly.  Perceiving,  however, 
that  both  parliament  and  assembly  were  resolved  to  insist  on  the 
abolition  of  episcopacy,  Charles  adjourned  their  sessions,  and 
again  resolved  to  try  the  fortune  of  war. 

19.  This  bold  policy  required  a  stronger  hand  than  Charles  or  his 
weak  ministers  possessed.  The  king  therefore  recalled  Wentworth 
from  Ireland,  made  him  earl  of  Strafford,  and  gave  _.  Sh  t 
him  his  chief  confidence.  Strafford  was  clear-headed  Parliament, 
enough  to  see  that  Charles  could  only  hope  to  be  April,  1640. 
successful  in  fighting  the  Scots  by  summoning  a  parliament  and 
throwing  himself  upon  the  support  of  England.  Very  unwillingly 
Charles  accepted  his  advice,  and  again  met  a  parliament  in  April, 
1640.  Led  by  Hampden,  the  hero  of  the  ship-money  struggle,  and 
John  Pym,  an  able  and  eloquent  squire  of  Somerset,  the  Commons 
refused  to  give  Charles  any  supply  unless  he  first  redressed  their 
grievances.  This  meant  changing  Charles's  whole  system  of  govern- 
ment, a  course  for  which  the  king  was  not  yet  prepared.  Accord- 
ingly Charles  dissolved  his  fourth  parliament  when  it  had  sat  about 
three  weeks.   For  this  reason  it  was  known  as  the  Short  Parliament. 

20.  Despite  his  failure  to  get  parliamentary  supplies,  Charles 
managed  somehow  to  get  an  army  together  to  fight  the  Scots  in 
the  summer.     This  time  the  Scots  did  not  wait  for  _,    cecon(i 
Charles  at  home,  but  boldly  invaded  England,  where   Bishops' 
they  were  welcomed  as  liberators.     It  was  in  vain  that   War,  1640. 
Charles  strove  to  defend  the  passage  of  the  Tyne  against  the 
.northern  army.    After  some  fighting  at  Newburn,  near  Newcastle, 
the  English  ran  away,  and  the  Scots  occupied  the  south  bank  of 
the  river.     Their  march  southwards  was  no  longer  opposed.     In 
October,  Charles,  again  forced  to  treat,  made  with  them  the  treaty 
of  Bipon,  by  which  he  promised  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  army 
which  had  beaten  him.  Next  year  he  signed  a  permanent  treaty  that 
left  Scotland  in  the  hands  of  the  Presbyterians.     Thus  the  Second 
Bishops'  War  was  even  more  disastrous  to  the  king  than  the  first. 

21.  The  need  of  paying  the   Scots  army  brought  Charles's 
embarrassments  to  a  head.     He  was  now  obliged  to  raise  a  large 
sum  of  money,  and,  fearing  to  meet  another  parlia-   ^Q  <?reat 
ment,  he  called  together  at  York  a  great  council  of   council  at 
peers.     The  lords  told  him  that  he  must  summon  a   Yopk« 
parliament,  and,  having  no  other  resource,  he  was  constrained  to 
follow  their  advice. 


44^  CHARLES  I.  [1640- 

22.  On  November  3, 1640,  Charles's  fifth  and  last  parliament, 

memorable  in  onr  history  as  the  Long  Parliament,  assembled  at 

Meeting  of      Westminster.     The  king  was  absolutely  at  its  mercy, 

the  Long        and  the  whole  of  the  Commons  and  a  large  number  of 

Parliament,    the  Lords  were  bent  on  reversing1  the  whole  of   his 
Nov.,  1640.  ,  .  ,       _      .  .     °        .    .  , 

system  of  government.     The  king  s  ministers  were  at 

once  attacked.    Strafford  and  Laud  were  impeached,  and  Strafford, 

as  the  more  dangerous  of  the  two,  was  first  brought  up  for  trial 

before  the  Lords.     It  was  soon,  however,  found  very  difficult  to 

convict  him  of  any  legal  offence.     He  was  charged  with  treason, 

but  treason,  by  English  law,  was  treason  against  the  king,  and 

Strafford's  real  crime  was  to  have  served  the  king  too  well  at  the 

expense  of  his  country.     Great  efforts  were  made  to  prove  that 

a  letter  of   Strafford,  in  which  he  urged  the  king  to  use  the 

Irish  army  against  the  English  or   Scots,  amounted  to  levying 

war  against  the  king.     This  was,  however,  a  most  strained  and 

unnatural  twisting  of  the  law,  and  the  Lords,  the  judges  of  the  case, 

Attainder  of  ^ies^a^e^  BS  ^°  whether  it  would  be  accepted.     De- 

Strafford,       spairing  of  wreaking  vengeance  on  their  foe  by  judicial 

May,  1641.     means,  the  Commons  dropped  the  impeachment,  and 

borrowed  from  the  worst  precedents  of  Henry  vin.,  the  procedure 

known  as  an  act  of  attainder.     This  was  simply  passing  a  new 

law  enacting  that  Strafford  should  die.    It  was  practically  denying 

to  the  accused  any  proper  trial,  and  disposing  of  him  by  virtue  of 

the  power  of  a  law  to  do  anything.      The  bill  easily  passed  the 

Commons,  and  the  Lords  were  frightened  into  accepting  it  by  the 

timely  discovery  of  what  was  called  the  army  plot,  an  intrigue  of  a 

few  courtiers  to  upset  the  parliament  and  establish  a  despotism. 

Charles  was  then  asked  to  give  the  royal  assent  to  the  bill.     He  had 

promised  Strafford  that  not  a  hair  of  his  head  should  be  hurt,  but, 

after  a  pitiful  hesitation,  gave  way.     On  hearing  the  king's  decision 

Strafford  exclaimed,  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes."     On  May  12, 

1641,  he  was  beheaded  on  Tower  HilL     Laud  was  kept  in  the 

Tower  until  there  was  leisure  to  proceed  against  him  also. 

^  j  23.  The  more  satisfactory  work  of  the  early  sessions  of  the 

Long  Parliament  was  the  clean  sweep  which  it  made  of  the 

machinery  by  which  Charles  had  attempted  to  play 
measures  ^e  despot  for  eleven  years.  It  abolished  the  Court  of 
of  the  Long  High  Commission,  the  Council  of  the  North,  the  Star 
fgXjS™! ?*'    Chamber,  and  the  other  prerogative  courts,  and  released 

their  victims,  such  as  Prynne,  who  were  now  hailed  as 
popular  heroes.     It  reversed  the  unconstitutional  decisions  of  the 


-1641.]  CHARLES  I.  447 

judges,  such  as  those  in  Darnell's  case  and  Hampden's  case.  It 
declared  ship  money,  tunnage  and  poundage,  and  the  new  imposi- 
tions illegal.  It  passed  a  Triennial  Act,  enacting  that  not  more 
than  three  years  should  elapse  without  a  meeting  of  parliament. 
It  deprived  Charles  of  his  favourite  weapon  of  a  dissolution  by 
forcing  on  him  a  law  that  the  existing  parliament  should  not  be 
dissolved  without  its  own  consent.  As  with  Strafford's  impeach- 
ment, parliament  showed  a  wonderful  agreement  in  carrying  all 
these  measures.  The  king  had  no  party,  and  was  forced  to  stand 
aside  while  Pym  and  Hampden,  the  spokesmen  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  nation,  destroyed  his  power  as  they  would. 

24.  Having  reordered  the  government  of  the  State,  the  par- 
liamentary leaders  set  to  work  to  provide  for  the  future  of  the 
Church.  With  Pym  and  Hampden's  goodwill  a  bill  j^e  R00t 
was  brought  forward,  called  the  Root  and  Branch  and  Branch 
Bill,  which  proposed  to  abolish  bishops  altogether  and  Bil1,  1641« 
put  the  control  of  the  Church  into  the  hands  of  a  commission  of 
laymen.  The  revolutionary  character  of  this  measure  had  the 
result  of  dividing  the  Long  Parliament  for  the  first  time  into 
parties.  There  were  still  many  who  loved  bishops  and  the  Prayer- 
book.  Such  men  would  willingly  have  made  common  cause  with 
Pym  and  Hampden  in  getting  rid  of  what  were  called  Laud's 
"innovations,"  but  their  conservative  temper  made  it  intolerable 
to  them  that  the  Elizabethan  settlement  of  the  Church  should  be 
destroyed.  Headed  by  Edward  Hyde,  a  rising  lawyer,  and  by  Lucius 
Cary,  Yiscount  Falkland,  a  broad-minded,  warm-hearted  enthusiast 
of  deep  religious  feeling, 'they  opposed  the  Root  and  Branch  Bill. 
The  result  was  that  the  second  reading  was  only  carried  by  a  small 
majority.    Soon  afterwards  parliament  separated  for  the  vacation. 

25.  When  Parliament    scattered    Charles  went  to    Scotland. 
Some  of  his  followers  formed  a  foolish  plot,  called  the  Incident, 
which  aimed  at  arresting  Argyll  and  the  Presbyterian   j^q 
leaders  at  the  moment  when   Charles  professed  the   Incident, 
utmost  friendship  for  them.     Though  Charles  denied 

any  knowledge  of  the  scheme,  the  detection  of  his  friends'  treachery 
brought  him  much  discredit. 

26.  Still  graver  suspicion  was  cast  upon  Charles  when  a  serious 
rebellion  broke  out  in  Ireland.     As  soon  as  Strafford's  strong  hand 
was  removed,  the  oppressed  Irish  burst  into  revolt   The  Ipj  ^ 
against  his  weak    successors.     The  native  Irish   in   Rebellion, 
Ulster  rose  against  the  Protestant  settlers,  and  Owen   1641» 

Roe  O'Neill,  the  exiled  chief  of  the  greatest  of  the  Ulster  clans, 


448  CHARLES  I.  [1641^ 

came  back  from  his  exile,  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  rebels. 
Soon  the  rising  spread  to  other  provinces,  and  the  Straffordian 
system  of  "  thorough  "  was  soon  violently  overthrown.  Great  atroci- 
ties were  wrought,  which  were  magnified  by  rumour  in  England. 
It  was  reported  that  the  bloodthirsty  Irish  had  massacred  thousands 
of  Protestants  in  cold  blood.  The  king  and  his  papist  queen  were 
denounced  as  accomplices  of  the  assassins,  or  as  anyhow  having 
given  the  signal  to  the  revolt  by  the  sympathy  they  had  shown  to 
Roman  Catholics. 

27.  In  the  autumn  of  1641  parliament  met  again,  thoroughly 
alarmed  by  the  Irish  rebellion,  and  eager  to  take  advantage  of 

every  rumour  that  blackened  the  king.  It  drew  up 
Remon-  a  l°no    document,   called   the    Grand  Remonstrance, 

stranee,  wherein  it  recapitulated  all  the  evil  deeds  wrought  by 

ov"  *  Charles  since  his  accession.  It  attributed  the  root  of 
the  mischief  to  Charles's  "  malignant  design  to  subvert  the  funda- 
mental laws  and  principles  of  government,"  and  demanded  that 
ministers  should  be  employed  who  possessed  the  confidence  of 
parliament,  and  that  the  Church  should  be  reformed  by  a  synod  of 
divines.  In  substance  it  declared  that  Charles's  concessions  counted 
for  nothing,  and  that  parliament  would  only  be  satisfied  with  revo- 
lution in  Church  and  state.  Hyde  and  Falkland  now  mustered 
those  who  had  opposed  the  Root  and  Branch  Bill  to  vote  against 
the  Remonstrance.  After  a  hot  debate,  Pym  and  Hampden  only 
managed  to  pass  the  Remonstrance  through  the  Commons  by  a 
majority  of  eleven. 

28.  The  division  of  the  once  united  Commons  into  two  nearly 
equal  parties  gave  Charles  a  splendid  opportunity  of  winning  back 

a  position  of  influence.  The  foes  of  the  Remonstrance 
sion  of  were  a  constitutional  royalist  party  in  the  making, 

Parliament  pledged  to  uphold  the  existing  institutions  in  Church 
narties°  an<^  s^e>  "though  equally  pledged  against  arbitrary 

rule  and  Laudian  innovations.  But  Charles  had  no 
eyes  to  see  how  affairs  were  tending,  and  his  one  idea  was  to  win 
back  all  that  he  had  lost  by  taking  advantage  of  the  disunion  of 
his  natural  enemies,  the  Commons.  He  made  a  feeble  attempt  to 
conciliate  the  moderate  party  by  giving  office  to  Falkland,  but  he 
The  attack  immediately  afforded  damning  proof  that  Pym  and 
on  the  five  Hampden  were  justified  in  their  incurable  distrust  of 
members,       h^  Dy  a  foolish  and  treacherous  attack  on  the  leaders 

of  the  majority.  On  January  3,  1642,  he  accused 
Lord  Kimbolton  and  five  commoners,  among  whom  were  Pym 


-1642.]  CHARLES  I.  449 

and  Hampden,  of  high,  treason,  on  the  ground  of  their  nego- 
tiations with  the  Scots,  which  he  regarded  as  conspiring  with 
the  king's  enemies.  Not  content  with  that,  he  went  down  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  demanded  that  the  five  members  should  be 
surrendered.  Forewarned  of  the  king's  designs,  the  five  members 
had  escaped  to  the  City,  and  Charles  was  forced  to  withdraw, 
amidst  angry  cries  of  "  Privilege."  Thereupon  the  Commons 
transferred  their  sessions  from  "Westminster  to  the  City,  whose 
walls  afforded  them  protection,  and  whose  citizens  were  ardently 
on  their  side. 

29.  Charles  was  so  completely  baffled  that,  a  week  later,  he 

abandoned  the  capital,  leaving  his  palace  and  all  the  resources  of 

the  state  in  his  enemies'  hands.    War  was  now  almost   -..        DtUPe 

inevitable,  but  efforts  to  avoid  a  rupture  still  occupied  between 

the  first  six  months  of  1642.     Charles  made  his  last   Kln»  ai»d 

,        ,  ,,  ,  ,   ,         ,  .,,    Parliament, 

concession  when  he  gave  the  royal  consent  to  a  hill 

excluding  bishops  from  the  House   of  Lords.      Soon  after  the 

Houses  sent  up  for  his  approval  a  Militia  Bill,  which  transferred 

the  command  of  the  militia  from  officers  appointed  by  the  king  to 

commanders  appointed  by  themselves.     When  Charles  refused  to 

accept  this,  the  Lords  and  Commons  ordered  that  it  should  be 

carried  out  as  an  ordinance  of  parliament,  and  were  obeyed  over 

a  great  part  of  the  country.     Parliament  then  formulated  their 

final  terms  in  the  Nineteen  Propositions  presented  to  Charles  at 

York,  the  effect  of  which  would  have  been  to  make  him  only  a 

nominal  ruler.      Indignantly  rejecting  these  proposals,   Charles 

raised  troops  and  money  on  his  own  account.     There  had  already 

been  collisions  between  the  friends  of  the  king  and  parliament  at 

Manchester  and  Hull  when,  on  August  22,  the  king  set  up  his 

standard  at  Nottingham  as  a  signal  that  civil  war  had  begun. 

30.  The  Great  Rebellion,  as  it  was  called,  saw  the  division  of 
the  nation  so  equally  hetween  king  and  parliament  that  the  struggle 
was  necessarily  long  and  severe.  Despite  Charles's  _  R  ... 
recent  signs  of  had  faith,  he  found  a  large  proportion  and  Parlia- 
of  the  country  enthusiastically  on  his  side.  Few  mentary  . 
Englishmen  had  any  real  love  of  revolution,  and  the 
uncompromising  wish  shown  by  the  parliament  to  alter  the  whole 
system  of  government  in  Church  and  State  caused  many  to  rally 
round  the  king.  Nearly  all  those  who  had  upheld  Hyde  and  Falk- 
land were  now  on  Charles's  side,  and  gradually  more  than  a  third 
of  tho  Commons,  and  more  than  half  of  the  Lords,  deserted  West- 
minster and  joined  Charles.     Both  parties  professed  to  maintain 


45°  CHARLES  I.  [1642- 

the  old  constitution,  and  many  holding  almost  the  same  views  were 
found  in  opposite  camps.  In  the  king's  favour  was  the  strong 
personal  attachment  of  his  own  friends  and  the  stronger  feeling  of 
loyalty  to  the  office  of  monarch.  Against  him  were  the  errors  of 
his  past  career  and  the  profound  distrust  which  so  many  felt  of  his 
character  and  motives.  Religion  divided  the  two  sides  more  clearly 
than  politics.  Puritanism  was  the  real  strength  of  parliament, 
and  all  who  loved  bishops  and  Prayer-hook,  or  were  afraid  of  the 
setting  up  of  a  rigid  Calvinistic  despotism  over  conscience  and 
liberty,  fought  for  the  king.  The  Roman  Catholics  were  neces- 
sarily royalists,  since  a  Puritan  triumph  meant  a  renewal  of  bitter 
persecutions  for  the  friends  of  the  old  Church.  There  was  no  clear 
class  division  between  the  parties.  Though  the  majority  of  the 
Lords  and  country  gentry  were  royalists,  yet  a  large  proportion  of 
the  greater  nobles  of  old  standing  was  opposed  to  the  crown,  and 
the  leaders  of  the  Commons  were  gentlemen  of  large  estate  and 
high  social  position.  It  is  easier  to  draw  a  geographical  line 
between  parties,  though  both  sides  had  representatives  everywhere. 
Roughly  speaking,  parliamentary  preponderance  rested  on  London 
and  the  southern  and  south-eastern  shires ;  while  the  districts  most 
loyal  to  the  king  were  the  north,  "Wales,  and  the  south-west.  This 
corresponds  very  roughly  to  the  older  divisions  between  York  and 
Lancaster,  between  friends  and  foes  of  the  Reformation  under  the 
Tudors.  The  more  wealthy  and  progressive  parts  of  the  land  were 
for  the  parliament;  the  old-fashioned  and  conservative  districts 
felt  more  keenly  the  impulse  of  loyalty  to  the  crown.  Parliament 
had  most  resources,  and  was,  in  particular,  in  a  much  stronger 
financial  position  than  the  king.  The  royalists  were  called  Cava- 
liers— that  is,  horsemen  or  gentlemen ;  and  the  Parliamentarians 
were  nicknamed  Roundheads,  from  the  close-cropped  hair  affected 
by  the  Puritans. 

31.  Charles  soon  gained  a  large  following  in  the  Midlands. 
He  appointed  the  earl  of  Lindsey  to  the  supreme  command,  and 
Th  placed  the  horse  under  his  nephew,  Prince  Rupert,  the 

campaign  son  of  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine,  and  his  English 
of  1642.  wife,  Elizabeth  Stewart.     Charles's  plan  was  to  march 

southwards  on  London,  the  parliamentary  headquarters.  But  the 
chief  parliamentary  army,  commanded  by  the  earl  of  Essex,  the 
son  of  Elizabeth's  favourite,  followed  closely  on  his  heels,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  fight  the  first  pitched  battle  of  the  war  at  Edge  Sill, 
in  the  borders  of  Oxfordshire  and  Warwickshire.  Led  by  the  im- 
petuous Rupert,  the  king's  cavalry  easily  defeated  the  horsemen 


-1643.]  CHARLES  I.  45I 

of  the  enemy,  but  the  parliamentary  infantry  proved  superior  to 
the  foot-soldiers  of  the  king.    "\^hen  night  fell,  Essex  withdrew 
his  troops,  leaving  the  king  the  fruits   of  victory.    Edge  Hill 
Charles  thereupon  resumed  his  march  to  London.     On   and 
his  way  he  occupied  Oxford,  and  made  his  headquarters   Brentford- 
of  that  city,  whose  university,  inspired  by  Laud's  teaching,  was  en- 
thusiastically on  his  side.   From  Oxford  he  pushed  his  way  through 
Beading  to  London.     He  got  to  Brentford,  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  capital,  but  dared  not  venture  to  fight  a  pitched  battle  with  the 
London  militia,  massed  to  oppose  him  on  Turnham  Green,  between 
Hammersmith  and  Brentford.      Winter    was   approaching,  and 
Charles  withdrew  from  Brentford  to  Oxford.     He  was  never  so  near 
success  as  when  he  thus  turned  back  from  the  suburbs  of  Londor. 

32.  The  early  part  of  the  campaign  of  1643  was  decidedly  in 
favour  of  the  king.     The  main  armies,  ranged  between  Oxford  and 
London,  did  not  show  great  energy,  and  the  most   j^q 
memorable    conflict   between    them   was   a    skirmish   campaign 

—  J>  A  gig 

between  Bupert's    horsemen  and  the  parliamentary       ™*o. 
forces  at  Chalgrove  Field,  ten  miles  east  of  Oxford,  where  Hampden 
received  his  death- wound.     His  loss  was  the  greater  since  Pym,  the 
other  parliamentary  spokesman,  died  in  the  course  of 
the  same  year.     The  main  scenes  of  fighting  were  in   5S2SL 

«  SUCC6SS6S* 

the  north  and  west,  where  each  side  had  set  on  foot 
independent  local  armies.  In  both  cases  the  preponderating  feeling 
of  the  district  was  royalist,  and  in  both  the  royalist  cause  prevailed. 
The  king's  general,  the  earl  of  Newcastle,  defeated  Lord  Fairfax 
and  his  son,  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  at  Adwalton  Moor,  near  Bradford, 
and  conquered  all  Yorkshire,  save  Hull.  In  the  south-west  the 
battle  of  Stratton  was  an  equally  decisive  royalist  triumph.  Corn- 
wall and  Devon  were  conquered,  and  the  western  army  finished  up 
its  career  of  victory  by  marching  through  Somerset  and  defeating 
Sir  "William  Waller  at  Boundway  Down,  near  Devizes,  in  Wiltshire. 
Plymouth  alone  in  the  west  upheld  the  cause  of  parliament. 
Bristol  opened  its  gates,  and  nothing  save  the  resistance  of 
Puritan  Gloucester  prevented  the  royalist  conquest  of  the  lower 
Severn  valley. 

33.  The  royalists  threw  all  their  efforts  into  the  attack  on 
Plymouth,  Hull,  and  Gloucester.  Charles  himself  undertook  the 
investment  of  the  latter  place,  and  soon  pressed  it  so  „.  .  .  . 
hard  that  Essex,  though  a  sluggish  general,  felt  forced  of  Newbury, 
to  attempt  to  raise  the  siege.  On  his  approach  Charles  Sept.,  1643, 
fled,  and  Gloucester  was  thus  saved  from  danger.    Essex  now  made 


452  CHARLES  I.  [1643- 

his  way  back  to  London,  retiring  by  circuitous  roads  so  as  to 
avoid  Oxford.  On  September. 20  he  found  bis  return  blocked 
at  Newbury  by  Charles's  army,  and  was  forced  to  accept  battle. 
Charles's  army  was  strongly  posted  on  the  slopes  of  a  hill,  and 
Essex's  men  had  to  advance  through  narrow  lanes  and  broken 
ground  to  the  attack.  Rupert's  impatience  at  fighting  a  mere 
defensive  action  caused  him  to  risk  the  day  by  leading  a  fierce 
charge  against  the  enemy.  But  the  steadiness  of  the  London 
militia  resisted  his  headlong  assaults,  and  when  night  fell  the 
sturdy  citizens  still  maintained  their  ground.  The  royalists  suffered 
such  severe  losses  that  Charles,  under  cover  of  darkness,  retreated 
to  Oxford.     Among  the  royalists  slain  was  Falkland. 

34.  The  relief  of  Gloucester,  and  the  virtual  victory  at  New- 
bury, marked  the  turning-points  in  the  war.  Henceforth  the 
c  wall  royalist  successes  were  stayed,  and  the  year  ended 
and  the  without  any  more  decisive  action.  In  one  field,  the 
Eastern  eastern  counties,  the    Puritan    cause    held  its   own, 

even  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  war.  There  was  no 
fighting  here,  since,  on  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  the  various 
shires  were  combined  in  an  organization  known  as  the  Eastern 
Association,  which  set  up  a  well-disciplined  army  of  sturdy  Puritans, 
commanded  by  the  earl  of  Manchester — who,  as  Lord  Kimbolton, 
had  shared  the  fate  of  the  five  members — and  by  Oliver  Cromwell, 
a  descendant  of  a  "Welsh  nephew  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  and  the 
member  for  Cambridge  town  in  the  Long  Parliament.  Cromwell 
was  soon  the  soul  of  the  Eastern  Association,  which  he  inspired  with 
his  own  fierce  and  determined  spirit.  Its  army  conquered  Lincoln- 
shire at  Winceby  fight  on  the  same  day  that  Newcastle  was  forced 
to  relinquish  his  long  siege  of  Hull. 

35.  After  nearly  two  years  of  almost  balanced  victory,  king  and 
parliament  now  sought  to  obtain  outside  support.     Fortunately 

foreign  intervention  was  impossible,  since  the  Thirty 
tion,  and  Years'  "War  still  occupied  the  attention  of  the  chief 
the  Solemn  nations  of  Europe.  But  Charles  looked  to  Ireland  and 
Covenant0      parliament  to  Scotland  for  possible  assistance.     Charles 

made  a  treaty  called  the  Cessation  with  the  Irish 
Catholics,  which  set  free  Strafford's  army  to  come  over  and  help 
him,  though  it  once  more  involved  him  in  the  imputation  of  being 
a  friend  of  papists.  Parliament  did  a  better  stroke  of  business  in 
signing  a  treaty  with  the  Scots,  called  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,  by  which  the  Scots  army  was  sent  to  aid  the  English 
Puritans    on    condition    of    England    pledging    itself   to  accept 


-1644. J  CHARLES  I.  453 

Presbyterianism,  which  the  Scots  believed  in  so  greatly  that  they 
would  not  move  a  finger  to  help  the  English  until  they  adopted  it. 

36.  Early  in  1644  fighting  was  renewed.  The  army  sent  from 
Ireland  to  aid  the  king  was  scattered  soon  after  its  landing,  but  the 
well-disciplined  levies  of  the  Scots  joined  the  Fairfaxes,   _h 

and  soon  reversed  the  previous  fortunes  of  war  in  the  campaign 
north  of  England.  At  last  the  combined  Puritan  of  1644. 
armies  shut  up  Newcastle  and  his  army  in  York,  which  they 
straightway  besieged.  Manchester  and  Cromwell  came  up  to 
the  help  of  the  Scots  and  Fairfaxes.  Soon  York  was  so  severely 
pressed  that  Charles  sent  Rupert  with  the  best  part  of  his  army 
to  its  relief.  On  his  approach  the  siege  of  York  was  raised  and 
the  three  armies  of  the  parliament  took  up  a  position  facing 
northwards  on  rising  ground  between  the  villages  of  Marston  and 
Tockwith,  a  few  miles  west  of  York,  where  they  awaited  the  attack 
of  Newcastle  and  Rupert.  Thus  was  brought  about,  on  July  2, 1644, 
the  battle  of  Marston  Moor,  the  most  important  battle  of  the  war. 

37.  The  three  Puritan  armies  were  posted  amidst  fields  of  rye 
on  the  low  ridge  that  dominates  Marston  Moor  from  the  south. 
Manchester  and  the  Association  armv  held  the  left, 

his  extreme  left  being  protected  by  Cromwell  at  the  0f  Marston 
head  of  the  eastern  cavalry  and  David  Leslie  with  the  Moor, 
Scots  horse.  Lord  Fairfax  and  the  Yorkshire  July2>1644- 
infantry  were  in  the  centre,  while  the  Scots  foot,  commanded  by 
Alexander  Leslie,  now  Lord  Leven,  David's  uncle,  were  stationed 
more  to  the  right.  The  right  flank  was  held  by  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax  and  the  Yorkshire  cavalry.  On  the  other  side  Rupert 
stationed  his  horsemen  over  against  Cromwell,  while  Lord  Goring', 
with  the  rest  of  the  cavalry,  held  the  left  wing  opposite  Sir  Thomas 
and  his  Yorkshiremen.  The  infantry  was  massed  in  the  centre, 
Rupert's  troops  being  in  advance  of  Newcastle's,  which  were  held 
in  reserve  in  the  rear.  The  armies  faced  each  other  until  six 
o'clock  in  the  summer  evening,  when  Rupert  resolved  to  postpone 
the  attack  till  next  day.  Suddenly  the  parliamentary  forces 
advanced  in  a  late  and  unexpected  assault.  Though  taken  by 
surprise,  the  royalists  held  their  own  manfully.  Soon  the  tide  of 
battle  began  to  set  against  the  Puritans.  Lord  Fairfax's  centre 
was  cut  through,  and  his  son's  cavalry  fled  in  headlong  panic  before 
G-oring's  troopers.  The  fortunes  of  the  day  were,  however,  stayed 
by  the  steadiness  of  Leven's  Scottish  infantry,  who,  though  isolated 
by  the  retreat  of  the  Fairfaxes  on  both  sides  of  them,  held  their 
own  with  fierce  pertinacity.    Meanwhile,  Cromwell  and  Rupert  had 


454 


CHARLES  I. 


[1643- 


I       1  Districts  held  by  the  Kino/ 
..  ....  Parliament 


NOR  T H 


8NGLAND  AND  WALES   DURING  THE   GREAT  CIVIL  WAR,    MAY.    1643, 


-1644.] 


CHARLES  I. 


455 


ENGLAXD  AND  WALES  DURING   THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR,    NOVEMBER,    1644. 


456 


CHARLES  1. 


[1644- 


crossed  swords  in  the  western  section  of  the  field.  These  commanders 
had  already  won  the  reputation  of  being  the  ablest  generals  of 
cavalry  on  their  respective  sides.  Meeting  each  other  for  the  first 
time,  they  fought  with  extreme  courage  and  endurance.  For  a 
time  Cromwell's  heavy  horsemen  held  their  own  with  difficulty 
against  the  boisterous  onslaught  of  Rupert.  Then  a  timely  charge 
of  David  Leslie  turned  the  balance,  and  Rupert's  troopers  were  soon 
driven  in  flight  to  the  north.  With  great  prudence  Cromwell 
desisted  from  the  pursuit,  and  turned  to  the  assistance  of  the  hotly 
pressed  Scots  foot.     Manchester's  men  rallied  on  witnessing  their 


comrades'  success.  Thereupon  the  whole  forces  of  the  Association 
assailed  the  royalists  on  their  right  flank,  and  soon  won  a  complete 
triumph.  "  Grod  made  them,"  boasted  Cromwell,  "  as  stubble  to  our 
swords."  The  royalists  were  scattered ;  a  day  half  lost  was  changed 
into  a  great  victory,  and  the  whole  of  the  north  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  conquerors. 

38.  Parties  were  still  so  well  balanced  that  Marston  Moor  was 
not  in  itself  decisive.  Essex's  army  was  destroyed  by  an  abortive 
attempt  to  invade  Cornwall ;  and  later  in  the  year,  when  Manchester 
and  Cromwell  marched  south  to  redress  the  Puritan  fortunes,  the 
sluggishness  of  the  former  missed  a  good  chance  of  victory  in  the 
second  battle  of  Newbury.   But  the  greatest  successes  of  Charles  were 


-1645.]  CHARLES  I.  457 

brought  about  by  an  unexpected  royalist  rising  in  Scotland  under 
James  Graham,  earl  of  Montrose.  Montrose  bad  acted  with  Argyll, 
tbe  Presbyterian  leader,  in  repudiating  the  bishops 
and  accepting  the  covenant.  But  he  grew  weary  of  JHJmSob 
the  Calvinistic  tyranny  and  was  disgusted  at  the  strong  of  Essex's 
position  which  Argyll  and  his  allies,  the  ministers,  had  f?my. and  f 
attained.  Montrose's  ideal  was  that  of  a  constitutional  Montrose, 
monarchy,  ruling  through  the  nobles  and  gentry,  and 
keeping  the  clergy  and  the  greater  magnates  in  subjection.  Pres- 
byterianism  was  so  strong,  however,  in  Lowland  Scotland  that 
Montrose  had  no  chance  of  winning  many  followers  in  the  south. 
After  vainly  attempting  to  stir  up  a  rising  there,  he  turned  to  the 
Highlands,  where  he  met  with  a  warmer  welcome.  In  the  wild 
north  and  west  of  Scotland  the  Highland  clans  still  maintained  their 
turbulent  independence.  Every  valley  was  governed  by  the  clan 
chieftain  just  as  the  O'Neills  and  their  fellows  had  ruled  in  Ireland 
until  the  Elizabethan  conquest.  Argyll  was  not  only  a  great  Low- 
land nobleman,  but  the  head  of  the  powerful  Presbyterian  clan  of 
the  Campbells,  whose  greed  and  aggressiveness  made  them  hated 
by  all  the  neighbouring  tribesmen.  The  Highlanders  readily  rose 
at  the  bidding  of  the  foe  of  the  Campbells,  and  Montrose,  with  a 
true  soldier's  instinct,  first  led  the  fierce  clansmen  into  the  Low- 
lands, and  made  them  the  arbiters  between  the  contending  factions 
of  the  south.  His  appreciation  of  the  military  value  of  the  High- 
landers brought  a  new  element  into  the  scene  which  changed  the 
fortunes  of  Scottish  history  on  at  least  four  occasions  within  the 
next  hundred  years.  For  the  moment  he  was  brilliantly  successful. 
After  many  minor  victories  he  scattered  the  Campbells  at  Inver- 
lochy,  near  Ben  Nevis,  on  February  2, 1645. 

39.  The  continued  successes  of  the  royalists  filled  the  party  of 
the   parliament    with  extreme    disappointment.      Ardent    spirits 
declared  that  the  failure  of  the  popular  cause  was 
largely  due  to  the  sluggishness  and  incompetence  of  5^SJL| 
the  great  noblemen,  like  Essex  and  Manchester,  to   the  Seif_ 
whom  the  command  of  the  armies  had  been  assigned   Denying 
by  reason  of  their  hereditary  claims.     Others  saw  a   °g£gnance' 
chief  reason  for  ill  success  in  the  want  of  organiza- 
tion and  method  of  the  locally  raised  and  independently  controlled 
armies.     It  was  a  proof  that  the  extreme  men  were  growing  in 
power,  that  the  aged  Laud  was  attainted  and  executed  early  in 
1645,  a  cruel  act  of  vengeance  that  did  nothing  save  to  make  peace 
more  impossible.     More  honourable  triumphs  were  the  passing  of 

Q2 


458 


CHARLES  I. 


[1645- 


the  New  Model  Ordinance,  which,  welded  the  armies  of  the  Parlia- 
ment together  in  a  single  whole,  with  sterner  discipline,  better 
organization,  and  regular  pay,  and  the  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  by 
which  members  of  either  House  of  Parliament  were  deprived  of  their 
commands.  This  was  an  ingenious  plan  for  getting  rid  of  Essex, 
Manchester,  and  "Waller,  but  it  should  also  have  involved  the  removal 
of  Cromwell.  Cromwell  was,  however,  the  real  inspirer  of  the 
new  army  system,  and  was  thought  indispensable.  He  was  made 
lieutenant-general,  or  second  in  command,  with  supreme  authority 
over  the  cavalry.  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  became  general-in-chief. 
40.  The  campaign  of  1645  proved  the  value  of  the  New  Model. 


Battle  of 

NASEBY 

14  June  1645 
English  Mile 

3 


Royalist  foot C3$ 

Royalist  horse J2L0§^     '''ig^ 

Parliamentary  foot...!*"" 
Parliamentary  hommEM .i||S\ 


Emery  Walker  EC 


After  purposeless  wanderings  in  the  Midlands,  Charles  and  Fairfax 
_    .  met    in  battle   on   the  high   plateau  of  Naseby,  in 

of  Naseby,  Northamptonshire,  on  June  14.  As  usual,  the  cavalry 
June  14,  on  the  wings  took  the  chief  part  in  the  struggle,  but 
while  Rupert  on  the  king's  right,  after  scattering 
his  opponents  under  Ireton,  wasted  his  time  in  pursuing  the  enemy 
and  plundering  the  baggage  train,  Cromwell,  who  easily  scattered  the 
royalist  left,  at  once  desisted  from  pursuit,  as  at  Marston,  and  fiercely 


-1646.I  CHARLES  I.  459 

attacked  the  infantry  on  the  royalist  centre  that  had  more  than  held 
its  own  in  the  early  part  of  the  encounter.  Crushed  between  Crom- 
well's troopers  and  the  rallying  infantry  of  the  New  Model,  the 
royalist  centre  was  soon  hopelessly  defeated.  Before  long  Cromwell 
had  won  a  battle  even  more  complete  than  the  fight  at  Marston  Moor. 

41.  The  royalists  still  struggled  manfully,  but  Montrose  in 
Scotland  was  the  only  general  who  could  still  win  victories  for 
Charles.     The  Highland  host  had  swept  everything  .     . 
before  it,  but,  when  the  fight  was  won,  the  simple   phiitp- 
clansmen  had  no  thought  save  to  go  home  and  revel  haugh, 

on  the  spoils.  Montrose  soon  found  the  impossibility  of  SePt,«  1645« 
keeping  a  Highland  army  long  in  the  field  an  insuperable  obstacle 
between  him  and  the  conquest  of  Scotland.  In  despair  of  his 
Celtic  allies,  he  once  more  appealed  to  the  Lowlands,  but  he  was 
only  joined  by  a  few  border  lairds  and  their  followers.  David 
Leslie  returned  from  England,  and  had  little  difficulty  in  destroy- 
ing Montrose's  little  force  at  Philiphaugh,  on  Ettrick  Water,  in 
September,  1645.  Montrose  fled  to  the  Highlands  and  thence  to 
the  continent.     The  Covenanters  again  dominated  all  Scotland. 

42.  For  nearly  a  year  after  Naseby  Charles  continued  the 

struggle.    At  last,  in  May,  1646,  seeing  that  his  only  choice  was 

between  exile  and  surrender,  he  rode  into  the  Scots   „     . 

Charles  sup 
camp,  thinking    that   he    might  persuade  them   to  renders  to 

uphold  him  against  the  English.      This  the   Scots  the  Scots, 

might  have  done  if  Charles  would  have  given  up  ' 

episcopacy,  but  on  his  refusing  their  terms,  they  handed  him  over 

to  parliament,  and  went  back  to  their  own  country.     Fortune, 

however,  still  favoured  the  king.     If  he  could  not  set  Scots  against 

Englisn,  he  soon  had  a  chance  of  winning  back  some  power  by 

playing  off  against  each  other  the  two  factions  into  which  the 

victorious  parliamentarians  were  now  breaking  up. 

43.  Already,  during  the  discussions  about  the  New  Model,  a 
strong  cleavage  had  become  marked  between  the  moderate  men, 
powerful  in  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the   ppg-^y. 
extreme  men,  who  gained  the  chief  positions  in  the  terians  and 
reorganized  army.     In  an  age  that  set  religion  before   Indepen- 
politics,  these  two  parties  became  known  as  Presby- 
terians and  Independents.     The  Presbyterians  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment were  not  zealots  for  the  divine  right  of  Presbytery  like  their 
Scots  allies,  though  they  had  agreed  to  make  the  English  Church 
Presbyterian.  With  the  help  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines 
they  had  removed  bishops  and  Prayer-book  from  the  English  Church, 


460  CHARLES  I.  [1646- 

and  had  made  it  in  all  things  like  the  Church  of  Scotland,  save 
that  they  insisted  on  maintaining"  parliamentary  control  over  the 
Church  after  a  fashion  that  the  Scots  thought  an  impious  inter- 
ference by  the  secular  power  with  spiritual  matters.  Even  in  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  however,  a  little  knot  of  sectaries,  or 
Independents,  made  their  influence  felt.  Holding  the  same  views 
as  the  Brownists  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  the  sectaries  wished  to  make 
each  congregation  a  self-governing  Church.  They  thought  that 
the  "  new  presbyter  is  but  old  priest  writ  large,"  and  feared  to 
extend  to  England  the  spiritual  tyranny  set  up  in  Scotland.  It 
followed  from  their  views  that  they  were  advocates  of  toleration, 
while  the  Presbyterians  were  more  e.ager  than  Laud  to  impose  their 
tenets  upon  every  one,  and  stamp  out  all  dissent. 

44.  The  might  of  Independency  lay  in  the  strong  and  growing 
hold  which  it  had  over  the  army.  When  appeal  is  once  made 
Parliament  ^°  ^e  swor^'  ^e  sword  naturally  has  the  final  settle  - 
and  the  ment  of  affairs.  But  the  Presbyterian  leaders  in 
army.  parliament  did  not  realize  what  an  immense  authority 
belonged  to  the  warriors  who  had  fought  their  battles.  Now  that 
the  war  was  over  they  hoped  to  disband  the  army,  and  were  so 
eager  to  do  this  that  they  did  not  even  pay  the  soldiers  their  arrears 
of  pay  before  their  dismissal.  This  foolish  step  united  the  army 
as  one  man  against  the  Lords  and  Commons.  The  beginnings  of 
opposition  arose  from  the  elected  representatives  of  the  soldiers, 
but  Cromwell,  after  some  hesitation,  threw  in  his  lot  with  them. 

45.  Parliament,  alarmed  by  the  attitude  of  the  army  leaders, 
began  to  negotiate  with  the  king  and  Scots.  Thereupon  Cromwell 
Charles's  sen^  a  ^ew  *rooPs  °^  horse  to  Solniby  Souse,  near 
intrigues  Northampton,  where  Charles  was  living,  and  secured 
with  both  ^e  custody  of  the  king  for  the  army.  Charles  was 
and  the  respectfully  treated  by  the  soldiers,  who  offered  him 

Presby-  better  terms  than  the  Scots  or  parliament  had  done, 

terians.  „        .   ,  .  ..  .  , 

He  might  even  continue  episcopacy  so  long  as  none 

were  forced  to  obey  the  bishops'  jurisdiction.     But  Charles,  as 

usual,  shirked  taking  up  a  straightforward  line.     Deceived  by  the 

anxiety  which  both  parties  had  shown  to  get  him  on  their  side,  he 

thought  he  was  still  strong  enough  to  play  off  one  against  the  other, 

and  ultimately  win  back  his  old  position.     His  incurable  vacillation 

and  lack  of  faith  soon  convinced  the  soldiers  that  no  trust  could  be 

place'd  in  him.    While  professing  to  listen  to  the  army  terms,  he 

signed  a  secret  Engagement  with  the  Scots,  in  which  he  promised  to 

set  up  Presbyterianism  for  three  years  and  put  down  heresy — that 


-1649.]  CHARLES  1.  461 

is,  Independency.  In  deep  disgust  the  Independent  leaders  resolved 
to  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  treacherous  king*.  An  unsuccessful 
attempt  at  escape  gave  them  the  pretext  for  keeping  him,  under 
restraint  for  the  first  time,  at  Carisbrooke  Castle,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

46.  In  1648  the  English  Presbyterians  joined  hands  with  the 
Scots  against  the  army.     The  result  was  the  second  Civil  War,  in 
which  a  Scottish  force  advanced  through  Cumberland   —  d 
and  Lancashire  to  restore  the  king,  while  Presbyterian   civil  War, 
Kent  and  Essex,  where  there  had  hitherto  been  no   1648. 
fighting  at  all,  rose  in  revolt  against  army  rule.     Fairfax  soon 
crushed  the  rising  in  the  Home  Counties  by  the  capture  of  Colchester, 
while  Cromwell  fell  upon  the  Scots  and  signally  defeated  them  in 
a  series  of  fights  between  Preston  and  Warrington.    All  England 
was  now  at  the  mercy  of  the  New  Model  army,  controlled  by  fierce 
fanatics,  who  were  weary  of  compromise  and  intrigue,  and  felt  a 
divine  call  to  govern  England  after  their  own  fashion. 

47.  Parliament  still  timidly  upheld  the  Presbyterian  position, 
and  tried  to  renew  negotiations  with  the  king.  On  December  6, 
1648,  Colonel  Pride  went  down  to  Westminster  and 

drove  out  the  Presbyterian  members  of  the  House  of  0f  t^e  inae- 

Commons.  The  minority  of  Independents,  soon  derided  pendents, 

as  the  Bump,  was  allowed  to  sit,  but  these  men  were  ?nH'the48' 

puppets  in  the  hands  of  the  soldiers.     The  army  now  execution  of 

demanded  that  Charles  should  be  brought  to  trial  as    9narl?l!'' 

Jan     1 649 
guilty  of  the  unnecessary  bloodshed  of  the  second  Civil 

War.  The  little  knot  of  Independent  peers  shrank  from  so  violent 
a  policy,  whereupon  the  Commons  resolved  that  as  representatives 
of  the  people  they  had  power  to  act  by  themselves.  A  High  Court 
of  Justice,  of  which  John  Bradshaw  was  the  president,  was  then  set 
up  to  try  the  king.  Though  barely  half  the  members  nominated 
were  willing  to  sit,  Fairfax  the  general  being  himself  among  those 
who  refused,  the  resolute  fanatics  resolved  to  hold  their  court. 
Charles,  brought  before  it,  declared  that  no  tribunal  of  subjects  had 
a  right  to  sit  in  judgment  on  its  sovereign.  This  plea  was  dis- 
regarded, and,  after  a  mere  pretence  of  a  trial,  the  king  was  con- 
demned to  death  on  January  27  as  a  murderer  and  a  traitor.  On 
January  30  he  was  beheaded  outside  the  Banquetting  House  of  his 
own  palace  of  Whitehall.  In  the  presence  of  death  the  better  side 
of  Charles's  character  asserted  itself.  He  died  with  such  piety, 
patience,  and  meekness  that  the  incurable  errors  of  his  life  were 
forgotten  in  the  pity  excited  by  his  death,  and  he  was  reverenced 
as  a  martyr  to  Church  and  constitution. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    COMMONWEALTH    AND    THE 
PROTECTORATE   (1649-1660) 

Chief  Dates : 

1649.  Establishment  of  the   Commonwealth ;   Cromwell's  victories  in 

Ireland. 

1650.  Battle  of  Dunbar. 

1651.  Battle  of  Worcester. 

1652.  War  with  the  Dutch. 

1653.  The  Instrument  of  Government. 
1655.     Conquest  of  Jamaica. 

1657.  The  Humble  Petition  and  Advice. 

1658.  Death  of  Cromwell. 

1659.  Fall  of  Richard  Cromwell. 

1660.  Convention  Parliament  and  Declaration  of  Breda. 

1.  Aptee,  the  execution  of  Charles  1.,  the  Rump,  disregarding  the 
claims  of  his  son  Charles,  prince  of  Wales,  abolished  "both 
. .  .  monarchy  and  House  of  Lords,  and  resolved  that  hence- 
ment  of  the  forward  England  should  be  a  Republic,  or  Comqnon- 
Common-  wealth,  ruled  by  a  House  of  Commons  only.  The 
wfj*jtn»  carrying  out  of  the  laws  was  entrusted  to  a  new 

Council  of  State  of  forty-one  persons,  which  was  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Privy  Council.  The  next  thing  to  follow 
naturally  would  have  been  the  dissolution  of  the  Rump,  and  the 
holding  of  a  general  election ;  and  the  army,  the  real  source  of  the 
Rump's  authority,  was  anxious  that  this  step  should  be  effected  with- 
out delay.  However,  the  Rump  clung  to  power,  and  feared  lest  a 
freely  elected  parliament  should  sweep  away  the  new  constitution. 
Its  ideal  was  a  republican  aristocracy,  such  as  that  of  Holland  or 
Venice,  maintaining  good  order,  and  upholding  religious  toleration 
for  all  sorts  of  Puritans.  For  more  than  four  years  it  was  suffered 
to  go  on  ruling  England.  Its  real  masters,  the  soldiers,  had  plenty 
to  do  during  that  period  in  defeating  their  enemies  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  and  in  teaching  foreign  states  to  respect  the  young 
republic. 
462 


1650.]        COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE  463 

2.  Even* in  England  troubles  beset  tho  infant  commonwealth. 
The  royalist  party  was  inspired  with  new  life  by  the  pity  felt  for 
the  fate  of  Charles  1.     A  little  book  called,  Eikon  Difficuities 
Basilike,  or  the  Kingly   Image,  which  professed  to   of  the  new 
contain  the  prayers  and  meditations  composed  by  the   Sfovern- 
martyr  before  his  execution,  was  so  eagerly  read  and 

admired  that  John  Milton,  the  poet,  now  secretary  to  the  council 
of  state,  wrote  an  answer  entitled  Eikonoklastes,  or  the  Image- 
breaker.  An  even  greater  peril  came  from  the  more  turbulent 
spirits  called  the  Levellers,  who  thought  that  the  army  leaders  had 
not  gone  far  enough,  and  insisted  upon  the  immediate  setting 
up  of  a  complete  democracy.  Many  of  the  keenest  politicians  in 
the  army  were  of  this  way  of  thinking,  and  there  was  real  danger 
from  their  fierce  zeal.  Cromwell,  however,  declared  himself  strongly 
against  them.  "  Break  them  in  pieces,"  said  he  to  the  council. 
"  If  you  do  not  break  them,  they  will  break  you."  He  sternly  put 
down  the  mutinies  which  the  Levellers  had  stirred  up  among  the 
soldiers.  The  Commonwealth  must  make  itself  supreme  before  the 
question  of  what  form  it  should  take  could  be  considered.  The 
royalists  dared  not  rise,  so  that  the  fall  of  the  Levellers  meant  the 
complete  subjugation  of  England. 

3.  Ireland  and  Scotland  were  still  outside  the  rule  of  the  Rump. 

In  Ireland  since  the  Cessation  most  of  the  country  was  in  Catholic 

hands,  though  the  differences  between  the  extreme   _ 

•  CpoitiwcII  s 

Irish  party  and  the  moderate  Catholic  nobles  made  their  conquest  of 

position  difficult,  and  allowed  the  duke  of  Ormonde,  the   Ireland, 
royalist  leader,  to  make  an  alliance  between  the  Catholic  °" 

lords  and  the  Protestant  royalists,  and  proclaim  the  prince  of  Wales 
as  Charles  11.,  king  of  Ireland.  Early  in  1649  Cromwell  crossed 
over  to  Ireland  and  waged  a  war  against  the  Catholics  and  royalists. 
His  first  victories. .  were  the  captures  of  Drogheda  and  Wexford, 
where  he  massacred  the  whole  of  the  defeated  garrisons,  thinking 
that  this  cruel  example  would  frighten  the  rest  of  the  land  into 
obedience.  In  1650  the  conquest  had  proceeded  so  far  that  Crom- 
well was  able  to  leave  its  completion  to  his  lieutenants.  These 
now  restored  Protestant  and  English  ascendency  in  very  much  the 
same  fashion  as  Strafford.  The  Catholic  worship  was  suppressed, 
and  the  Irish  landlords  were  driven  from  their  lands,  or  compelled 
to  exchange  their  fertile  estates  for  stretches  of  bog  and  moorland 
beyond  the  Shannon.  Their  property  was  sold  to  speculators,  or 
else  handed  over  to  Puritan  veterans,  on  condition  of  their  settling 
down  as  new  members  of  the  English  garrison.    Ireland  had  secured 


464  COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE        [1650- 

peace  and  sound  government,  but  was  so  sternly  coerced  that  the 
rule  of  Cromwell  has  ever  after  been  hated  by  the  Irish  as  a  time 
of  peculiarly  bitter  tyranny. 

4.  In  Scotland  the  Presbyterians,  indignant  at  their  defeat  in 

the  second  civil  war,   and  always  professing  loyalty,  after  their 

Charles  II       fashion,  to  the   monarchy,  proclaimed  the  prince  of 

king  of  Wales  king  of    Scots    immediately  on   his  father's 

Scots,  death.     The  young  king  was,  however,  an  exile  in 

1649-1651 

Holland.    Clever  and  clear-headed,  but  needy,  frivolous, 

and  debauched,  Charles  11.  had  no  mind  to  submit  himself  to  the 
restraints  which  the  Covenanters  sought  to  impose  upon  their 
king,  and  remained  in  Holland,  while  Montrose  crossed  to  Scot- 
land in  1650,  and  attempted  another  royalist  rising,  in  the  hope  of 
making  the  king's  nominal  rule  a  real  one.  He  was  unsuccessful, 
and  was  soon  captured  and  hanged.  This  tragedy  showed  Charles 
that  he  must  accept  the  Presbyterian  terms  or  remain  in  poverty 
and  exile.  He  bent  his  neck  to  the  yoke,  subscribed  the  Covenant, 
pledged  himself  to  set  up  Presbyterianism  in  all  the  three  king- 
doms, and  was  thereafter  coldly  welcomed  by  his  subjects,  and 
crowned  king  of  Scots  in  January,  1651.  Argyll,  however,  re- 
mained the  real  ruler  of  Scotland,  and  the  young  king  was  com- 
pletely dependent  on  his  stern  Puritan  taskmasters. 

5.  The  Rump  saw  that  either  they  must  conquer  Scotland,  or 
that  the  Scots  would  attempt  to  conquer  England.  Fairfax,  long 
B  ttle  of  disgusted  with  the  turn  things  were  taking,  refused 
Dunbar  and  to  lead  the  army  against  the  Scots,  and  resigned  his 
Worcester,  command.  Cromwell,  who  had  no  such  scruples,  be- 
came general  in  his  place,  and  invaded  Scotland  in  the 

summer  of  1650.  On  September  3  he  gained  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  his  victories  at  Dunbar,  over  a  Scots  army  commanded 
by  David  Leslie,  his  old  companion  in  arms.  The  result  was  the 
conquest  of  southern  Scotland.  In  1651  the  Scots,  in  despair  of 
resisting  the  invader  any  longer,  took  the  desperate  resolve  of 
invading  England,  hoping  that  a  royalist  rising  would  follow  the 
appearance  of  the  king  and  his  troops.  David  Leslie  again  led  the 
Covenanting  army,  and  Charles  11.  himself  accompanied  the  expedi- 
tion. England  was,  however,  so  sick  of  war  that  not  even  the  appear- 
ance of  the  son  of  the  martyr  of  Whitehall  could  stir  up  a  revolt, 
especially  for  a  Presbyterian  king  surrounded  by  Puritan  soldiers. 
Cromwell  followed  hard  upon  the  invaders,  so  that  their  movement 
had  more  the  appearance  of  a  flight  than  a  spontaneous  advance. 
At  last,  on  September  3,  1651,  exactly  a  year  after  Dunbar,  the 


-I653-]      COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE  465 

general  overwhelmed  the  weary  hand  at  Worcester,  a  battle  which 
he  described  as  a  "  crowning  mercy."  The  three  kingdoms  were 
now  at  his  feet,  for  Argyll,  unable  to  defend  even  his  Highland 
valleys,  was  forced  to  make  peace.  Scotland,  like  England,  became 
a  commonwealth,  without  king  or  House  of  Lords.  Presbyterian- 
ism  was  deprived  of  its  assemblies  and  political  influence,  and 
toleration  was  secured  for  all  Puritans  in  the  land  which  had 
hitherto  had  freedom  of  worship  for  none  save  Presbyterians. 
After  Worcester,  the  king  of  Scots  escaped  to  the  continent, 
having  many  romantic  adventures  on  his  way. 

6.  The  British  islands  all  subdued,  the  young  republic  next 
turned  against  the  foreign  enemies  that  had  insulted  it.  Con- 
spicuous among  these  was  the  Dutch  republic,  whose  ^  Dutch 
strong  commercial  rivalry  with  England  overbore  the  war, 
common  bonds  that  should  have  bound  together  two  1652-1653. 
Calvinistic  commonwealths.  The  Rump  did  not  fear  to  challenge 
Dutch  hostility  by  passing,  in  1651,  a  Navigation  Act,  which  was 
directly  aimed  at  the  carrying  trade  which  was  the  chief  source  of 
the  enormous  wealth  of  the  United  Provinces.  By  it  goods  were 
to  be  henceforth  imported  into  England,  either  in  English  ships  or 
in  vessels  of  the  country  to  which  the  cargo  belonged.  The  result 
of  the  act  was  a  fierce  war  at  sea  between  England  and  the  Dutch. 
At  first  the  enemy  had  nearly  everything  in  their  favour.  Their 
ships  and  captains  were  the  most  famous  in  Europe,  while  the 
Rump  had  to  create  a  new  English  navy  and  find  naval  com- 
manders from  its  generals  on  land.  Luckily  a  leader  of  great 
capacity  for  seamanship  was  found  in  Robert  Blake,  a  Somerset- 
shire man,  who  had  fought  well  on  the  side  of  Puritanism  during 
the  Civil  War.  Beaten  in  his  first  efforts  by  the  eminent  Dutch 
admiral  Tromp,  Blake  was  able  to  win  a  decided  victory  off 
Portland  in  1653.  Henceforth  the  two  navies  were  so  equal  and 
the  seamen  of  each  so  brave  and  obstinate  that  the  fight  was  one  of 
peculiar  stubbornness.  There  was  no  longer,  however,  any  danger 
of  foreign  nations  striving  to  upset  the  young  republic.  Abroad 
as  at  home  the  commonwealth  seemed  firmly  established. 

7.  Now  that  fighting  was  over  the  Puritan  army  had  again 
leisure  to  concern  itself  with  politics.    It  became  indignant  that  so 
narrow  an  oligarchy  as  the  Rump  should  still  cling  to  Tne  ex_ 
power,  and  still  profess  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the   pulsion  of 
English  people.     It  drew  up  schemes  for  the  future   ^he  Rump, 
government  of  England  on  popular  and  Puritan  lines, 

and  strongly  urged  the  dissolution  of  parliament.    The  oligarchy 


466  COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE       [1653- 

paid  little  attention  to  its  views.  The  Rump  had  now  been  so  long 
in  power  that  it  forgot  that  it  had  been  created  by  the  soldiers 
and  was  dependent  upon  them.  Before  long  the  army  leaders  lost  all 
patience.  Cromwell,  though  slow  to  move,  never  hesitated  to  take 
a  decisive  line  when  he  thought  the  time  was  ripe  for  action.  He 
convinced  himself  that  the  Rump  would  never  willingly  put  an  end 
to  itself,  and  that  the  continuance  of  its  rule  was  a  danger  to 
freedom.  On  April  20,  1653,  he  made  a  speech  in  parliament 
bitterly  rebuking  his  colleagues  for  self-seeking  and  greed.  "  It 
is  not  fit,"  he  cried,  "  that  you  should  sit  here  any  longer."  There- 
upon some  of  his  soldiers  drove  the  Commons  out  of  their  own 
House.  Thus  an  end  was  put  to  even  a  pretence  of  parliamentary 
government.  The  army  thus  destroyed  the  Commons  as  well  as 
the  monarchy  and  the  Lords. 

8.  Power  was  now  concentrated  in  the  soldiers  and  their 
general.     Cromwell,  though  careless   of  forms,   had  no  wish  to 

rule  as  a  mere  military  chieftain.  Now  that  the 
Parliament  ^J11111?  was  removed,  he  cast  about  for  a  body  corre- 
sponding to  the  House  of  Commons,  though  he  had 
not  enough  faith  in  popular  government  to  summon  a  free  parlia- 
ment and  let  it  do  what  it  liked.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  Puritan, 
and  thought  that  the  best  rulers  of  a  nation  were  godly  and 
religious  men.  He  now  strove  to  gather  together  an  assembly  of 
leading  Puritans  selected  by  himself.  When  they  met  he  told 
them  that  they  had  been  chosen  to  govern  England  because  of 
their  piety.  His  nominees  in  this  assembly  soon  got  out  of  hand. 
They  forced  forward  wild  schemes  for  getting  rid  of  priests  and 
lawyers,  and  their  impracticable  crochets  soon  made  Cromwell  see 
that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  calling  them  together.  He  persuaded 
some  of  the  more  discreet  members  to  resign  their  power  into  his 
hands.  Thus  ended  the  meetings  of  the  body  which  men  called  in 
derision  the  Little  Parliament,  though  in  truth  it  was  no  parlia- 
ment at  all.  It  was  also  called  Barebones'  Parliament,  from  one  of 
its  members  whose  name  was  Barbon. 

9.  The  soldiers  showed  more  good  sense  than  the  fanatics,  and 
in  December,  1653,  the  council  of  officers  drew  up  a  scheme  for 
The  It-  ^e  •^u^ure  administration  of  England,  called  the  In- 
ment  of  strument  of  Government.  It  provided  that  England, 
Govern-  Scotland,  and  Ireland  should  be  united  in  a  single 

commonwealth,  with  one  parliament  and  one  execu- 
tive. This  parliament  was  to  consist  of  a  House  of  Commons  only, 
Containing  four  hundred  members,  representing  the  three  nations, 


-I65S-]      COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE  467 

and  chosen  according  to  a  scheme  that  gave  memhers  to  districts 
according  to  their  wealth  and  importance,  and  votes  in  choosing 
them  to  all  persons  possessed  of  property  worth  £200.  To  this 
reformed  Honse  of  Commons  the  whole  legislative  power  was 
assigned.  The  government  of  the  country  was,  however,  entrusted 
to  a  Lord  Protector,  assisted  by  a  Council  of  State.  Cromwell  was 
to  be  the  lord  protector,  and  the  effect  of  the  plan  was  to  give 
him  a  sort  of  limited  monarchy  for  life,  though  with  not  nearly  so 
much  power  as  the  old  kings  had  possessed. 

10.  For  the  rest  of  his  career  Cromwell  ruled  England  as  pro- 
tector. He  soon  showed  that  he  was  as  great  as  a  statesman  as  he 
had  been  as  a  general.     In  modern  days  we  may  look   c 

back  with  special  interest  to  his  work,  since  under  his  Protector, 
rule  the  three  kingdoms  first  had  a  single  parliament,  1653-1658. 
the  first  reformed  parliaments  sat,  and  religious  toleration  was 
tried  for  the  first  time.  Wise,  active,  and  high-minded  as  he 
undoubtedly  was,  Cromwell,  nevertheless,  was  not  able  to  rule 
England  successfully.  When  his  parliament  met,  it  began  to 
quarrel  with  the  system  under  which  it  had  been  created,  but  this 
Cromwell  would  not  permit.  He  told  the  members  that  they  must 
accept  the  general  principle  of  the  Instrument  of  Government, 
and  would  not  allow  those  who  refused  to  bind  themselves  to  do  so 
to  sit  any  longer.  Even  after  this  -purging  the  Commons  con- 
tinued to  give  Cromwell  trouble,  so  that  he  dissolved  them  in 
disgust. 

11.  Cromwell  now  threw  over  all  pretence  of  constitutional 
rule.  He  levied  taxes  without  parliamentary  grant,  and  turned 
out  the  judges  who  seemed  too  outspoken  in  their  Th  Mai0_ 
criticisms  of  his  system.  He  divided  England  into  generals, 
ten  large  districts,  over  each  of  which  he  appointed  a  1655. 
soldier,  with  the  title  of  Major-General,  to  act  as  its  governor. 
This  revealed  the  true  character  of  the  new  protectorate.  It  was 
based  upon  the  power  of  the  sword,  and  without  the  support  of  the 
Puritan  army  it  would  not  have  lasted  for  a  month.  The  royalists 
hated  Cromwell  as  a  king-killer ;  the  republicans  as  a  renegade  who 
made  himself  a  sort  of  king  ;  and  even  his  own  soldiers  wavered  in 
their  loyalty  to  him.  Ireland  and  Scotland  resented  his  rule  as 
that  of  an  alien  conqueror,  and  were  only  kept  quiet  by  main  force. 
In  short,  all  Cromwell's  playing  with  constitutional  forms  was 
insincere.  It  is  true  that  he  preferred  to  rule  through  a  parlia- 
ment. Yet  he  was  determined  to  govern  after  his  own  way,  and 
if  his  Commons  did  not  like  it,  he  dealt  with  them  more  roughly 


468  COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE       [1654- 

than  ever  Charles  1.  dared  to  do.  His  sway  was,  therefore,  that  of  a 
military  despot,  and  he  belongs  to  the  same  type  as  Julins  Csesar 
and  Napoleon  Buonaparte.  But  though  one  of  the  most  arbitrary 
he  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  all  our  rulers,  and,  considering 
the  narrow  basis  of  his  power,  he  accomplished  great  things. 

12.  Cromwell  devoted  much  care  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Church  by  bringing  in  a  larger  measure  of  toleration  than 
Cromwell's  England  had  ever  known  before.  There  was  still  a 
Puritan  state  Church,  which,  after  a  brief  experience  of 
rh&te  h  exclusive  Presbyterianism  before  1648,  became  under 

Cromwell  the  common  ground  for  all  men  of  Puritan 
views.  Even  the  old  clergy  were  not  disturbed  if  they  would 
abstain  from  using  the  Prayer-book  and  promised  to  be  faithful 
to  the  commonwealth.  Cromwell  boasted  of  his  comprehensive 
Church  system.  "  Of  the  three  sorts  of  godly  men,"  he  said, 
"  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  and  Independents,  though  a  man  may 
be  of  any  of  these  three  judgments,  if  he  have  the  root  of  the 
matter  in  him  he  may  be  admitted."  Ministers  of  these  three 
ways  of  thinking  held  the  livings,  received  the  tithes,  and  preached 
in  the  churches.  But  outside  Cromwell's  tolerance  were  "  Papists  " 
and  "  Prelatists,"  partly  because  they  were  not  faithful  to  the 
commonwealth,  but  partly  also  because  their  opinions  were  thought 
to  be  superstitious.  In  other  directions  Cromwell  was  so  liberal  that 
he  allowed  Jews  to  settle  in  England  and  erect  synagogues  there 
for  the  first  time  since  the  reign  of  Edward  1.  A  tolerance  that 
excluded  the  Prayer-book  and  the  mass  could  not  but  find  many 
dissatisfied  persons,  and  besides  Catholic  and  Anglican  malcontents, 
new  Puritan  sects  now  arose  which  also  stood  outside  Cromwell's 
Church.  Chief  among  these  were  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  the 
Quakers,  whose  protests  against  Calvinistic  dogmatism  took  the 
form  of  believing  that  the  inner  light  of  each  man's  conscience  was 
the  best  test  of  spiritual  truth. 

13.  Cromwell's  foreign  policy  brought  him  especial  fame.  Alone 
of  our  seventeenth-century  rulers,  he  had  the  advantage  of  having 
Cromwell's  an  army  behind  him,  and  could  therefore  make  his 
foreign  influence  felt  in  a  fashion  impossible  for  any  Stewart 
policy.  king.  His  first  idea  of  foreign  politics  was  to  go  back 
to  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  pose  as  the  protector  of  the 
Protestant  interest  all  over  Europe.  "With  this  object  he  made 
peace  with  the  Dutch  in  1654,  and  strove  to  form  a  league  of  the 
Protestant  powers.  He  soon  found,  however,  that  religion  was  no 
longer  the  chief  element  in  determining  the  relations  between  state 


-1658.]        COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE  469 

and  state,  and  that  Protestant  nations  hated  each  other  as  bitterly 
as  did  the  chief  Catholic  powers,  France  and  Spain.  Politics  still 
centred  round  the  rivalry  of  these  two  kingdoms.  The  Thirty 
Years'  War  had  ended  in  1648  by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  giving 
religious  peace  to  Germany.  But  the  position  then  won  by  the 
Protestants  in  Germany  was  due,  not  to  their  own  efforts,  but  to 
the  influence  of  France,  which  in  its  hatred  of  the  Hapsburgs  had 
backed  up  the  Lutherans.  The  peace  of  1648  secured  the  supre- 
macy of  France,  which,  under  its  young  king  Louis  xiv.  (1643- 
1715),  became  once  more  the  first  state  in  Europe.  So  jealous  was 
Spain  of  French  ascendency  that  it  refused  to  make  peace,  and  war 
between  the  two  great  powers  continued  until  1659.  Their  eager 
rivalry  made  both  anxious  to  get  the  support  of  Cromwell. 

14.  Rudely  deceived  in  his  hopes  of  forming  a  Protestant  league, 
the  protector  had  now  to  decide  between  the  rival  claims  of  two 
Catholic  states  to  his  favour.     He  soon  cast  in  his  lot   -^   prench 
with  France,  largely  on  the  ground  that  France  was   alliance, 
less  bigoted  in  its  popery  than  Spain,  but  also  moved    1655. 

by  the  fact  that,  as  in  Elizabeth's  days,  Spain  was  still  our  chief 
rival  on  the  sea  and  in  America.  In  1654  he  sent  Blake  to  uphold 
English  interests  in  the  Mediterranean,  while  another  fleet  under 
Penn  and  Venables  was  despatched  to  the  West  Indies  to  renew  the 
old  Elizabethan  attacks  on  Spanish  power  in  the  new  world.  Blake 
soon  won  fresh  glory  for  our  fleets,  concluding  his  great  career  in 
1657  by  totally  destroying  a  Spanish  fleet  at  Santa  Cruz,  in 
Teneriffe.  He  died  on  the  way  home,  having  in  a  few  years  won 
an  enduring  place  among  the  very  greatest  of  English  seamen. 

15.  Penn  and  Yenables  were  less  fortunate,  failing  in  an  ill- 
planned  attack   on  Hispaniola,  but    taking  Jamaica    from    the 
Spaniards  in  1655.     This  was  the  first  colony  won  by 
England  by  conquest  from  another  European  power.    1|!?5a  £*'d 
In  1657  and  1658,  Cromwell's  Puritan  soldiers  fought   the  battle  of 
side  by  side  with  the  French  in  Flanders,  gaining  a   «gt?unes' 
brilliant  victory  in  the  battle  of  the  Dunes,  which  re- 
sulted in  our  capture  and  occupation  of  Dunkirk.     With  English 
help,  France  so  thoroughly  defeated  Spain  that  in  1659  the  Spaniards 
were  glad  to  make  peace.     The  conditions  made  Louis  xiv.  by  far 
the  strongest  prince  in  Europe  and  gained  Dunkirk  for  England. 
Cromwell's  foreign  policy  won  England  a  position  she  had  not  had 
since  the  days  of  Elizabeth.     It  deserves  every  praise  for  vigour 
and  energy,  yet  the  fundamental  idea  of  it  was  mistaken.     If  a 
balance  of  power  was  to  be  maintained,  Cromwell  did  a  bad  service 


470  COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE       [1656- 

to  England  and  Europe  by  helping  to  build  up  the  overweening 
power  of  Louis  xiv. 

16.  Despite  his  first  failure  Cromwell  still  strove  to  rule  with  a 
parliament,  and  in  1656  summoned  a  second  House  of  Commons, 
The  H  hie  though  again  excluding  from  their  seats  all  persons 
Petition  known  to  be  opposed  to  his  policy.  This  purged 
and  Advice,    assembly,  pleased  at  the  withdrawal  of  the  rule  of  the 

major-generals,  drew  up,  in  1657,  a  new  scheme  of 
government  called  the  Humble  Petition  and  Advice,  which  is 
memorable  as  an  attempt  to  restore  the  traditional  constitution 
before  the  Civil.  Wars.  In  the  original  plan  Cromwell  was  to  be 
made  king,  and,  though  respect  for  the  prejudices  of  his  republican 
friends  led  him  to  reject  the  title,  a  revised  scheme  was  drafted 
giving  him  as  protector  the  chief  powers  of  a  king,  including  the 
right  of  naming  his  successor.  Moreover,  the  House  of  Lords 
was  to  be  restored  as  well  as  the  monarchy,  though  also  under 
another  name.  An  upper  house,  consisting  of  life  peers,  nominated 
by  the  protector,  and  called  the  Other  Souse,  was  henceforth  set 
up  beside  the  House  of  Commons.  Thus  the  old  constitution  was 
to  come  back  under  the  house  of  Cromwell  and  with  a  Puritan 
Church  establishment. 

17.  Cromwell  did  not  live  long  enough  to  carry  out  this  new 
system  completely.     He  was  cut  off  on  September  3,  1658,  the 

anniversary  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester,  and  the  pro- 
Protee-  tectorate,  difficult  enough  under  a  man  of  genius, 

*°r?'te°f  speedily  became  impossible  under  his  eldest  son. 
Cromwell,  Richard  Cromwell,  whom  Oliver  had  nominated  as 
September,  his  successor,  became  protector  as  easily  as  one  here- 
1659.  ditary  king  succeeds  another.     His  advisers,  anxious 

to  make  the  restoration  of  the  old  constitution 
more  complete,  abandoned  the  reformed  scheme  of  representation, 
and  caused  his  first  parliament  to  be  elected  by  the  old  con- 
stituencies, rotten  boroughs  and  all.  The  Commons  showed 
friendliness  to  Richard  because  they  were  afraid  of  the  army,  and 
hoped  to  make  an  alliance  with  him  against  the  soldiers.  The  real 
trouble  began  when  the  army  insisted  on  having  as  their  new 
general,  Fleetwood,  with  powers  independent  of  protector  and 
parliament.  Richard  refused  this,  though  he  offered  to  make 
Fleetwood  lieutenant-general  under  himself  as  general.  Then  the 
army  coerced  the  weak-spirited  protector  into  dismissing  parlia- 
ment. On  May  25, 1659,  Richard,  only  anxious  for  a  quiet  life  in 
the  country,  resigned  the  protectorate  altogether. 


•i66o.]       COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE  47 1 

18.  The  army  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  the  supreme  power 
which  devolved  upon  it  on  the  collapse  of  parliament  and  protector. 
Without  Cromwell  there  was  no  one  to  frame  them 

a  policy,  and  the  would-be  successors  of  Cromwell  Tne  Ru™P 
quarrelled  among  each  other  instead  of  agreeing 
upon  common  action.  At  last,  in  depair,  the  Rump  was  asked  to 
resume  power.  The  narrow  and  self-satisfied  oligarchy  had  learned 
nothing  during  its  years  of  retirement.  It  again  arrogated  to 
itself  all  the  rights  of  the  Commons  of  England,  and  took  up  a 
lofty  tone  in  dealing  with  the  soldiers. 

19.  Everything  was  now  in  confusion,  and  the  weakness  of  the 
government  inspired  the  Presbyterians  of  Cheshire  to  rise  in 
revolt.  The  army  could  still  fight,  though  it  could  A  ppegbyte- 
not  rule,  and  Lambert,  the  strongest  of  the  generals,  plan  revolt 
easily  suppressed  the  insurrection.  When  peace  was  suppressed, 
restored,  Lambert  turned  out  the  Rump ;  but  so  little 

was  the  army  able  to  govern  that,  on  December  26,  it  recalled  the 
Rump  for  the  second  time. 

20.  The  only  way  that  had  not  been  tried  to  remedy  the  hope- 
less condition  into  which  affairs  had  drifted  was  the  bringing  back 
of  the  old  king  and  the  old  constitution.  The  first  Monk  ,•_ 
•man  of  authority  bold  enough  to  make  this  experiment  dares  for  a 
was  George  Monk,  a  silent,  hard-headed,  shrewd  soldier,  free  Parlia- 
who  then  commanded  the  army  that  kept  Scotland  in  ' 
obedience  to  the  commonwealth.  Still  keeping  his  own  counsel  as 
to  what  he  meant  to  do,  Monk  crossed  the  Tweed  into  England  on 
January  2,  1660,  and  marched  slowly  to  London.  During  the 
journey  he  received  a  warm  welcome  from  every  one,  among  others  * 
from  Fairfax,  now  eager  to  undo  the  work  of  his  own  hands. 
When  Monk  reached  London,  he  declared  himself  in  favour  of  a 
free  parliament  meeting  at  once  to  settle  the  future  destiny  of  the 
nation.  He  compelled  the  Rump  to  receive  back  the  members 
ejected  at  Pride's  Purge.  This  gave  a  majority  for  his  friends, 
who  at  once  voted  that  the  Long  Parliament  should  come  to  an  end. 
Its  last  act  was  to  make  Monk  general  of  the  army. 

21.  All  eyes  were  now  turned  to  the  king  of  Scots  and  his 
court  of  exiles.  To  facilitate  Monk's  work,  Charles  issued,  od 
April  4,  the  Declaration  of  Breda,  in  which  he  promised  a 
general  pardon,  agreed  to  let  parliament  settle  the  chief  matters 
of  importance,  and  declared  his  desire  to  grant  a  "  liberty  to  tender 
consciences  "  in  matters  of  religion  that  did  not  disturb  the  peace 
of  the  realm.     A  few  weeks  later  the  free  parliament  assembled, 


472 


COMMONWEALTH  AND  PROTECTORATE        I1660. 


the  Commons  for  England  only  after  the  old  fashion,  and  the 
Lords  temporal,  without  the  "bishops,  who  had  been  lawfully 
excluded.  This  assembly,  called  the  Convention,  since 
it  was  not  summoned  by  royal  writ,  voted  that  "  the 
government  is  and  ought-  to  be  hy  kings,  Lords,  and 
Commons,"  and  invited  Charles  to  come  and  receive 
his  birthright.  On  May  29,  which  was  also  his  birth- 
day, Charles  11.  entered  London  amidst  the  unmeasured 
rejoicings  of  nearly  the  whole  nation.  This  Restora- 
tion was,  however,  not  merely  a  restoration  of  the  crown.  It  was 
preceded  by  a  restoration  of  parliament,  and  the  wholesome  laws  of 
the  early  days  of  the  Long  Parliament  remained  on  the  statute- 
book,  and  made  it  impossible  for  Charles  to  follow  blindly  in  his 
father's  path.  Thus  the  one  great  break  in  the  continuity  of 
modern  English  history  was  ended  by  the  bringing  hack  of  the  old 
constitution. 


The  decla- 
ration of 
Breda  and 
the  resto- 
ration of 
Charles  II., 
April-May, 
1660. 


THE  CROMWELL  FAMILY 
Walter  Cromwell,  fuller  at  Putney. 


Thomas  Cromwell, 
earl  of  Essex, 
executed,  1540. 


Catharine  m.  Morgan  Williams, 
of  Glamorganshire. 


Oliver  Cromwell, 
of  Hinchinbrook. 


Richard  Williams, 
alias  Cromwell. 

Sir  Henry  Cromwell, 
of  Hinchinbrook. 

I 


Robert  Cromwell. 


Oliver  Cromwell. 
Lord  Protector, 
d.  1658, 
m.  Elizabeth  Bourchier. 


Elizabeth  Cromwell, 
m.  William  Hampden, 

I 

John  Hampden, 

d.  1643. 


Richard  Cromwell, 
Lord  Protector, 
d.  1712. 


Bridget  Cromwell, 

m.  Charles  Fleetwood, 

Lord  General,  1659. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CHARLES  II.  (1660-1685) 

Chief  Dates : 

1660.     Restoration  of  Charles  11. 

1662.  Act  of  Uniformity. 

1663.  Foundation  of  Carolina. 

1665.  The  Dutch  War ;  the  Great  Plague. 

1666.  The  Great  Fire  of  London. 

1667.  Treaty  of  Breda  and  Fall  of  Clarendon. 

1668.  Triple  Alliance. 
1670.  Treaty  of  Dover. 

1673.  Test  Act  and  Fall  of  Cabal. 

1678.  Treaty  of  Nijmegen  and  Popish  Plot. 

1679.  Fall  of  Danby  and  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act. 

1680.  Exclusion  Bill  rejected. 

1681.  Foundation  of  Pennsylvania. 

1682.  Rye  House  Plot. 
1685.  Death  of  Charles  n. 

1.  Many  delicate  matters  remained  to  be  settled  after  the  restora- 
tion of  Charles  11.  The  king  had  been  brought  back  by  the  Presby- 
terians, but  the  old  royalists  now  returned  from  w  .  ... 
their  exile  or  retirement,  and  it  was  no  easy  matter  Convention, 
to  satisfy  both  of  these  parties.  The  Convention,  1660-1661. 
now  turned  into  a  formal  parliament,  set  to  work  to  embody  in  law 
the  conditions  of  the  Declaration  of  Breda.  An  Act  of  Indemnity 
was  passed  which  gave  a  general  pardon  to  those  who  had  fought 
against  Charles  1.  The  regicides,  who  had  sat  in  judgment  on 
him,  and  a  few  others,  were  excepted  from  the  amnesty,  and 
thirteen  of  these  were  put  to  death,  while  others  were  imprisoned 
or  exiled.  Even  dead  regicides  were  exposed  to  such  dishonour  as 
could  be  wrought  upon  them.  The  bodies  of  Cromwell  and  other 
commonwealth  leaders  were  dug  out  of  their  graves  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  hanged  on  the  gallows  at  Tyburn.  Monk's  army 
received  its  arrears  of  pay,  and  was  disbanded,  except  about  five 
thousand  men.  These  few  regiments  formed  the  nucleus  of  our 
modern  standing  army,  which  thus  is  directly  descended  from  the 

473 


474  CHARLES  II.  [1661- 

Cromwellian  soldiers.  All  the  proceedings  of  the  revolutionary 
government  were  now  treated  as  invalid,  hut  very  few  of  the  early 
acts  of  the  Long  Parliament,  which  Charles  I.  had  accepted,  were 
tampered  with,  though  the  Triennial  Act  was  made  less  severe,  and 
hishops  were  restored  to  their  place  in  the  Honse  of  Lords.  Many 
of  the  laws  of  the  Rump  and  of  the  protectorate,  which  were  thought 
good  in  themselves,  were  now  re-enacted  in  a  more  legal  fashion. 
Among  these  was  the  Navigation  Act  of  1651,  and  an  act  abolish- 
ing military  tenures.  A  permanent  excise  was  granted  to  the 
king  in  compensation  for  his  loss  of  the  feudal  revenue,  and  an 
income  of  £1,200,000  a  year  was  voted  to  Charles  for  life. 

2.  Public  opinion  soon  ran  far  beyond  the  policy  of  the  Conven- 
tion Parliament.     The  ruined  royalists  denounced  as  rebels  many 

of  those  who  had  been  most  prominent  in  bringing  about 
The  Restora-  ^e  Restoration,  In  particular  there  was  a  strong  in- 
mentofthe  disposition  to  allow  a  Puritan  assembly  to  settle  the 
?6sf  future  constitution  of  the  Church.     Accordingly,  the 

Convention  was  dissolved  in  December,  and  in  May, 
1661,  a  new  parliament  was  elected.  In  this  the  old  Cavalier  spirit 
was  supreme.  It  insisted  upon  further  exceptions  to  the  Act  of  In- 
demnity, though  Charles  and'  his  ministers  did  what  they  could  to 
prevent  additional  deeds  of  vengance.  The  first  work  of  this  new 
parliament  was  the  settlement  of  the  Church.  Neither  Prayer-book 
nor  bishops  had  been  legally  abolished.  The  surviving  bishops 
were  restored  to  their  sees,  and  the  empty  bishoprics  were  filled  up. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  the  bishops'  way  lay  in  the  fact  that  parish 
clergy,  appointed  since  the  Civil  War,  were  Puritans,  who  hated 
episcopacy  and  the  Prayer-book.  At  first  there  was  some  talk  of 
so  altering  the  constitution  of  the  Church  as  to  retain  the  more 
moderate  of  the  Puritan  clergy  within  its  fold,  and  Charles  himself 
had  promised  to  reform  the  Church  so  as  to  make  it  better  liked 
by  the  Presbyterians.  "With  that  object  a  conference  was  held  in 
1661  at  the  Savoy  Palace  in  the  Strand,  between  the  bishops  and 
the  Presbyterian  leaders.  The  bishops,  headed  by  Gilbert  Sheldon, 
then  bishop  of  London,  and  soon  after  this  made  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  took  up  an  unconciliatory  attitude ;  and  the  Presby- 
terians, whose  chief  spdkesman  was  Richard  Baxter,  demanded  such 
extensive  changes,  that  the  bishops  had  some  excuse  for  refusing 
any  concessions  at  all.  A  slight  revision  of  the  Prayer-book  was 
the  chief  result  of  the  Savoy  Conference ;  but  the  changes  made 
in  it  were  such  as  made  it  more  distasteful  to  the  Puritans  than  it 
had  been  before. 


-I665-]  CHARLES  II. 


475 


3.  A  series  of  acts  of  parliament  now  completed  t  lie  restoration 
of  the  old  Church.  The  first  of  these  was  the  Co  -p oration  Act 
of  1661,  which  required  that  all  members  of  munioipi  1  The  ciapen. 
corporations  should  receive  the  Communion  according  don  Code, 
to  the  rites  of  the  Church,  and  abjure  the  Covenant.  1661-1665. 
Next  came  the  Act  of  Uniformity  of  1662,  which  made  compulsory 
the  use  of  the  revised  Prayer-book  after  St.  Bartholomew's  Day, 
August  24.  Another  act  required  that  all  the  beneficed  clergy 
on  whom  a  bishop  had  not  laid  his  hands  should  receive  episcopal 
ordination.  When  these  laws  came  into  operation  nearly  two 
thousand  beneficed  clergymen  resigned  their  benefices,  rather  than 
read  the  Prayer-book  and  seek  episcopal  ordination.  Their  ex- 
pulsion from  the  Church  made  it  necessary  for  such  as  wished 
to  continue  their  ministry  to  set  up  congregations  of  their  own. 
The  result  was  the  beginning  of  Protestant  dissent  on  a  large 
scale.  Up  to  now  the  general  plan  of  the  Puritans  had  been  to 
remain  within  the  Church  and  change  its  character.  This  policy 
was  henceforth  impossible.  Not  only  the  Independents  and 
Baptists,  who  had  had  churches  of  their  own  since  Elizabeth's  day, 
left  the  Church.  Even  the  Presbyterians  followed  their  ex- 
ample, though  it  was  a  proof  of  the  weakness  of  English  Presby- 
terianism  that  a  large  number  of  the  leaders  of  the  old  Presbyterian 
party  conformed  to  the  new  settlement.  Stern  laws  strove  to 
defeat  the  efforts  of  the  expelled  ministers  to  form  congregations 
for  themselves.  Charles  n.  did  what  he  could  to  carry  out  the 
promise  of  "  liberty  to  tender  consciences  "  which  he  had  promised 
at  Breda.  But  even  the  wish  of  the  king  was  of  no  great  force 
on  the  zealots  who  professed  to  be  glorifying  his  power.  In 
1664  a  Conventicle  Act  enacted  that  any  meeting  of  more  than  five 
persons  for  religious  worship,  not  in  accordance  with  the  practices 
of  the  Church,  was  an  illegal  conventicle,  attendance  at  which  was 
severely  punished.  In  1665  the  Five-Mile  Act  forbade  the  ejected 
clergy  to  teach  in  schools  or  live  within  five  miles  of  any  town  or 
of  any  place  where  they  had  once  held  a  cure.  For  the  rest  of 
Charles's  reign  the  prisons  were  filled  with  Dissenters  who  had 
broken  these  cruel  laws  in  their  wish  to  worship  God  in  the  way 
they  thought  right.  John  Bunyan,  the  minister  of  a  village  con- 
gregation of  Baptists  near  Bedford,  was  shut  up  for  more  than 
twelve  years  in  Bedford  gaol,  where  he  wrote  his  famous  Pilgrim's 
Progress. 

4.  Thus  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  Laud  and  Charles  I.  was 
fully  restored.    It  is  the  best  proof  of  the  thoroughness  of  the 


476  CHARLES  II.  I1660- 

reaction  against  Puritanism  that  that  Restoration  was  the  work  of 
parliament  itself.  Laud,  in  defiance  of  parliament,  had  persecuted 
The  0  ti  those  who  disagreed  with  him ;  the  Dissenters  of  the 
against  age  of  the  Restoration  were  legally  persecuted  by 

Puritanism,  the  act  of  the  House  of  Commons  itself.  The  same 
strong  reaction  against  Puritanism  led  to  a  curious  glorification 
of  royalty  and  the  erection  of  loyalty  into  a  sort  of  religion.  New 
churches  were  dedicated  to  King  Charles  the  Martyr  as  to  a  new 
saint.  The  restored  clergy  preached  the  divine  right  of  kings, 
and  the  duty  of  the  subjects  passively  obeying  the  will  of  the 
Lord's  anointed.  The  rebound  from  Puritan  austerity  showed 
itself  even  more  strongly  in  a  wild  time  of  riot  and  dissipation 
in  which  the  king  and  his  courtiers  took  the  lead. 

5.  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  as  strongly  affected  by  the 
Restoration  as  England.  In  both  countries  the  Cromwellian 
The  Resto-  Union  was  set  aside  as  illegally  brought  about,  and 
ration  in  both  the  bringing  back  of  the  local  parliaments  and 
Scotland.  the  ending  of  the  Independent  tyranny  made  Scots 
and  Irish  at  first  welcome  the  movement.  But  in  neither  country 
was  there  a  real  restoration  of  local  independence,  and  English 
ascendency  survived  in  more  disguised  forms.  In  Scotland  a 
Rescissory  Act  abolished  all  legislation  passed  since  1633,  and  there- 
fore restored  bishops  in  the  Church,  though  no  effort  was  made 
to  set  up  anew  the  Liturgy  of  Laud.  This  measure,  passed  by 
a  union  between  the  king  and  the  nobles,  curbed  the  power  of 
the  Presbyterian  clergy,  and  began  to  make  the  Restoration 
disliked  among  the  Scots.  Before  long  things  went  much 
further.  Argyll,  the  Presbyterian  leader,  was  executed  upon 
frivolous  charges  of  complicity  with  the  death  of  Charles  I.  With 
the  help  of  the  new  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  James  Sharp,  and 
of  John  Maitland,  earl  of  Lauderdale,  both  recent  converts  to 
episcopacy,  Charles  11.  renewed  the  policy  of  the  early  Stewarts 
of  keeping  Scotland  under  English  influence,  which  in  effect  meant 
the  subordination  of  the  smaller  to  the  larger  kingdom.  The 
Covenanters,  who  refused  to  worship  in  a  Church  ruled  by  bishops, 
were  brutally  persecuted,  and  the  feeling  of  the  people  was  with 
them,  so  that  the  king's  policy  became  unpopular  and  provoked 
frequent  insurrections. 

6.  There  was  no  pretence  of  restoring  freedom  to  Ireland. 
Protestant  and  English  ascendency  assumed  a  Cavalier  and  Epis- 
copal rather  than  a  Puritan  shape,  and  the  duke  of  Ormonde, 
the  chief  agent  of  the  Irish  Restoration,  showed  more  toleration 


-i662.]  CHARLES  II.  477 

to  the  Roman  Catholics  than  the  Cromwellians  had  done.  The 
chief  problem  of  the  Irish  Restoration,  however,  was  the  ques- 
tion of  the  land.  The  Puritan  adventurers  had  been  ^  Rest0. 
settled  on  estates  that  had  been  forfeited,  partly  for  ration  In 
rebellion  against  England,  and  partly  for  loyalty  Ireland. 
to  Charles  i.  They  were,  however,  a  powerful  addition  to  the 
Protestant  garrison,  and  it  seemed  dangerous  to  English  interests 
to  remove  them.  Accordingly,  the  Act  of  Settlement  of  1661 
allowed  the  Puritan  settlers  to  keep  their  estates,  while  promising 
restitution  to  all  royalists,  whether  Protestant  t  or  Catholic,  who 
had  lost  their  lands  for  adhesion  to  King  Charles.  It  was  soon 
found  that  there  was  not  enough  land  to  satisfy  everybody,  and 
a  later  Act  of  Explanation  annulled  a  third  of  the  Cromwellian 
grants  in  order  to  help  back  loyalists.  This  seemed  a  liberal  polioy 
to  Ormonde,  but  the  result  of  it  was  that  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  Irish  soil  was  restored  to  native  Irish  or  Catholic  hands. 
Hence  arose  the  great  agrarian  question  of  later  Irish  history. 
The  divorce  of  the  Irish  Catholics  from  their  land  condemned  them 
to  hopeless  poverty  and  intensified  their  deep  sense  of  wrong. 
They  were,  however,  less  harshly  dealt  with  than  in  Puritan  times. 
The  mass  was  again  allowed,  though  the  Catholic  olergy  were 
badly  treated.  Bishops  were  restored  in  the  Protestant  Church, 
which,  however,  kept  up  its  Puritan  traditions  by  way  of  being  as 
different  as  possible  from  the  Catholic  majority. 

7.  Foreign  policy  was  not  greatly  influenced  by  the  Restoration 
so  far  as  its  general  direction  was  concerned,  though  the  different 
way  in  which  the  same  policy  was  carried  out  soon   _     Desto- 
made  the    changes    seem    greater    than  they  were,   ration  and 

Charles  u.  continued  Cromwell's  alliance  with  Louis  xiv. ,   foreign 

Dolicv 
though  the  overwhelming  power  of  that  monarch  was 

already  recognized  as  threatening  the  balance  of  Europe.     Two 

important  results  soon  flowed  from  the  French  alliance.     In  1662 

Charles  sold  the  Cromwellian  conquest,  Dunkirk,  to  the  French. 

This  act  was  unpopular,  and  was  unjustly  set  down  to  corrupt 

motives.     Men  said  that  Charles  was  more  anxious  to  please  Louis 

than  protect  the  honour  of  England.     The  king's  marriage  in  the 

same  year  was  another  triumph  of  French  diplomacy.     Charles 

chose  as  his  wife  Catharine  of  Braganza,  sister  of  the  king  of 

Portugal.     This  country  had  revolted  from  Spain  in  1640,  and  was 

still  maintaining  its  independence  with  the  help  of  the  French. 

Louis  now  secured  English  recognition  of  Portugal  by  the  marriage 

of  Charles  to  a  princess  of  that  nation.     It  was  a  deadly  offence  to 


47%  »  CHARLES  II.  [1663- 

Spain,  for  Portugal  became  sure  of  her  freedom  during  the  next 
few  years.  Moreover,  the  rich  wedding  portion  with  which  Portugal 
purchased  the  English  alliance  proved  of  great  importance  for  the 
development  of  English  trade.  Besides  a  large  sum  of  money, 
Portugal  handed  over  to  England  Tangier,  on  the  African  side  of 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  the  island  of  Bombay  in  India.  The 
latter  was  handed  over  to  the  East  India  Company,  and  soon 
became  the  chief  of  its  trading  settlements,  and  the  only  one  that 
was  not  held  of  the  Mogul  Empire.  "With  its.  acquisition  we  have 
the  first  faint  beginnings  of  our  Indian  Empire.  At  present,  how- 
ever, the  India  Company  still  pursued  merely  commercial  objects. 
It  became  very  wealthy  and  successful  in  the  generation  that 
followed  the  B-estoration. 

8.  Charles  11.  was  as  anxious  as  Cromwell  to  further  English 
commerce  and  colonies,  and  his  brother  James,  duke  of  York,  now 
lord  high  admiral,  administered  the  navy  with  skill 
of  England  aiI<^  success.  The  first  war  of  the  new  reign  was  a 
and  Hoi-  war  for  trade  and  empire.  The  commercial  rivalry  of 
land.  England   and    Holland  was  now  keener  than  ever. 

The  renewal  of  the  Navigation  Act  had  embittered  feeling  between 
the  two  countries.  Even  after  the  Dutch  had  acquiesced  in  that, 
Dutch  and  English  traders,  were  fighting  on  their  own  account  in 
Africa  and  North  America.  In  1665  the  clamour  of  the  English 
merchants  forced  England  to  declare  war  against  the  Dutch. 
The  Dutch  ^^  s^ru8"8'le  was  as  obstinate  as  that  which  had  taken 
war,  1665-  place  twelve  years  earlier.  The  Dutch,  commanded 
1667.  by  their  admiral,  Ruyter,  were  more  skilful  than  their 

opponents,  though  heroes  of  the  Civil  "Wars  like  Prince  Rupert 
and  Monk,  now  duke  of  Albemarle,  acquired  fresh  credit  as  com- 
manders of  our  fleets.  After  two  years  of  hard  fighting  the 
English,  having  exhausted  all  their  money,  foolishly  laid  up  their 
great  ships  in  harbour,  and  thereby  left  the  Dutch  in  temporary 
command  of  the  sea.  They  availed  themselves  of  this  to  sail  up 
the  Medway  to  Chatham,  where  they  burnt  three  men-of-war  laid 
up  uselessly  in  the  harbour,  and  cut  off  London  from  all  communi- 
cation with  the  sea  for  several  weeks.  This  was  the  more  alarming 
since  Louis  xiv.,  alarmed  at  the  power  of  the  English  navy,  sup- 
ported the  Dutch  against  us.  This  temporary  triumph  was  not, 
however,  due  to  the  superiority  of  the  Dutch  so  much  as  to  the 
want  of  wisdom  of  the  English.  The  best  proof  that  forces  were 
still  equally  balanced  was  that  in  the  course  of  the  same  year  (1667), 
peace  was  signed  at  Breda,  by  which  each  country  was  allowed 


-i68i.]  CHARLES  II.  479 

i 
to  retain  possession  of  the  territories  which  it  held  &t  that  moment. 
The  effect  of  this  was  to  transfer  the  Dutch  cfolony  of  New 
Amsterdam  to  English  rule.  Granted  to  the  kingVbrother,  James, 
Duke  of  York,  it  took  the  new  name  of  New  York.  Its  acquisition 
was  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  future  of  English.  North 
America.  New  Amsterdam  had  kept  asunder  the  New  England 
group  of  colonies  from  Virginia  and  its  neighbours.  Henceforth  a 
continuous  row  of  English  settlements  monopolized  the  eastern  sea- 
board of  Central  North  America. 

9.  In  other  ways  also  the  period  of  the  Restoration  is  important 
in  the  growth  of  our  American  colonies.     The  earlier  plantations 
increased  in  wealth,  population,  and  importance.     The  addition  of 
Cromwell's  conquest  of  Jamaica  to  Barbados  and  the  other  Eng- 
lish settlements  in  the  West  Indies,  much  strength- 
ened our  commerce  in  that  direction,  while  the  further   0f  the 
development  of  the  slave  trade  made  it  easier  to  find   American 
labour  for  the  sugar  plantations.     Fresh  colonies  were   C0l0nles« 
also  set  up  in  the  mainland  of  North  America.     The  first  of  these 
was  Carolina,  established  in  1663,  and  named,  like  Charlestown 
its  capital,  from  Charles  II.     Situated  to  the  south  of 
Virginia,  in  a  semi-tropical  climate,  Carolina  was  from    jglo 
the  beginning  largely  dependent  upon  slave  labour, 
especially  in  its  southern  districts.    Ultimately  the  colony  split  up 
into  North  and  South   Carolina.    Even    more    important   than 
English  expansion  southwards  was  the  completion  of  the  filling  up 
of  the  gap  between  New  England  and  Virginia.     The  conversion 
of  New  Amsterdam  into  New  York  had  partly  effected 
this ;  but  the  settled  Dutch  district  did  not  go  beyond-  an(j  jjew 
the  Hudson,  and  the  coast-land  between  the  Hudson   Jersey, 
and  the  Delaware  were  still  untilled  soil.     The  duke 
of  York  sold  the  vacant  Dutch  lands  beyond  the  Hudson  to  Sir 
George  Carteret,  who,  in  1667,  established  therein  a  new  colony 
called  New  Jersey,  since  Carteret  was  a  Jersey  man.     The  planta- 
tions of  the  midland  district  was  still  further  developed  in  1681, 
when  William  Penn,  the  son  of  the  conqueror  of  Jamaica,  obtained 
a  grant  of  the  land  west  of  the  Delaware  stretching 
into  the  interior,  and  on  which  he  settled  a  new  colony  yanU  1681 
called  Pennsylvania.    Penn,  a  gentleman  of  wealth, 
high  position,  and  noble  ideals,  had  lately  joined  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  wished  to  find  a  new  home  for  his  co-religionists,  who 
were  as  severely  persecuted  by  the  government  of  the  Restoration 
as  by  that  of  the  Commonwealth.    Though  Pennsylvania  was  his 


480 


CHARLES  II. 


ti665- 


own  property,  being,  as  it  was  termed,  a  'proprietary  colony,  he  drew 
up  a  very  liberal  constitution  for  it  by  which  a  popular  assembly 
was  elected  by  ballot  and  religious  freedom  given  to  all  who  believed 
in  God  and  the  moral  teaching  of  Christianity.  He  called  his 
capital  Philadelphia — the  city  of  brotherly  love — and  would  not 


MAINE  ; 
(Dependency  of  J 
Massach  us<$Wj4x| 

AMPSHIRE  Jta 
depen-  JhH 
ucmua  Massaf^v 
chusetts)       ^~- 

•MAS^ACHUSETT^^B 

JfUestown- 

mbridg-e00T5&t;0ifc  r 


The  English  Colonies 

in 

NORTH  AMERICA 

under  Charles  II 


English  Miles 
100 


The  dates  mark  the  period  of  settle- 
■ment  or  conquest. 


Emery  Walker  sc. 


allow  war  to  be  waged  even  with  the  Indians,  with  whom  the  other 
colonies  were  constantly  engaged  in  hostilities.  The  combined 
result  of  all  these  new  movements  was  that  England  became  one 
of  the  chief  colonizing  and  maritime  powers.  It  was  gradually 
driving  its  old  rival  Holland  into  a  secondary  position.  Its 
success  excited  the  jealousy  of  France,  which,  under  Louis  xiv., 


-1667.J  CHARLES  II.  48 1 

first  began  to  devote  herself  to  foreign  trade,  to  the  sea,  and  to 
colonies. 

10.  The  slow  and  unnoticed  growth  of  English  power  in  distant 
lands  did  not  compensate  for  the  many  failures  of  the  Restoration 
government  in  dealing  with  the  matters  that  were  The  fall  of 
immediately  before  it.  During  the  disasters  and  mis-  Clarendon, 
management  of  the  Dutch  war,  London  was  exposed  1667. 
to  two  great  calamities.  In  1665  it  was  decimated  by  the  Great 
Plague,  and  in  1666  half  the  city  was  burnt  down  by  the  Great 
Fire.  There  was  a  bitter  outcry  against  the  profligacy  and 
corruption  of  the  court,  the  blunders  of  the  Dutch  war,  the  sub- 
servience of  the  crown  to  the  French,  and  the  general  mal- 
administration of  the  country.  Even  the  loyal  parliament  elected 
in  1661  was  beginning  to  grow  restive,  and  a  strong  opposition, 
called  the  country  party,  sought  to  renew  the  policy  of  Pym  and 
Hampden.  Edward  Hyde,  the  old  associate  of  Falkland,  earl  of 
Clarendon  and  chancellor  since  the  king's  return,  was  looked 
upon  as  chiefly  responsible  for  the  policy  of  the  government. 
The  country  party  disliked  him  as  an  advocate  of  the  preroga- 
tive. Puritans  and  Dissenters  hated  him  for  his  jealous  champion- 
ship of  the  Church,  and  called  the  persecuting  laws  of  the  period 
the  Clarendon  Code.  He  was  more  unjustly  blamed  for  the  de- 
merits of  the  king's  foreign  policy,  with  which  he  had  little  to  do. 
Moreover,  though  his  daughter,  Anne  Hyde,  was  the  wife  of  the 
duke  of  York,  the  heir  to  the  throne,  he  was  not  supported  strongly 
at  court,  where  he  was  looked  upon  as  old-fashioned,  slow,  and 
over-scrupulous.  Accordingly,  when  the  Commons  showed  a  desire 
to  make  Clarendon  the  scapegoat  of  their  growing  indignation,  the 
king  willingly  gave  him  up.  In  1667  the  chancellor  was  dis- 
missed from  office  and  impeached  for  high  treason.  The  charges 
brought  against  him  were  so  far  from  amounting  to  that  crime 
that  the  Lords  refused  to  commit  him  to  prison.  But  Charles, 
who  wished  to  get  rid  of  him,  recommended  Clarendon  to  leave 
the  country.  Taking  the  king's  advice,  he  withdrew  to  France. 
Thereupon  parliament,  taking  his  flight  as  a  proof  of  guilt,  passed 
an  act  for  his  banishment.  With  his  exile  the  first  period  of  Charles 
11. 's  reign  comes  to  an  end. 

11.  In  the  administration  that  was  formed  after  the  chancellor's 
fall,  there  was  no  single  statesman  who  held  so  powerful 
a  position  as  Clarendon  had  previously  occupied.     He   TC67-1673 
had  been  driven  from  power  by  a  coalition  of  country 
party  and  courtiers,  and  both  these  discordant  elements  were  now 

R 


482  CHARLES  II.  [1667- 

strongly  represented  in  the  government.  Chief  among  them  was 
George  Villiers,  duke  of  Buckingham,  son  of  Charles  i.'s  favourite, 
who,  as  the  king's  personal  friend  and  the  political  ally  of  the 
Puritans,  formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  two  parties. 
Though  able  and  enterprising,  Buckingham  had  neither  earnestness 
nor  principle.  A  stronger  statesman  was  Anthony  Ashley  Cooper, 
Lord  Ashley,  a  former  partisan  of  Cromwell's,  the  ablest  of  the 
opposition,  a  keen  advocate  of  parliamentary  supremacy  and  of 
toleration,  and  the  best  party  manager  of  his  time,  though  he 
was  ambitious,  factious,  and  unscrupulous.  Henry  Bennet,  Lord 
Arlington,  a  pompous  diplomatist,  and  Lord  Clifford  of  Chudleigh, 
a  hot-headed  Catholic,  were  dependents  of  the  court ;  while  Lauder- 
dale, the  fifth  prominent  minister,  though  working  with  the 
others,  limited  himself  mainly  to  Scots  affairs.  These  five  gained 
an  infamous  notoriety  as  the  Cabal,  a  word  then  used  for  the  little 
groups  of  politicians  whose  secret  deliberations  were  beginning  to 
have  more  influence  upon  the  conduct  of  affairs  than  the  more 
formal  debates  of  a  large  and  heterogeneous  body  like  the  privy 
council,  the  traditional  organ  of  the  executive  power.  The  Cabal, 
however,  widely  differed  among  themselves,  and  were  only  accident- 
ally bound  together  by  their  common  dislike  of  the  old  Cavalier 
party  that  had  dominated  affairs  under  Clarendon.  They  posed  as 
friends  of  toleration  at  home  and  of  peace  abroad,  and  in  both  these 
matters  their  policy  was  more  sound  than  that  of  their  predecessors. 
In  particular,  they  looked  with  suspicion  on  the  ever-increasing 
aggressions  of  Louis  xiv.,  who  was  again  at  war  with  Spain,  and 
rapidly  overrunning  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  to  which  he  laid 
The  TriDle  oboim  on  behalf  of  his  wife,  the  sister  of  the  new 
Alliance,  Spanish  king  Charles  11.  In  1668  England  united 
1668.  with  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  to  form  a  Triple 

Alliance  to  restore  peace  to  Europe.  So  formidable  was  the  com- 
bination that  Louis  unwillingly  made  peace,  and  surrendered  many 
of  his  conquests.  He  was  bitterly  mortified  at  the  league  formed 
against  him,  and  strove  with  all  his  might  to  break  it  up.' 

12.  The  early  acts  of  the  Cabal  gave  promise  of  better  things 
than  resulted  from  them.     The  ministers  were,  however,  greedy, 
corrupt,  and  divided,  and  did  not  persevere  in  their 
of  Dover,        wiser  policy  when  their  self-interest  impelled  them  in 
1670.  a  contrary  direction.    Louis  xiv.  brought  his  influence 

to  bear  upon  Charles  11.,  and  in  1670  signed  with  him  the  secret 
treaty  of  Dover,  by  which  Charles  promised  to  help  Louis  against 
the  Dutch  and  Spaniards,  while  Louis  agreed  to  send  men  and 


-I673-]  CHARLES  II.  483 

money  to  assist  Charles  to  put  down  opponents  to  his  power  and 
restore  Catholicism  to  England.  Charles  only  communicated  the 
full  details  of  this  scandalous  compact  to  Arlington  and  Clifford, 
but  Buckingham  and  Ashley  were  persuaded  to  agree  to  help  the 
French  against  the  Dutch.  Louis,  who  looked  upon  the  Dutch  as 
mainly  responsible  for  the  Triple  Alliance,  now  made  the  humilia- 
tion of  the  United  Provinces  the  great  object  of  his  policy. 

13.  Having  stripped  Holland  of  all  her  allies,"  Louis  and  Charles 
declared  war  against  her  in  1672.  So  mismanaged  were  Charles's 
finances  that  he  could  obtain  funds  to  equip  his  fleet  The  Dutch 
only  by  a  discreditable  refusal  to  repay  from  the  war,  1672- 
Exchequer  a  large  sum  of  money  temporarily  deposited  lfi73. 
there  by  the  bankers.  This  measure  was  called  the  Stop  of  the 
Exchequer.  Unlike  former  English  attacks  upon  Holland,  this 
war  was  not  popular.  Though  Englishmen  had  no  love  for 
their  rivals  in  trade,  they  saw  that  England  was  making  her- 
self the  tool  of  France,  whose  ascendency  was  more  dangerous 
both  to  our  commerce  and  our  liberty  than  that  of  a  slowly 
decaying  small  state  which  was  already  almost  beaten  in  the  contest 
with  us.  The  utmost  sympathy  was  shown  when  the  Dutch, 
attacked  both  by  sea  and  land,  prepared  to  resist  Louis  as  they  had 
resisted  the  Spaniards  a  hundred  years  earlier.  Before  long,  other 
nations,  dreading  the  advance  of  France,  made  common  cause  with 
the  Dutch,  so  that  Louis  had  to  fight  not  a  single  state  but  a 
European  coalition.  Led  by  their  heroic  young  stadtholder,  William 
in.,  prince  of  Orange,  a  nephew  of  Charles  1.,  called  from  private 
life  to  defend  his  country  against  the  French  and  restore  the  power 
of  the  house  of  Orange  over  the  Dutch  Republic,  the  Hollanders 
held  their  own  so  well  that  there  was  no  longer  any  danger  of  the 
destruction  of  their  republic.  Before  long  William  of  Orange 
showed  such  skill  as  a  general  and  a  diplomatist  that  he  became 
the  soul  of  the  general  European  opposition  to  the  overmighty 
power  of  France.  For  the  next  thirty  years  he  made  it  the  chief 
business  of  his  life  to  build  up  coalitions  and  command  armies 
against  Louis  xiv. 

14.  The  unpopularity  of  the  war  destroyed  the  influence  of  the 
Cabal,  and  rumours  of  Catholic  intrigue  and  dangers  to  Protes- 
tantism leaked  out,  despite  the  secrecy  which  was  carefully  preserved 
as  to  the  treaty  of  Dover.  The  Cabal  now  went  back  to  its  earlier 
policy  of  toleration  at  home,  and  as  it  was  hopeless  to  ask  Parlia- 
ment to  relax  the  laws  against  the  Dissenters,  it  sought  to  compass 
the  same  end  by  royal  prerogative.     Charles  claimed  that  as  king 


484  CHARLES    II.  [1673- 

he  possessed  a  power  both  to  suspend  altogether  any  act  of 
parliament,  and  also  to  dispense  in  particular  cases  with  its  opera- 
_.  tion.     By  virtue  of  these  powers  he  issued  in  1673 

ration  of  a  Declaration  of  Indulgence,  proclaiming  religious 
Indulgence,  freedom  to  all  Dissenters.  The  Church  party,  still 
and  the  fall'  s*ron8'  i*1  *ne  Commons,  was  very  indignant  at  this, 
of  the  Cabal,  while  even  the  Protestant  Dissenters  looked  askance  at 
1673.  toleration  that  flowed  from  royal  prerogative  only, 

especially  as  they  saw  that  it  was  clearly  granted  in  the  interests 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  were  popular  and  numerous  at  court. 
Charles  himself  had  secret  sympathies  with  the  Catholics,  and 
the  duke  of  York  had  recently  become  an  avowed  Romanist.  A 
great  cry  arose  that  Protestantism  was  in  danger.  This  soon 
broke  up  the  ill-cemented  ranks  of  the  Cabal.  Ashley,  now  earl  of 
Shaftesbury,  threw  himself  into  violent  opposition  once  more.    In 

1673  the  Protestant  party  hurried  a  Test  Act  through  parliament, 
which  required  all  holders  of  office  under  the  crown  to  receive  the 
Communion  after  the  fashion  of  the  English  Church  and  renounce 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Shaftesbury  hotly  supported 
the  bill,  which  Charles  dared  not  refuse  to  accept.  Clifford  would 
not  take  the  test,  and  Arlington  was  driven  from  power.  The  duke 
of  York  laid  down  the  admiralty  rather  than  accept  the  test.    In 

1674  parliament  forced  Charles  to  make  peace  with  the  Dutch. 

15.  The  reaction  from  the  Cabal  restored  power  to  the  old 
Cavalier  party,  now  represented  by  Sir  Thomas  Osborne,  a  York- 
The  minis-  s^'6  gentleman,  who  became  earl  of  Danby  and  lord 
try  of  high  treasurer.      The   Commons  had   confidence    in 

Danby,  him,  because,  like  Clarendon,  he  was  a  good  friend  of 

1673-1678.  ^e  Qjlurojlj  an(j  indisposed  to  show  favour  either  to 
Catholics  or  Protestant  Dissenters.  In  foreign  policy,  however, 
Danby  took  up  a  different  line  from  that  which  Clarendon  had 
been  credited  with.  In  his  distrust  of  France  he  went  back  to  the 
principles  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  though  he  was  prevented  by  the 
king  from  actively  siding  with  the  European  coalition  that  was 
still  fighting  with  no  great  success  against  Louis  xiv.  Thus  king 
and  minister  worked  in  different  directions,  with  results  that  proved 
extremely  discreditable  to  the  country.  Soon  Charles  signed 
another  secret  treaty  with  Louis,  by  which  he  promised  to  make 
no  alliance  with  a  foreign  power  without  the  French  king's  leave. 
Moreover,  he  and  his  courtiers  freely  took  pensions  and  bribes  from 
Louis,  who  naturally  expected  the  support  which  he  had  paid  for. 
Yet  next  year  Danby  raised  an  army  to  fight  the  French,  and 


-1679.]  CHARLES  II.  485 

married  the  princess  Mary  of  York,  the  next  heir  to  the  throne 
after  Charles  and  James,  to  William  of  Orange,  the  pillar  of 
Protestantism  and  opposition  to  France. 

16.  In  great  disgust  at  these  acts  of  hostility,  Louis  signed  with 
his  enemies  the  treaty  of  Nijmegen  in  1678,  preferring  to  stay  his 
course  of  victory  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  England  Jhe  Treaty 
joining  his  enemies.  Profoundly  irritated  at  the  in-  of  Nljme- 
explicable  difference  between  Charles's  promises  and  8en>  1678. 
his  ministers'  acts,  the  French  king  resolved  no  longer  to  waste  his 
money  on  so  shiftless  a  dependent.  His  bribes  now  flowed  into  the 
coffers  of  the  opposition,  and  he  roused  the  just  indignation  of  the 
country  party  by  revealing  to  them  his  secret  dealings  with 
Charles,  to  some  of  which  Danby  had  been  an  unwilling  partner. 
In  December,  1678,  Danby  was  hurled  from  power  and  threatened 
with  impeachment,  whereupon,  in  January,  1679,  the  king  dissolved 
parliament.  It  was  still  the  same  longlived  House  of  Commons 
that  had  been  elected  in  1661.  Distrust  of  the  king  had  quite 
destroyed  its  former  excessive  loyalty,  but  it  remained  to  the  last 
as  zealous  for  the  Church  as  in  the  early  days  of  the  Clarendon 
Code. 

17.  A  new  trouble  had  already  fallen  upon  the  country  during 
the  last  months  of  Danby's  ministry.  In  1678  a  clergyman  named 
Titus  Oates  announced  that  he  had  information  that  ^yie  p0Djsu 
the  Roman  Catholics  had  formed  a  plot  to  murder  the  Plot,  1678- 
king  and  restore  their  religious  ascendency.  Why  a  1679. 
king  so  friendly  to  the  Catholics  as  was  Charles  should  have  been 
assassinated  by  them  is  not  easy  to  understand,  and  the  character 
of  the  informant  was  so  bad  that  it  was  difficult  to  accept  his 
statement  as  evidence  of  anything.  Expelled  from  his  ministry 
in  the  English  Church,  Oates  had  gone  abroad  and  turned  Catholic. 
His  gross  vices  had  brought  him  into  trouble  in  his  new  as  in  his 
old  faith,  and  he  came  back  to  England,  professing  a  new  zeal  for 
the  Protestant  cause  and  a  special  store  of  information  about  the 
misdeeds  of  the  papists.  There  had  been  so  much  Catholic  intrigue 
that  plain  men  might  be  pardoned  for  being  credulous,  and  the 
secret  dealings  of  Charles  with  Louis  xiv.  and  the  convert's  zeal  of 
the  duke  of  York  for  his  new  faith,  all  naturally  produced  an 
excitable  and  suspicious  condition  of  public  opinion.  Yet  nothing 
can  excuse  the  blind  faith  which  sober  men  now  showed  in  Oates's 
revelations.  Other  scoundrels,  seeing  how  profitable  was  the  trade 
of  informer,  followed  his  example.  Innocent  Catholics  were 
denounced,  tried  by  venal  judges  before  timid  juries,  and  hurried 


486  CHARLES  II.  [1679- 

fco  the  scaffold  on  perjured  testimony.  The  panic  resulted  not  only 
in  the  collapse  of  the  power  of  Danby  ;  it  gave  the  country  party, 
already  eager  to  uphold  the  Protestant  interest,  an  admirable  oppor- 
tunity of  forcing  its  way  to  place.  Shaftesbury,  its  leader,  made 
a  clever  but  unscrupulous  use  of  the  chance  thus  put  into  his  hands. 
He  hoped  to  regain  authority  as  the  saviour  of  England  from 
popery,  and  did  not  care  how  many  innocent  persons  suffered  if 
he  could  fulfil  his  purpose. 

18.  In  March,  1679,  a  new  parliament  met.     Elected  under  the 
panic  fear  of  the  papists,  the  Commons  were  entirely  in  Shaftes- 
bury's hands.   Two  chief  measures  were  laid  before  the 

Corpus  Act  states  by  the  popular  leader.  One  of  these,  a  measure 
and  the  Ex-  for  securing  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  called  the  Habeas 
?679°n  Bil1'  Corpus  Act,  speedily  became  law,  and  did  much  good 
in  making  it  more  difficult  for  the  crown  to  imprison 
innocent  persons  without  legal  warranty.  The  other  was  a  bolder 
measure,  namely,  an  Exclusion  Bill,  to  keep  the  Catholic  duke  of 
York  out  of  the  succession  to  the  throne  on  his  brother's  death. 
Besides  this,  parliament  renewed  the  impeachment  of  Danby,  who 
was  not  very  fairly  regarded  as  responsible  for  a  policy  which  he 
had  done  his  best  to  prevent. 

19.  In  July,  1679,  Charles  dissolved  parliament,  in  the  hope  of 
saving  his  brother's  chance  of  the  succession.  Though  fresh 
Whies  and  elections  were  held  at  once,  the  temper  of  the  new 
Tories,  House  of  Commons  was  reported  to  be  so  unruly  that 
1679.  Charles  feared  to  summon  it  to  transact  business. 
The  friends  of  the  Exclusion  Bill,  therefore,  sent  up  petitions  to 
the  king,  urging  him  to  allow  parliament  to  meet.  From  this 
they  were  called  Petitioners.  But  there  were  signs  that  the 
violence  of  the  ultra-Protestant  party  had  already  begun  to  pro- 
duce a  reaction.  The  old  devotion  to  monarchy  showed  itself  in 
the  friends  of  hereditary  succession  drawing  up  counter  petitions 
to  the  crown,  in  which  they  expressed  their  abhorrence  of  the 
petitioners'  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  royal  prerogative.  For 
this  reason  these  people  were  styled  Abhorrers.  As  in  1642,  the 
nation  was  splitting  up  into  two  parties,  and  the  Petitioners  of 
1679  were  like  the  Roundheads  of  the  earlier  year,  whilst  the 
Abhorrers  were  the  same  as  the  Cavaliers.  Shorter  and  more  con- 
venient nicknames  were  soon  found  for  the  two  parties  than  these. 
The  Petitioners  were  called  Whigs,  a  nickname  first  applied  to  the 
Scottish  Covenanters ;  while  the  Abhorrers  were  described  as  Tories, 
a  word  first  used  to  distinguish  the  Catholic  rebels  and  outlaws  in 


-i68r.]  CHARLES  II.  487 

Ireland.     Though  both  in  their  origin  the  insulting  epithets  of 

opponents,  the  two  short  words  took  root,  and  the  two  great  parties 

into  which  the  nation  was  henceforth  divided  were  proud  to  be 

described  as  Whigs  and  Tories.    A  little  later  the  strong  Church 

party,   the    Laudians,    got   the   nickname   of    High   — .. 

nt.       t.         i-m    x-i  -r*     .,.     ■,        ...        .  High  Church 

Lnurch  ;  while  the  more  Puritanical,  or  liberal,  section   and  Low 

of  Churchmen  were  spoken  of  as  Low  Church.     Tory   Church, 
and  High  Church,  Whig  and  Low  Church,  were  virtually  synony- 
mous terms. 

20.  The  outlook  long  remained  stormy.     In  1679  the  extreme 
Scottish    Presbyterians,  or    Covenanters,    murdered    Archbishop 
Sharp,  and  rose  in  revolt  against  king  and  bishops.   B  tt]     f 
By  Shaftesbury's  advice  the  task  of  suppressing  the   Bothwell 
revolt  was  entrusted  to  James,  duke  of  Monmouth,   Bridge, 
the  eldest  of  the  king's  numerous  illegitimate  children. 
Monmouth  defeated  the  Covenanters  at  Bothwell  Bridge,  over  the 
Clyde,  near  Glasgow.   This  broke  the  back  of  the  rising,  and  the  duke 
of  York,  sent  down  by  his  brother  to  Scotland,  punished  the  rebels 
very  sternly.     He  drove  away  from  Scotland  the  earl  of  Argyll,  who 
aspired  to  play  the  part  of  his  father,  the  Argyll  beheaded  in  1661. 

21.  Monmouth  was  a  popular  but  showy  and  shallow  person, 
and  Shaftesbury,  who  treated  him  as  a  tool,  was  glad  to  use  him 
as  much  as  he  could.     There  was  even  talk  that  he  _    . 

TnG  Lords 
was  Charles's  lawful  son,  and  should  be  the  next  king   reject  the 

instead  of  the  duke  of  York.    Charles,  however,  upheld   Exclusion 

his  brother  as  loyally  as  he  could,  though  in  general         •  168°- 

the  king  had  good  sense  enough  to  see  that  it  was  not  wise  for 

him  to  set  himself  too  strongly  against  public  opinion.     Thus  he 

gave  way  to  Shaftesbury  and  the  Whigs,  though  he  hated  their 

views,  and  had  no  faith  in  the  popish  plot.    After  keeping  back 

the  parliament  elected  in  1679  for  more  than  a  year,  Charles  at 

last  allowed  it  to  assemble  in  October,  1680.      The  Commons  at 

once  carried  the  Exclusion  Bill,  but  the  Lords  rejected  it,  mainly 

through  the  advice  of  Lord  Halifax,  who  boasted  that  he  was 

neither  a  Whig  nor  a  Tory,  but  a  Trimmer  between  the  two. 

22.  In  January,  1681,  Charles  dissolved  parliament,  and  met 
another  one  in  March  at  Oxford.  Passion  was  now  so  deeply 
aroused  that  the  Whig  members  rode  to  Oxford  with  Tne  Oxf0rd 
bands  of  armed  followers,  like  the  Mad  Parliament  of  Parliament, 
1258.  It  looked  as  if  another  civil  war  was  absolutely  1681* 
inevitable.  The  Commons  clamoured  for  exclusion,  and  the  king, 
backed  up  by  the  Church  party,  would  not  give  up  hereditary  right. 


488  CHARLES  II.  [1685. 

After  a  short  but  violent  session,  Charles  once  more  dissolved  his 
parliament.     It  was  the  last  that  met  during  his  reign. 

23.  The  violence  and  factiousness  of  Shaftesbury  had  overshot 
the  mark.  The  panic  of  the  Popish  Plot  had  died  down,  and 
The  Rye  Charles,  skilfully  though  selfishly,  waiting  on  events, 
House  Plot,  had  given  the  Tories  time  to  rally.  A  strong  Tory  re- 
1683.  action  set  in  which  soon  involved  Shaftesbury  in  dis- 
grace. The  Tories  now  showed  themselves  as  cruel  as  the  Whigs 
had  been.  Shaftesbury  and  Monmouth  fled  to  Holland,  where  the 
Whig  leader  soon  died.  The  extreme  Whigs  in  their  disgust 
formed  a  conspiracy  called  the  Bye  House  Plot,  which  aimed 
at  assassinating  Charles  as  he  rode  past  a  house  called  the  Rye 
House  on  his  way  from  London  to  Newmarket.  The  plan  was 
detected,  and  its  chief  authors  executed.  Some  of  the  Whig 
leaders,  including  Lord  Russell,  the  eldest  son  of  the  earl  of 
Bedford,  and  Algernon  Sidney,  the  republican  son  of  the  earl  of 
Leicester,  were  accused  of  complicity  in  the  conspiracy.  Though 
the  evidence  against  them  was  weak,  they  were  condemned  and 
executed.     They  were  looked  upon  as  martyrs  to  the  popular  cause. 

24.  The  Tories  remained  in  power  for  the  rest  of  Charles  n.'s 
reign.  The  reaction  against  the  tumults  of  the  period  of  the  Popish 
The  Topv  TPhA  made  the  king  as  popular  at  the  end  of  his  life 
reaction,  as  he  had  been  in  the  first  enthusiasm  of  the  Restora- 
1682-1685,  -fcion,  and  when  he  was  suddenly  cut  off  in  February, 
death  of  1685,  he  died  generally  lamented.  In  some  ways  his 
Charles  II.,  popularity  was  very  lightly  gained.  Genial,  good- 
1685#  tempered,  and  easy  of  access,  he  knew  how  to  make 
himself  pleasant  to  his  subjects ;  but  he  was  idle,  improvident, 
selfish,  extravagant,  and  immoral.  The  dissoluteness  of  his  private 
life  set  the  worst  of  examples  to  his  people.  He  sold  himself 
to  Louis  xiv.,  and  would  willingly  have  restored  Catholicism  and 
arbitrary  rule  had  he  the  power  to  do  so.  Yet  Charles  was  too 
idle  and  careless  to  make  the  consistent  effort  necessary  to  carry 
out  a  strong  personal  policy  of  his  own.  Abler  and  much  clearer- 
headed  than  any  other  Stewart  king,  Charles  had  the  shrewdness 
to  see  things  as  they  really  were.  He  perceived  that  he  could  not 
safely  take  up  the  line  of  his  father,  and,  being  determined  to  die 
on  his  throne,  he  learnt  in  some  ways  to  play  the  part  of  a  con- 
stitutional king.  Alone  of  his  house  he  recognised  the  force  of 
public  opinion,  and  he  was  thus  able,  though  not  from  high 
motives,  to  save  England  from  the  danger  of  more  revolutions 
when  her  greatest  need  was  quiet  and  rest. 


CHAPTER  V 
JAMES  II.  (1685-1688) 

Chief  Dates : 

1685.    Accession  of  James  11. ;  Revolts  of  Argyll  and  Monmouth. 
1688.     Declaration  of  Indulgence  and  fall  of  James  11. 

1.  The  Tory  reaction  of  the  last  years  of  Charles  n.'s  reign  still 
flowed  so  strongly  that  the  duke  of  York  was  proclaimed  James  11. 
without  a  murmur  of  opposition.  The  new  king  was 
neither  so  able  nor  so  attractive  as  his  brother.  He  Character 
was  careful,  businesslike,  and  a  good  administrator, 
and  had  sacrificed  much  through  his  devotion  to  the  Catholic  faith. 
Like  Charles  1.,  he  was  obstinate,  tenacious,  and  lacking  both  in 
straightforwardness  and  insight.  Yet  even  James  could  not  but 
recognize  that  his  peaceful  accession  was  due  to  the  loyalty  of  the 
High  Church  and  Tory  party.  Though  he  went  to  mass  in  ptate, 
he  professed  to  regard  his  religion  as  a  private  matter.  He  allowed 
himself  to  be  crowned  after  the  Protestant  rite  by  William  San- 
croft,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  promised  to  uphold  the  Church 
because  Churchmen  were  always  loyal.  He  kept  his  brother's  Tory 
ministers  in  oflice,  and  the  first  few  months  of  his  reign  were  simply 
a  continuation  of  the  last  years  of  Charles  11. 

2.  James  was  strong  enough  not  to  be  afraid  of  public  opinion. 
He  at  once  assembled  both  the  English  and  the  Scottish  parlia- 
ments, and  found  steady  support   from  both  these   _     paplia. 
bodies.      The    Scots    parliament    passed    fresh    laws   ment  of 
against  the  Covenanters,  while  the  high  Tory  majority   1685. 

in  the  English  House  of  Commons  voted  James  a  revenue  of 
£1,900,000  a  year  for  life.  This  sum  was  so  large  that  it  made 
James  almost  independent  of  future  parliamentary  grants.  Parlia- 
ment released  Danby  from  his  long  imprisonment ;  the  informers 
whose  perjured  testimony  had  brought  to  the  scaffold  so  many 
innocent  Catholics,  were  sought  out  and  punished.  Titus  Oates 
was  whipped  so  cruelly  that  his  survival  seemed  almost  a  miracle. 

3.  The  peaceful  accession  of  James  filled  with  despair  the 

489 
r2 


49°  JAMES  II.  [1685. 

Whig  refugees  in  Holland.  Seeing  that  the  new  king  could  not 
be  overthrown  by  peaceful  means,  they  fell  back  on  treason.  In 
Argyll's  re-  ^e  8ummer  °^  1685  two  small  groups  of  exiles  landed 
bellion,  *&  Britain,  hoping  to  stir  up  rebellions.     One  of  these 

1685.  was  ied  by  the  earl  of  Argyll,  who  landed  in  the  Camp- 

bell country  of  the  western  Highlands  in  the  expectation  of  raising 
his  clansmen.  He  had  some  success  in  this,  but  his  associates 
failed  to  excite  a  revolt  among  the  Covenanters  of  Ayrshire,  and 
the  expedition  was  so  badly  managed  that  it  soon  collapsed.  Argyll, 
like  his  father,  was  executed  as  a  traitor,  and  the  persecution  of 
the  Covenanters  became  more  brutal  than  ever. 

4.  The  chief  effort  of  the  exiles  was  directed  to  the  south-west 
of  England.  In  June  the  duke  of  Monmouth  landed  at  Lyme 
Monmouth's  ■^'e8'^s'  ^  Dorsetshire,  declaring  that  he  was  Charles  n.'s 
rebellion,  lawful  son  and  rightful  king  of  England.  A  large 
1685.  force  of  Puritan  peasants  and  miners  gathered  round 
him,  and  he  became  so  strong  that  he  was  able  to  advance  through 
Somerset  towards  Bath  and  Bristol.  Both  these  towns,  how- 
ever, refused  to  receive  him,  and  he  was  compelled  to  retire 
to  Bridgwater,  closely  pursued  by  the  king's  army,  commanded 
by  the  earl  of  Feversham,  under  whom  was  John,  Lord  Churchill, 
the  ablest  soldier  of  his  time.  Monmouth  gallantly  resolved 
to  surprise  Peversham's  troops  in  their  camp  at  Sedgmoor,  a 
few  miles  east  of  Bridgwater.  After  a  long  night  march  the 
rebel  army  attacked  Feversham  in  the  early  morning  of  July  6. 
They  found  the  royalists  well  prepared  to  meet  them,  and  Mon- 
mouth's cavalry  fled  in  a  panic.  The  raw  infantry  gallantly 
stood  their  ground,  but  they  were  outflanked  and  outgeneralled, 
and  at  last  utterly  routed  in  the  last  pitched  battle  fought  on 
English  soil.  Monmouth  himself  was  captured  a  few  days  later, 
hiding  in  a  ditch  from  his  pursuers.  On  July  15  he  was  beheaded 
on  Tower  Hill.  The  most  cruel  vengeance  was  wreaked  upon  the 
rebels.  Besides  many  executions  immediately  after  the  battle,  a 
whole  host  of  victims  was  condemned  by  Chief  Justice  Jefferies, 
whose  circuit  for  the  trial  of  the  rebels  became  notorious  as  the 
Bloody  Assize.  On  his  return  Jefferies  was  rewarded  by  a  peerage 
and  his  elevation  to  the  oflice  of  lord  chancellor. 

5.  James  n.  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  power.  He  had 
been  so  successful  that  he  began  to  forget  the  narrow  basis  on 
which  his  throne  rested.  He  was  naturally  impatient  at  the  dis- 
abilities still  imposed  by  law  on  those  who  held  his  faith.  It 
seemed  to  him  unworthy  that  he  should  be  ruling  England  and 


.68s.] 


JAMES  II. 


491 


492  JAMES  II  [1685- 

worshipping  freely  after  the  Catholic  fashion  while  his  brother 
Catholics  were  unable  to  practise  their  religion  lawfully  or  to 
hold  the  meanest  office  under  the  crown.  Accordingly, 
between  ne  asked  the  parliament  to  repeal  the  Test  Act,  and 
James  and  was  much  annoyed  to  be  met  with  a  blank  refusal, 
the  Tories.  Parliament,  however,  was  even  more  loyal  to  the 
Church  and  to  Protestantism  than  to  the  crown.  It  believed  that 
the  Test  Act  was  more  than  ever  necessary  now  that  a  Roman 
Catholic  occupied  the  throne.  In  great  disgust  James  dissolved 
parliament,  and  dismissed  the  Tory  ministers  whom  he  had  inherited 
from  his  brother.  The  result  was  a  complete  breach  between 
James  and  those  who  had  given  him  the  throne. 

6.  James  was  now  treading  in  his  father's  footsteps.  He 
appointed  as  his  chief  adviser  Robert  Spencer,  earl  of  Sunderland,  a 
The  disDens-  statesman  °f  great  ability  and  foresight,  but  selfish, 
ing  and  the  ccrrupt,  and  unprincipled,  and  not  scrupling  to  profess 
suspending     his  conversion  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  in  order 

D0W6FS 

.  to  please  the  king.  Yisions  of  a  Catholic  and  absolutist 
restoration  began  to  float  before  the  mind  of  James  and  his  advisers. 
The  first  steps  towards  this  were  won  by  obtaining  from  subservient 
judges  decisions  that  enabled  the  king  to  override  the  laws  which 
parliament  had  refused  to  repeal.  Even  in  Charles  n.'s  days  there 
had  been  much  talk  of  the  king  possessing  a  dispensing  power 
which  enabled  him  to  stay  the  operation  of  a  law  in  any  par- 
ticular case,  and  a  suspending  power  by  which  he  could  tem- 
porarily suspend  the  whole  operation  of  a  statute  when  the  interest 
of  the  state  seemed  to  require  it.  It  was  by  virtue  of  these 
powers  that  Charles  11.  had  issued  his  Declaration  of  Indulgence 
in  1672.  James  now  appointed  a  Roman  Catholic  named  Sir 
Edward  Hales  as  colonel  of  one  of  his  regiments.  Hales  was 
prosecuted  by  his  coachman  for  illegally  holding  office  without 
receiving  the  sacrament  or  taking  the  oath  of  supremacy.  In 
June,  1686,  the  judge  decided  that  Hales's  commission  was  lawful, 
since  the  king  had  granted  him  a  dispensation  from  these  obliga- 
tions. Fortified  with  this  decision,  James  pushed  his  dispensing 
power  so  far  as  to  appoint  many  Catholics  to  civil  and  military 
posts.  Before  long  he  even  gave  offices  in  the  Church  to  avowed 
Romanists.  He  required  the  University  of  Cambridge  to  give  the 
degree  of  MA.  to  a  Benedictine  monk  named  Francis,  whom  he 
dispensed  from  taking  the  usual  oaths.  He  ordered  the  fellows  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  to  elect  as  their  president  a  Roman 
Catholic  of  bad  character,  though  the  office  of  president  of  the 


-1688.]  JAMES  II.  4  493 

college  was  open  only  to  clergy  of  the  English  Churoh.  He  strove 
to  stifle  the  mnrnrurings  that  arose  by  establishing  a  new  Court  of 
High  Commission.  This  was  an  avowedly  illegal  act,  and  directly 
opposed  to  the  statute  of  the  Long  Parliament,  which  had  declared 
such  commissions  unlawful.  A  large  army  was  enlisted,  many  of 
whose  officers  were  Roman  Catholics,  and  was  encamped  on  Hounslow 
Heath  to  overawe  the  Londoners. 

7.  James  embarked  on  a  definite  policy  of  undermining  Pro- 
testantism and  the  constitution.  The  Court  of  High  Commission, 
of  which  Jefferies  was  the  leading  spirit,  dealt  out  _  court  of 
storn  but  illegal  punishment  to  all  who  went  against  High  Com- 
the  king's  will.  It  deprived  the  vice-chancellor  of  mission. 
Cambridge  of  his  office,  because  he  resisted  the  royal  mandate  to 
give  a  degree  to  Francis.  At  Oxford  it  ejected  the  fellows  of 
Magdalen  because  they  declined  to  choose  a  popish  president. 

8.  A  great  cry  arose  that  Protestantism  was  in  danger.     Not 

only  in  England  were  the  fortunes  of  the  reformed  religion  now 

imperilled.     In  1685  James's  ally,  Louis  xiv.,  had   _ 

The  revoca- 
revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  which  the  French   cation  of 

Huguenots    had    for  a    century  enjoyed   toleration,    the  Edict  of 

Tens  of  thousands  of  French  Protestants,  exiled  from    jUg* 

their  country  for  their  loyalty  to  their  faith,  sought 

refuge  in  England  and  other  Protestant  lands.     Their  presence  in 

our  midst  quickened  the  deep  hatred  and  distrust  of  popery  that 

had  so  long  been  among  the  rooted  convictions  of  Englishmen. 

Even  the  High  Churchmen,  who  had  so  long  made  a  religion  of 

loyalty,  began  to  grow  restive.     They  were  not  prepared  to  allow 

the  king  to  use  his  position  as  head  of  the  Church  to  ruin  the  body 

of  which  he  was  supreme  governor. 

9.  James's  chief  difficulty  in  carrying  out  his  plans  was  that 
there  were  not  enough  Roman  Catholics  in  England  to  form  a 
strong  party.    He  tried  to  make  up  for  this  by  concili- 
ating the  oppressed  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and  appointed   i,f  inland, 
as  lord-lieutenant   of   Ireland   the   Catholic    earl   of 
Tyrconnell,  who  began  to  assail  that  Protestant  ascendency  on  which 
English  rule  in  Ireland  was  based.     Irish  help,  however,  did  James 
more  harm  than  good  in  England,  and  gradually  the  king  saw  that 
his  best  chance  of  overthrowing  the  Church  was  by  uniting  the 
Protestant  Dissenters,  whom  hitherto  he  had  severely  persecuted, 
with  his  Roman  Catholic  followers. 

10.  In  1687  and  1688  James  issued  two  declarations  of  indulgence 
by  which  by  his  own  authority  he  suspended  all  the  laws  against 


494  •  JAMES  II.  [1688. 

both  Roman  Catholics  and  Dissenters.  Very  few  of  the  English 
Dissenters  were  blind  enough  to  accept  the  king's  lead.  They 
_    _  had  no  reason  to  love  the  dominant  and  persecuting 

ration  of  Church,  but  they  saw  that  the  Church  was  the  chief 
Indulgence,  bulwark  of  Protestantism,  and  that  its  overthrow 
•  would  be  followed  by  the  extension  to  England  of  the 
persecution  that  so  sorely  afflicted  their  brethren  in  France  and 
Scotland.  Thus  they  refused  to  become  accomplices  in  the  restora- 
tion of  arbitrary  power  and  popery  in  England,  and  prepared  to 
take  sides  with  their  old  enemies  in  the  defence  of  the  liberties  of 
England  and  the  Protestant  religion.  The  crisis  came  in  1688, 
when  James  gave  orders  that  his  second  Declaration  of  Indulgence 
should  be  read  in  all  churches  on  the  first  two  Sundays  in  June. 
Archbishop  Sancrof  t,  an  extreme  Tory  and  High  Churchman,  took 
counsel  with  six  of  his  brethren,  of  whom  Ken,  the  holy  bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  was  the  most  important.  The  seven  bishops  agreed 
to  petition  the  king  not  to  force  the  clergy  to  break  the  law. 
James  was  very  angry  at  the  prelates  presuming  to  question  his 
acts,  and  became  furious  when  the  great  majority  of  the  clergy, 
inspired  by  the  bishops'  resistance,  refused  to  read  the  declaration. 
He  brought  the  seven  bishops  to  trial  for  publishing  a  seditious 
libel.  On  June  30  a  London  jury  acquitted  them  of  this  ridiculous 
charge  amidst  the  universal  rejoicing  of  the  whole  nation.  The 
seven  bishops  became  popular  heroes  for  having  led  the  way  to 
resistance  against  the  popish  king. 

11.  While  the  trial  of  the  bishops  was  still  pending,  another  event 
had  occurred  which  intensified  the  need  for  resistance.     Hitherto 

many  men    had    borne   with    James's  doings,  since 
tion  to  ne  was  an  °ld  man,  and  on  his  death  his  throne  would 

William  of     have  gone  to  his  Protestant  daughter,  the  princess 
range.  Mary  of  Orange,  the  grand-daughter  of  Clarendon. 

But  on  June  10  a  son,  named  James,  was  born  to  the  king  and  his 
second  wife,  Mary  of  Modena.  The  new  prince  of  Wales  would  of 
course  be  brought  up  as  a  Catholic,  and  thus  there  was  every 
prospect  of  a  long  continuance  of  popish  rulers.  Accordingly,  on 
the  very  day  of  the  bishops'  acquittal,  seven  leading  men  united  in 
sending  a  letter  to  Mary's  husband,  William  of  Orange,  inviting 
him  to  come  to  England  to  save  the  land  from  popery  and  arbitrary 
power.  Not  only  Whig  magnates  like  the  earl  of  Devonshire,  but 
Tories  so  staunch  as  Danby  signed  this  appeal. 

12.  A  new  European  war  was  breaking  out,  and  William  of 
Orange,  the  leader  of  the  coalition  which  he  had  formed  against 


i688.]  JAMES  II.  495 

the  French,  was  eager  to  get  England  on  his  side.    He  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  on  November  5  anded  in  Torbay  at  the  head  of 
a  Dutch  army.    All  England  fell  away  from  James,   The  fall  of 
who   strove,  when  it  was  too  late,  to  conciliate  his  James  II., 
angry  subjects    by  dissolving '  the    Court  of    High   16881689- 
Commission.     William  was  welcomed  by  the  gentry  of  the  west, 
and  advanced  slowly  from  Exeter  to  London.     James  found  that  it 
was  useless  to  attempt  resistance.     His  own  daughter,  the  princess 
Anne ;  his  favourite  soldier,  Lord  Churchill,  deserted  him  ;  and  as 
the  Dutch  approached  London,  he  was  forced  to  flee  to  France. 

13.  Once  master  of  the  capital,  William  issued  writs  summoning 
a  Convention  Parliament.  Like  the  body  that  restored  Charles  n., 
this  convention  was  in  all  but  name  and  form  a  real 
parliament.  It  met  on  January  22,  1689.  Though  Sn/andthe 
the  majority  was  fiercely  Whig,  there  was  a  strong  Declaration 
body  of  Tories  returned,  who,  now  that  James's  flight  iggi8*1, 
had  dissipated  their  worst  alarms,  began  to  have 
scruples  against  resisting  or '  deposing  the  king  by  divine  right. 
They  proposed  that  James  should  remain  nominal  king  while 
William  became  regent.  But  this  was  an  absurd  compromise  that 
pleased  nobody,  and  finally  the  Convention  took  up  a  more  decided 
line.  It  voted  that  James  had  abdicated  the  throne  by  his  flight  to 
France,  and  that  the  throne  had  thereby  become  vacant.  It  drew 
up  a  Declaration  of  Bight,  wherein  the  worst  of  James's  acts  were 
denounced  as  illegal.  The  declaration  was  presented  to  William 
and  Mary,  who  ratified  it.  Thereupon  the  throne  was  offered  to 
William  and  Mary  as  joint  sovereigns.  On  their  acceptance  of 
the  throne,  the  "  Glorious  Revolution,"  as  it  was  called,  was  com- 
pleted. The  Stewart  attempt  to  set  up  king  above  parliament 
was  finally  defeated.  Working  out  still  further  the  principles  of 
the  men  of  1641  and  1660,  the  Convention  set  up  a  monarchy, 
created  by  parliament,  and  responsible  to  it.  It  thus  destroyed 
the  old  Tory  theory  of  divine  hereditary  right,  and  made  the  king 
an  official,  subject,  like  other  officials,  to  dismissal  if  he  neglected  to 
perform  his  duties.  Thus  parliament  became  the  strongest  element 
in  the  English  state,  and  the  seventeenth-century  struggle  of  king 
and  his  subjects  was  finally  ended  by  the  triumph  of  the  parliament 
over  the  crown. 


CHAPTER  VI 
WILLIAM  III.  (1689-1702)  AND  MARY  (1689-1694) 

Chief  Dates : 

1689.  Accession  of  William  and  Mary  ;  Bill  of  Rights  and  Toleration 

Act. 

1690.  Battle  of  the  Boyne. 

1692.  Battle  of  La  Hougue  and  Massacre  of  Glencoe. 

1694.  Death  of  Queen  Mary. 

1696.  First  Whig  Ministry. 

1697.  Treaty  of  Ryswick. 

1698.  Failure  of  the  Darien  scheme  ;  First  Partition  Treaty. 

1700.  Second  Partition  Treaty. 

1701.  Act  of  Settlement. 

1702.  Grand  Alliance  formed  ;  death  of  William  in. 

1.  On  February  13,  1689,  William  in.  and  Mary  were  put  in 
possession  of  the  throne.  Much  still  had  to  he  done  before  the 
Theaeces-  changes  made  necessary  by  the  flight  of  James  n. 
slon  of  were   completed.     To   carry  some  of  these   out,   the 

William  and  Convention,  following  the  precedent  of  the  convention 
the  Bill  of  which  restored  Charles  n.,  was  turned  into  a  regular 
Rights,  parliament.     It  set  to  work  to  pass  new  laws  which 

1689 

should  make  it  impossible  for  any  future  king  to 
govern  on  the  lines  of  James  11.  The  most  important  of  these 
was  the  Bill  of  Rights,  which  re-enacted  the  Declaration  of  Rights 
in  a  more  formal  fashion.  It  declared  illegal  many  of  James's 
unconstitutional  acts,  such  as  levying  money  and  keeping  a 
standing  army  without  the  sanction  of  parliament,  and  stated 
that  subjects  had  a  right  to  petition  the  king,  and  that  parliaments 
should  be  freely  elected,  frequently  held,  and  have  free  speech. 
It  declared  the  suspending  power  altogether  illegal,  and  the  dis- 
pensing power  "  as  it  hath  been  exercised  of  late."  Its  most 
important  clauses,  however,  were  those  which  bore  upon  the  future. 
It  enacted  that  "for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  this  Protestant 
kingdom,"  all  persons  "who  profess  the  popish  religion  or  marry 
a  papist,  shall  be  incapable  to  inherit  or  possess  the  crown." 
496 


1689.]  WILLIAM  III.  AND  MARY  497 

2.  Other  laws  of  scarcely  less  importance  were  passed  by  the 
Convention.  A  Mutiny  Act  was  drawn  up,  which  authorized  the 
king  to  maintain  a  standing  army  and  enforce  dis-  _.  „ 
cipline  in  it  by  martial  law.  This  act  was  only  passed  Act,  and  the 
for  a  short  period,  so  that  the  king  was  forced  to  go  revenue, 
every  year  to  parliament  for  its  renewal.  This  was  1689, 
a  more  excellent  means  of  keeping  "William  dependent  on  parlia- 
ment than  the  abstract  resolutions  of  the  Bill  of  Rights.  Even 
more  effective,  however,  was  the  action  of  parliament  with  regard 
to  the  royal  revenue.  While  Charles  11.  and  James  11.  had  re- 
ceived a  grant  of  a  large  income  for  life,  so  that  they  were  able 
to  carry  on  the  government  in  a  fashion  without  having  further 
recourse  to  the  Commons,  parliament  cut  down  the  life  revenue  of 
the  crown  to  very  modest  limits,  and  resolved  to  make  parliamentary 
grants  from  year  to  year  only.  This  action  resulted  in  the  necessity 
for  annual  sessions  of  parliament  ever  since.  Were  parliament 
not  to  assemble,  the  Mutiny  Act  would  lapse,  so  that  the  standing 
army  would  become  illegal,  while  most  taxes  would  come  to  an  end, 
for  no  one  would  have  any  obligation  to  pay  them. 

3.  Another  law,  passed  in  1689,  was  the  Toleration  Act,  which 
gave  Protestant  Dissenters  who  believed  in  the  Trinity  the  right 
to  worship  freely  in  their   own   chapels.     It  was  not   The  Tolera- 
a    broad    or    comprehensive    measure    of    toleration.    tionAet, 
Unitarians  were  excluded    from    it,   and    the   penal    1689- 

laws  against  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestant  Dissenters  still 
remained  on  the  statute-book.  Yet  it  practically  carried  the 
principle  against  which  nearly  all  religious  parties  had  been 
fighting  since  the  Reformation.  It  recognized  that  Englishmen 
did  not  all  think  the  same  way  in  matters  of  religion,  and  allowed 
persons  who  disagreed  with  the  established  system  of  the  Church 
to  assemble  for  worship  after  their  own  fashion.  The  Dissenters 
still  remained  under  all  sorts  of  disabilities,  but  they  had  at  last 
won  the  right  to  exist.  Gradually  the  spirit  of  the  times  changed, 
and  extended  the  benefits  of  the  Toleration  Act  to  those  who  were 
expressly  excepted  from  it.  But  many  a  battle  had  still  to  be 
fought  before  complete  religious  liberty  was  won. 

4.  The  High  Church  party  disliked  the  Toleration  Act,  and 
were  afraid  of  the  results  of  the  revolution.  Though  many  of 
them  had  deserted  James  in  his  hour  of  need,  they  soon  became 
disaffected  with  the  rule  of  a  king  who  gave  toleration  to  Dis- 
senters and  was  a  Presbyterian  in  his  own  country.  They  were 
still  a  very  powerful  body,  and  were   strong  enough  to  prevent 


498  WILLIAM  III.    AND  MARY  [1689- 

"William  carrying  out  his  wish,  to  change  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  in  such  a  fashion  that  it  might  include  some  of  the  mode- 
The  Low  ra^e  Dissenters,  and  particularly  the  Presbyterians. 
Church  Some  of  the  High  Church  leaders  still  upheld  the 

tpiuI"Ph  doctrines  of  divine  right  and  passive  obedience,  and 
schism  of  denied  that  William  had  any  right  to  the  throne, 
the  Non-  When   called  upon  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 

the  new  sovereign,  many  of  the  clergy  refused  to 
accept  it.  Among  them  were  Archbishop  Sancroft,  of  Canterbury, 
and  Bishop  Ken,  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  several  hundred  parish 
clergymen.  All  these  were  driven  from  their  offices,  and  the 
bishoprics  thus  made  vacant  were  filled  up  by  William  from  the 
Low  Church  party,  which  was  enthusiastically  upon  his  side. 
The  new  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Tillotson,  was  the  leader  of 
the  Low  Church,  and  much  disliked  by  the  High  Churchmen  for 
his  wish  to  widen  the  limits  of  the  Church  by  bringing  some  of 
the  Dissenters  within  it.  Those  who  refused  to  swear  allegiance 
to  William  were  called  the  Non-Jurors.  The  more  extreme  among 
them  broke  off  all  relations  with  the  Church,  and  held  services  of 
their  own.  This  schism  of  the  Non-Jurors  was,  however,  never  very 
formidable,  since  few  laymen  followed  the  clergy  who  left  the 
Church.  And  the  seceders  were  only  a  minority,  even  among  the 
High  Church  clergy.  The  majority  took  the  oaths  without  giving 
up  their  old  theories,  and  remained  very  hostile  to  the  Church 
policy  of  the  new  king.  Many  of  them  soon  became  Jacobites,  or 
partisans  of  King  James,  and  they  were  the  more  formidable, 
since  they  still  had  a  great  hold  over  the  people.  Thus,  even 
in  England,  the  revolution  was  not  carried  through  without  grave 
difficulties.  It  was  still  harder  to  establish  the  power  of  William 
and  Mary  in  Ireland  and  Scotland. 

5.  Ireland  supported  James  11.  long  after  he  was  expelled  from 
England.  His  deputy  in  Ireland,  Tyrconnell,  had  already  destroyed 
.         ,  Protestant  ascendency  in  Ireland,  and,  with  the  flight 

power  up-  of  James,  the  last  restraint  upon  his  zeal  was  removed. 
held  in  Hitherto  James  had  looked  with  suspicion  upon  the 

Irish  movement,  because,  though  he  sympathized  with 
the  Irish  as  Catholics,  he  had  no  wish  to  help  them  to  throw  off 
English  rule  altogether.  "Now,  however,  James  had  to  accept  any 
allies  he  could  get,  and  allow  them  to  act  as  they  thought  best.  In 
March,  1689,  James  himself  landed  in  Ireland,  bringing  with  him 
some  French  troops.  He  summoned  an  Irish  parliament  to 
Dublin,  the  great  majority  of  which  was  Catholic.     It  showed  a 


-1690.]  WILLIAM  III.   AND  MARY  499 

bitter  hatred  to  England  and  Protestantism.  It  repealed  the 
Act  of  Settlement  of  1661,  by  which  the  greater  part  of  Irish 
land  had  been  confirmed  to  English  and  Protestant  owners.  It 
passed  an  Act  of  Attainder,  which  condemned  more  than  two 
thousand  partisans  of  William  of  Orange. 

6.  The  scattered  Irish  Protestants  of  the  south  were  forced  to 
submit  to  James  and  the  Catholics;  but  in  Ulster,  where  the 
Protestants  were  numerous,  they  at  once  took  arms 

in    favour    of    King    "William    and    the    Protestant   ^,efire  of 
religion.     The    two    Ulster    towns    of    Londonderry  tne  battle  of 
and  EnnisJeillen  were  the  chief  centres  of  resistance.   Newtown 
King  James's  army  soon  besieged  Derry,  and  pressed   fggg 
the  garrison  hard.     The  walls  were  weak,  and  pro- 
visions soon  ran  short,  but  the  Protestants  held  out  with  great 
stubbornness.     Ships  laden  with  provisions  were  sent  from  England 
for  their  relief,  but  the  Catholic  army  had  thrown  a  boom  across 
the  river  Foyle,  so  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  vessels  to  sail  up 
to  the  town.     However,  on  July  30,  when  the  garrison  was  almost 
desperate  from  want  of  food,  a  merchant  ship  sailed  up  the  river, 
and  managed  to  break  through  the  obstruction.     Her  stores  re- 
moved all  danger  of  starvation,  and  the  Catholics,  losing  heart  at 
the  unexpected  relief  afforded  to  their  enemies,  at  once  raised  the 
siege.     Three  days  later,  the  men  of  Enniskillen  defeated  another 
Catholic  army  in  the  battle  of  Newtown  Butler. 

7.  Despite  these  successes,  the  Irish  Protestants  were  too  few 
to  hold  their  own  permanently  against  the  Catholics.     Their  only 
chance  lay  in    obtaining    help    from  England,  and   Battle  of 
luckily  for    them,  this    was    not    long    in    coming.    theBoyne, 
William  saw  that  if  James  kept  his  hold  on  Ireland   169°- 

he  would  soon  attempt  to  win  back  England  also.  He  therefore 
sent  an  English  army,  under  General  Schomberg,  a  French 
Protestant  refugee,  to  fight  against  James  in  Ireland.  But 
sickness  broke  out  in  his  army,  and  he  was  not  able  to  accom- 
plish anything.  Next  year  (1690)  William  himself  undertook 
the  conquest  of  Ireland.  Landing  at  Carrickfergus,  he  advanced 
southwards  towards  Dublin.  James  resolved  to  hold  against 
him  the  line  of  the  river  Boyne,  which,  dividing  the  counties 
of  Louth  and  Meath,  runs  into  the  sea  juet  below  Drogheda. 
On  July  1  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  was  fought.  Schomberg 
was  killed  in  the  fight,  but  William's  troops  forced  the  passage  of 
the  river,  and  drove  the  Catholics  in  a  panic  towards  Dublin.  James 
fled  to   France;    William    occupied  the   capital,   and    conquered 


500  WILLIAM  III.   AND  MARY  [1689- 

the  greater  part  of  Ireland.  The  Catholics  now  stood  on  the 
defensive,  and  made  their  last  stand  at  Limerick.  The  forti- 
fications there  were  as  feeble  as  those  of  Deny,  but  the  stout 
spirit  of  the  defenders  enabled  them  to  hold  their  own.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  summer  "William  returned  to  England  without 
having  taken  Limerick. 

8.  In  June,  1691,  the  Dutch  general,  Ginkel,  captured  Athlone, 
which  commanded  the  passage  over  the  Shannon.     This  enabled 

him  to  invade  Connaught,  where,  on  July  12,  he 
testant  con-  defeated  the  Irish  army  at  the  battle  of  Aughrim. 
quest  of  Before  long  all  western  Ireland  was  overrun,  and  for 

1691  a  secon<l  'time  the  Catholics  stood  at  bay  behind  the 

weak  walls  of  Limerick.  This  time  further  resistance 
was  useless,  and  Ginkel  offered  easy  conditions  in  order  to  bring 
the  war  to  an  end.  In  October  the  Irish  accepted  the  treaty  of 
Limerick,  by  which  it  was  agreed  to  allow  all  the  Irish  soldiers 
who  chose  to  abandon  their  country  to  take  ship  for  France.  The 
Catholics  who  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  were  promised 
forgiveness,  and  were  guaranteed  the  same  liberty  to  hear  mass  that 
they  had  been  allowed  in  the  days  of  Charles  11.  But  the  Irish 
parliament  was  now  once  more  a  purely  Protestant  body,  and  was 
desperately  afraid  of  the  Catholics,  who  had  so  nearly  overthrown 
Protestant  ascendency.  It  declared  that  Grinkel  had  gone  beyond 
his  powers  in  making  these  promises,  and  meanly  refused  to  be 
bound  by  the  treaty.  Eager  to  have  revenge  on  the  Catholics, 
the  Irish  parliament  restored  Protestant  ascendency  in  a  more 
cruel  fashion  than  either  Strafford  or  Cromwell  had  maintained 
it.  Gradually  it  built  up  a  Penal  Code  of  extreme  severity, 
which  took  away  from  the  Catholics  all  political  rights,  reduced 
them  to  poverty  by  taking  away  their  lands,  and  barely  allowed 
them  the  exercise  of  their  religion. 

9.  In  Scotland  the  revolution  followed  the  course  of  evenbs  in 
England  rather  than  that  in  Ireland.  James  11.  had  set  himself 
The  revo-  against  Scottish  popular  opinion  even  more  than  he 
lution  in  had  gone  against  the  wishes  of  his  southern  subjects, 
Scotland.  ^  ^e  gcotg  rej0ice^  greatly  when  the  English 
drove  him  out.  A  Convention  of  the  Scottish  estates  met  in 
Edinburgh,  and  resolved  that  James  vn.  had  forfeited  the  Scottish 
crown.  A  Claim  of  Right  was  drawn  up  which  declared  that 
prelacy  was  an  insupportable  grievance  and  ought  to  be  abolished. 
William  and  Mary  accepted  the  throne,  and  agreed  to  carry  out 
the  wishes  of  the  Convention.      In  1690  the  General  Assembly 


-1691.J  WILLIAM  III.   AND  MARY  50 1 

of  the  Scots  Church  met  for  the  first  time  since  the  Cromwellian 
conquest,  and  carried  out  the  restoration  of  the  Presbyterian 
system.  The  bishops  and  their  followers  were  forced  to  set  up  a 
separate  Church  of  their  own,  which  was  strongly  Jacobite  and 
bitterly  persecuted.  But  the  abolition  of  episcopacy  in  the  Scottish 
Church  made  it  possible  for  Scotland  to  be  governed  much  more  in 
accordance  with  Scottish  ideas  than  it  had  been  in  Stewart  times. 

10.  There  was  fighting  before  the  revolution  was   completed 

in  Scotland.     John  Graham,   of   Claverhouse,  whom  James  had 

made  Viscount  Dundee,  withdrew  from  the  Convention   _  ...     , 
.j.  .  Battle  or 

in  disgust,  and  called  upon  the  Highland  clans  to   Killie- 

uphold  the  cause  of  the  Stewarts.     The  Highlanders   crankie, 

cared  little  about  the  disputes  between  bishops  and 

presbyters,  Jacobites  and  Williamites.     The  revolution  meant  for 

them  the  restoration  of  the  earl  of  Argyll,  the  son  of  the  earl 

executed  in  1685,  to  the  chieftainship  of  his  clan.     The  smaller 

clans,  such  as  the  Macdonalds  and  Camerons,  had    long    been 

afraid  of  the  Campbells,  and  willingly  rose  in  revolt  to  prevent 

the  danger  of  a  renewal  of  Campbell  domination.     Accordingly  a 

large  army  gathered  together  from  the  Tory  clans  who  hated  the 

"Whig  Campbells.    To  these  Graham  stood  as  his  kinsman  Montrose 

had  stood  to  their  fathers.     But  though  he  showed  great  capacity 

as  a  general,  his  career  was  too  short  to  enable  him  to  rival  the 

deeds  of  Montrose.     After  various  wanderings,  Dundee  and  his 

Highlanders  took  up  a  position  in  the  Perthshire  Highlands  near 

Blair  Atholl.     The  Lowland  army  of  King  William,  under  the 

Highland  general  Mackay,  marched  against  them  through  the 

pass  of  Killiecrankie.     Soon  after  Mackay  had  made  his  way 

through  the  pass,  the  army  of  Dundee  went  forth  to  meet  him 

on  July  27,  1689.     The  Lowlanders  gave  way  before  the  fierce 

Highland  charge,  but  Dundee  was  slain  in  the  moment  of  victory, 

and  Mackay  rallied  his  troops  so  effectively  that,  after  a  few  days, 

the  Highlanders  became  weary  of  fighting,  and  went  home  with 

their  spoils. 

11.  The  break-up  of  the  Highland  host  made  William  undis- 
puted king  of  Scots.     The  Highlands  were  then  gradually  pacified. 
Though  the  work  was  slow,  it  was  at  length  accom-   The  mas 
plished,  and  amnesty  was  promised  to  all  those  who,   sacre  of 
before  the  end  of   1691,  would   take  oaths  to  live   ^|"coe' 
peaceably  under  King  William.     Most  of  the  chief- 
tains made  their  submission,  but  one  of  the  heads  of  a  branch  of 
the  Macdonald  clan,  Maclan  of  Glencoe,  made  it  a  point  of  honour 


502  WILLIAM  III.   AND  MARY  [1689- 

to  hold  out  as  long  as  lie  could,  though,  within  a  few  days  of  the 
time  fixed,  he  took  the  oath  to  "William.  The  chief  adviser  of 
William  for  Scotch  affairs  was  John  Dalrymple,  called  the  Master 
of  Stair,  hecause  he  was  the  eldest  son  of  Viscount  Stair.  He  was 
a  Lowlander  anxious  to  teach  Highlanders  to  respect  the  law,  and 
he  thought  that  Maclan's  neglect  to  take  the  oath  gave  him  a 
good  pretext  for  reading  the  clansmen  a  much-needed  lesson. 
Accordingly  he  persuaded  "William,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  facts, 
that  it  was  desirable  "  for  the  vindication  of  public  justice  to 
extirpate  that  set  of  thieves,"  meaning  thereby  the  Macdonalds  of 
Grlencoe.  The  order  was  carried  out  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers 
from  Argyll's  own  regiment,  who,  as  Campbells,  were  the  natural 
enemies  of  the  Macdonalds.  The  dalesmen  of  Grlencoe  were  so 
unsuspicious  that  they  entertained  the  soldiers  with  great  hospi- 
tality. Suddenly,  on  the  early  morning  of  February  13,  1692,  the 
Campbells  fell  upon  their  hosts,  and  brutally  put  them  to  the 
sword.  This  deed  of  blood  was  called  the  Massacre  of  Glencoe. 
It  excited  such  indignation  that  "William  was  forced  to  dismiss  the 
Master  of  Stair  from  his  service.  William  himself  was  severely 
blamed,  but  the  real  guilt  rather  fell  upon  Dalrymple  and  the 
Campbells. 
"1/  12.  A  general  European  war  had  broken  out  on  the  eve  of 
William's  expedition  to  England.  Since  the  treaty  of  Nijmegen 
The  war  *n  1678,  Louis  xiv.  had  provoked  the  indignation  of 
against  all  his  neighbours  by  a  series  of  wanton  attacks  upon 

France,  them.     William  of  Orange  had  striven  for  many  years 

to  form  a  general  league  against  Louis  xiv.  He 
welcomed  his  accession  to  the  English  throne  chiefly  because  it 
gave  him  the  hope  of  adding  England  to  the  coalition  against  the 
French.  Louis's  own  action  in  supporting  James  11.  excited  so 
much  indignation  in  England  that  William  found  it  an  easy  task 
to  persuade  his  new  subjects  to  enter  upon  war  against  France. 
This  struggle  lasted  from  1689  to  1697.  Though  Holland,  Bran- 
denburg, Spain,  the  Empire,  and  many  smaller  powers  were  allied 
with  England  against  France,  Louis  was  still  able  to  withstand  this 
formidable  coalition. 

13.  The  French  won  every  battle  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
even  at  sea  were  able  to  give  the  allies  much  trouble.  Though. 
England  and  Holland,  the  two  greatest  naval  powers,  were  united, 
the  French  admiral,  Tourville,  won,  on  June  30, 1690,  a  brilliant 
victory  over  their  combined  fleets  off  Beachy  Head.  This  success 
made  it  easy  for  Louis  to  send  help  to  the  Catholics  in  Ireland. 


-1697.]  WILLIAM  III.    AND  MARY  503 

He  also  thought  of  invading  England,  being  encouraged  to  do  so 
not  only  by  avowed  Jacobites,  but  also  by  some  treacherous  ministers 
and  generals  of  William  himself.     So  long  as  the   Battles  of 
French  retained  the  command  of  the  sea,  England   Beachy 
was  exposed  to  real  danger.     However,  on  May  19,   HndLa169°' 
1692,  Admiral  Russell  decisively  defeated  the  French   Hougue, 
navy  under  Tourville  off  La  Hougue,  in  Normandy.    1692- 
Henceforth  the  English  and  Dutch  retained  the  command  of  the 
Channel,  though  the  French  grievously  harried  English  commerce 
for  the  rest  of  the  war. 

14.  On  land  the  chief  fighting  was  in  the  Netherlands.  Every 
summer  William  took  command  of  the  allied  army  and  did  his 
best  to  withstand  the  French.  Every  year  he  was  Peace  0» 
beaten  in  a  pitched  battle,  but  he  had  a  wonderful  Ryswick, 
power  of  rallying  his  army  after  defeat,  so  that  the  1697. 
French  progress  was  very  slow,  despite  their  victories.  As  time 
went  on,  William  became  more  successful,  and  in  1695  he  managed 
to  capture  the  strong  fortress  of  Namur.  The  two  sides  were  now 
fighting  on  such  equal  terms  that  they  soon  got  weary  of  con- 
tinuing a  costly  and  unprofitable  war.  At  last,  in  1697,  peace  was 
made  at  Ryswick,  near  the  Hague.  By  it  Louis  restored  the 
conquests  he  had  made  during  the  war,  and  agreed  to  recognize 
William  as  king  of  England.  It  was  not  a  very  glorious  peace  for 
the  allies,  but  it  was  the  first  treaty  which  Louis  had  signed  by 
which  he  had  not  gained  large  additions  to  his  dominions.  His 
power  was  still  very  great,  but  it  had  ceased  to  grow.  This  was 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  England  had  definitely  ranged  herself 
on  the  side  of  the  enemies  of  France.  One  of  the  most  important 
results  of  the  revolution  was  the  increased  part  which  England 
took  in  foreign  politics.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  great  states- 
man who  was  now  her  king,  she  had  set  limits  to  the  power  of 
France,  and  again  won  for  herself  the  position  of  a  leading 
European  power. 

15.  During  the  war  England  was  exposed  to  many  difficulties. 
In  particular  the  cost  of  the  war  was  so  enormous  that  it  involved 
new  expedients  for  raising  money.     Fresh  taxes  were 

imposed,  among  them  being  a  Land  Tax,  which  the   po"jcy°  a 
country  gentlemen  bitterly  opposed.    But  it  was  soon 
found  quite  impossible  to  raise  enough  money  year  by  year  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  campaigns.     Charles  Montague,  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  was  forced  to  borrow  large  sums  of  money.     From 
these  loan's  began  our  National  Debt,  for  Montague  did  not  follow 


504  WILLIAM  III.    AND  MARY  [1694 

the  earlier  fashion  of  borrowing,  by  which  temporary  advances 
were  demanded  for  a  short  period.  The  new  loans  became  per- 
manent, and  their  interest  a  fixed  charge  on  the  revenue.  One  of 
the  earliest  loans  was  made  by  a  company  of  merchants,  which  in 
return  was  constituted  as  the  Bank  of  England,  and  given  special 
advantages  in  carrying  on  financial  business.  This  was  the  first  bank 
on  a  large  scale  set  up  in  England.  It  proved  very  successful, 
partly  because  it  gave  better  security  to  those  who  trusted  their 
money  to  it  than  the  goldsmiths,  the  earlier  bankers,  had  afforded, 
and  partly  because  it  became  the  agent  of  the  ministry  for 
borrowing  fresh  loans  and  managing  the  ever-increasing  national 
debt.  One  indirect  advantage  came  from  these  loans.  The  persons 
who  lent  their  money  to  the  government  had  good  reason  to  be 
afraid  of  a  Jacobite  restoration,  since  it  was  unlikely  that  James 
would  pay  interest  on  money  borrowed  by  William  to  maintain 
himself  on  his  throne.  Thus  the  wealthy  classes  became  solidly 
attached  to  the  Revolution  settlement.  It  was  a  time  when  commerce 
was  greatly  extending,  and  many  Englishmen  were  amassing  riches 
through  trade. 

16.  William  had  many  other  difficulties  besides  those  which 
sprang  from  the  need  of  raising  money  for  the  war.  He  never 
Death  of  made  himself  popular  in  England  or  took  any  trouble 
Queen  to  understand  English  ways.  His  whole  mind  was 
Mary,  1694.  absorbed  ^  hjs  lifelong  struggle  against  France.  He 
distrusted  Englishmen,  and  had  good  reason  for  doing  so.  He 
was  always  glad  when  he  could  get  away  to  Holland,  and  his  chief 
friends  were  Dutchmen,  whom  he  enriched  with  English  estates 
and  raised  to  English  peerages.  His  health  was  weak,  and  he  was 
peevish,  morose,  taciturn,  and  selfish.  These  faults  blinded  most 
Englishmen  to  his  real  greatness.  Things  grew  worse  after  Queen 
Mary's  death  in  1694,  for  she  was  bright,  gracious,  and  popular, 
and  a  thorough  Englishwoman.  As  they  had  no  children,  the  next 
heir  to  the  throne  was  now  the  princess  Anne,  Mary's  younger 
sister.  Anne  was  on  bad  terms  with  her  brother-in-law,  and  had 
as  her  chief  adviser  John  Churchill,  earl  of  Marlborough. 
Marlborough  was  a  great  general,  but  a  greedy  and  self-seeking 
politician.  When  engaged  in  William's  service,  he  did  not  scruple 
to  intrigue  with  the  exiled  king. 

17.  All  through  these  years  the  Jacobites  were  active.  Plot 
after  plot  was  formed  to  restore  King  James  and  to  assassinate 
William.  So  alarming  were  these  conspiracies  that  in  1696  par- 
liament followed  the  example  of  Elizabeth's  parliament  in  1584, 


-1696.]  WILLIAM  III.  505 

and  drew  up  a  Bond  of  Association,  by  which  they  agreed  to  stand 
by  King  William  and  the  Protestant  succession,  and  to  avenge 
any  attack  on  either.  Faction  rose  high  both  in  The  boiuj  0f 
parliament  and  among  the  king's  ministers.  At  the  Association, 
beginning  of  the  reign  William,  who  was  anxious  1696« 
not  to  be  the  king  of  one  party  only,  had  chosen  his  ministers  indif- 
ferently from  both  the  Whig  and  the  Tory  statesmen.  But  the 
two  factions  hated  each  other,  and  would  not  work  loyally  together. 
Things  were  the  worse  since  the  Tories  disliked  the  war  with 
France.  They  declared  that  it  was  dangerous  for  England  to  have 
a  strong  army,  and  that  continental  politics  were  no  concern  of  hers. 

18.  It  was  soon  clear  that  a  ministry  chosen  from  the  two 
parties  would  not  work.  The  renegade  Sunderland,  now  again  a 
Protestant  and  returned  from  exile,  wormed  his  way 

into  William's  favour,  and  showed  him  the  advantages  united  Whig 
to  be  gained  from  having  ministers  all  of  the  same  ministry, 
way  of  thinking.  The  king  gradually  drove  away  the 
Tories  from  office,  and  selected  his  advisers  exclusively  from  the 
Whigs.  The  last  Tory  to  go  was  the  duke  of  Leeds,  the  former  earl 
of  Danby,  who  narrowly  escaped  a  second  impeachment  on  a  charge 
of  corruption.  By  1696  a  united  Whig  ministry  was  formed,  of 
which  the  leaders  were  a  little  knot  of  statesmen  called  the  Junto. 
Chief  among  them  were  the  chancellor,  Lord  Somers ;  Charles 
Montague,  the  brilliant  financier,  who  was  soon  made  Lord  Halifax ; 
and  Admiral  Russell,  the  victor  of  La  Hougue,  now  Lord  Orford. 
As  soon  as  William  gave  his  chief  confidence  to  the  Whigs,  he 
adopted  their  policy  and  accepted  their  measures.  In  1694  he  gave 
his  assent  to  the  Triennial  Act,  which  laid  down  that  no  parliament 
should  last  more  than  three  years.  In  1695  he  allowed  the  act  to 
lapse  which,  since  the  Restoration,  had  empowered  the  king  to 
appoint  a  licenser,  without  whose  permission  no  newspaper  or  book 
could  be  printed.  This  abolition  of  the  censorship  of  the  press  was 
as  great  an  encouragement  to  freedom  of  writing  as  the  Toleration 
Act  had  been  to  freedom  of  worship. 

19.  William  had  not  thought  that  he  was  making  any  great 
change  when  he  created  his  united  Whig  ministry.     He  was  eager 
to  use  all  the  power  that  the  law,  as  modified  by  the   Besrinnlnirs 
revolution,  gave  him.      First  among  his  royal  rights   0f  cabinet 
he  reckoned  his  power  to  choose  his  ministers  freely,   govern- 
and  so  to  control  the  government  of  the  country.    But 

the  Whigs,  at  the  time  they  became  his  ministers,  were  the  party 
which  commanded  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the 


$0)6  WILLIAM  III.  [1695- 

real  advantage  which,  he  got  from  the  change  was  in  the  harmony 
between  his  policy  and  that  which  commended  itself  to  his  parlia- 
ment. It  was,  in  fact,  a  move  in  the  direction  of  the  modern 
system  of  the  Cabinet  Government,  by  which  the  king  is  compelled 
to  have  as  his  advisers  the  leaders  of  the  party  commanding  a 
majority  in  the  lower  House.  Already  under  Charles  11.  there  had 
been  a  tendency  towards  this  plan.  The  ministry  of  the  "Whig 
Junto  marked  a  much  further  step  along  the  same  road.  The  final 
result  was  that  the  king  ceased  to  govern  the  country  at  all,  and 
that  the  executive  power  passed  virtually  to  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  this  change,  which  was  the  greatest  of  all  the  results  of  the 
revolution,  was  brought  about  very  slowly,  and  only  completed 
after  the  accession  of  the  house  of  Hanover.  Yet  before  the  end 
of  William's  reign  another  approach  to  cabinet  government  was 
made,  when  WilHam  had  to  dismiss  his  Whig  ministers,  because 
the  House  of  Commons  ceased  to  have  a  Whig  majority. 

20.  Scotland  gave  trouble  to  William  as  well  as  England. 
Scotland  was  in  those  days  a  very  poor  country,  with  little  industry 
The  Darien  or  trade.  Now  that  England  was  rapidly  gaining 
scheme,  wealth   by  foreign    commerce,   the    Scots    naturally 

°    ~  wished  to  do  the  same.     There  were,  however,  grave 

difficulties  in  the  way.  The  English  Navigation  Acts  treated  Scot- 
land as  a  foreign  country,  and,  in  particular,  shut  the  Scots  out  of 
all  share  in  the  profitable  trade  with  English  colonies.  Patorson, 
a  shrewd  Scot  who  had  helped  Montague  to  establish  the  Bank 
of  England,  proposed  to  his  countrymen  to  set  up  a  Scottish 
colony  and  trading  station  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  or  Panama, 
which  separates  North  and  South  America.  He  believed  that  he 
would  be  able  to  bring  nearly  all  the  trade  between  the  Pacific 
and  Europe  through  his  new  colony,  and  thus  make  Darien  one 
of  the  great  commercial  centres  of  the  world.  His  plan  was 
taken  up  with  enthusiasm ;  a  Darien  company  was  floated,  and  in 
1698  Paterson  himself  landed  at  Darien  with  the  first  settlers. 
Three  obstacles  stood  in  their  way.  The  climate  was  so  hot  and 
unhealthy  that  the  colonists  died  off  rapidly  of  fever.  Spain  claimed 
the  site  as  hers,  and  regarded  the  Scottish  settlers  as  pirates. 
England  looked  with  ill  will  on  a  new  colony  that  would  prove,  if 
successful,  a  rival  to  her  own.  For  all  these  reasons  the  Darien 
scheme  proved  a  failure.  Such  settlers  as  survived  the  climate 
were  driven  out  by  the  Spaniards,  and  England  did  not  raise  a 
finger  to  help  them.  The  chief  result  of  the  fiasco  was  that  the 
Scots  became  bitterly  hostile  to  England. 


-1698.} 


WILLIAM  III. 


507 


21.  The  treaty  of  Kyswick  brought  no  lasting  peace.    Charles  11., 
the  childless  king  of  Spain,  was  slowly  dying,  and  it  was  certain 
that  on  his  death  Louis  xiv.  and  the  emperor  Leopold  L  —^  g       .  . 
would  each  try  to  establish  a  member  of  their  own   partition 
family  on  the  Spanish  throne.     Charles's  two  sisters,   treaties, 
Maria  Theresa  and  Margaret  Theresa,  had  married 
Louis  and  Leopold,  and  Leopold's  mother  had  been  Charles's  aunt. 
The  son  of  the  elder  sister,  Maria  Theresa,  and  Louis  xiv.,  the 
dauphin  Louis  of  France,  was  the  nearest  heir  to  Charles  11.   After 
him  came  the  electress  of  Bavaria,  the  only  child  of  Margaret 

THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION,   1700. 

Philip  in.  of  Spain, 
1598-1621. 


Anne,  m.  Louis  xin. 
of  France. 


Philip  iv., 
1621-1665. 

I 


Maria,  m.  the  Emperor 
I   Ferdinand  in. 


Louis  xiv.  m.  Maria      Charles  n., 
of  France.  I  Theresa.    1665-1700. 


Margaret  m.  (I)  Leopold  I.,  m.  (3)  Eleanor  of 
Theresa   I  d.  1705.  Neuburg. 


Louis  the 
Dauphin. 


Louis,  duke  of 
Burgundy. 


Philip,  duke  of  Anjou 
(Philip  v.  of  Spain). 


Louis  xv.  of  France. 


Max  Emanuel,  m.  Maria         Joseph  I. 
Elector  of       I  Antonia.       d.  1711. 
Bavaria. 


Archduke  Charles, 

1  Charles  in.  of  Spain.1 

Emperor  Charles  vi. 

after  1711,  d.  1740. 


Joseph  Ferdinand, 

Electoral  prince  of  Bavaria, 

d.  1699. 


Theresa  and  Leopold.  Maria  Theresa,  very  solemnly,  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  the  electress  had  renounced  their  rights  to  Spain 
when  they  had  married.  If  these  renunciations  were  valid,  the 
heir  was  Leopold  himself,  whose  mother  had  made  no  such  surrender. 
Both  the  king  of  Trance  and  the  emperor  meant  to  press  forward 
their  pretensions,  and  statesmen  were  almost  equally  afraid  of 
either  of  them  succeeding,  since  the  union  of  Spain  with  France, 
or  even  with  Austria,  would  have  utterly  upset  the  European 
balance  of  power.  William  in.  strongly  shared  this  opinion,  and 
was  able  to  persuade  Louis  xnr.  that  it  was  better  for  him  to  obtain 
a  part  of  the  Spanish  succession  without  a  struggle  rather  than 
plunge  into  a  long  and  doubtful  war  on  the  chance  of  winning  the 


508  WILLIAM  III.  [1698- 

whole.  Accordingly,  in  1698,  England,  Holland,  and  France  signed 
the  First  Partition  Treaty,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  electoral 
prince  of  Bavaria,  the  son  of  the  electress  and  grandson  of  the 
emperor,  shonld  be  the  next  king  of  Spain.  France  was  to  be 
compensated  with  the  Basque  province  of  Guipuscoa  and  with 
Naples,  while  the  emperor  was  to  be  bonght  off  with  the  Milanese. 
Looking  at  the  Spanish  succession  question  from  the  European 
point  of  view,  it  was  a  wise  plan  to  make  that  prince  king  whose 
accession  would  least  disturb  the  European  balance,  and  both 
William  and  Louis  deserve  credit  for  making  it.  Unluckily, 
the  Bavarian  prince  died  in  1699,  and  so  the  whole  question  was 
reopened.  Louis  and  William  were  still  anxious  to  avoid  war, 
and  resumed  their  negotiations.  In  1700  they  agreed  upon  a 
Second  Partition  Treaty.  In  this  Louis  recognized  the  emperor's 
second  son,  the  archduke  Charles,  as  king  of  Spain,  and  received 
as  additional  compensation  the  Milanese  as  well  as  Naples  and 
Guipuscoa.  This  meant  that  Louis  resigned  his  son's  claims  in 
order  to  win  for  France  the  supreme  position  in  Italy  enjoyed  by 
the  Spanish  Hapsburgers  since  the  days  of  Charles  v. 

22.  The  weak  point  of  the  policy  of  William  and  Louis  was 
that  it  took  no  account  whatever  of  the  wishes  of  the  Spaniards. 

Though  the  treaties  were  kept  secret,  news  about 
of  the  them  soon  leaked  out,  and  Spaniards  felt  indignant 

partition  that  foreign  princes  should  presume  to  cut  their 
1700  6S'         empire  into  pieces  and  distribute  the  fragments  at 

their  pleasure.  The  dying  Charles  11.  so  fully  shared 
this  feeling  that  he  made  a  will,  giving  the  succession  to  the  whole 
of  his  dominions  to  Philip,  duke  of  Anjou,  the  younger  son  of  the 
dauphin,  to  whom  his  father,  following  the  example  of  Leopold's 
handing  over  his  pretensions  to  the  archduke  Charles,  had  yielded 
up  his  claims.  Soon  afterwards  he  died,  and  Louis  xiv.,  yielding 
to  the  temptation,  threw  over  the  partition  treaty,  and  sent  his 
grandson  to  Spain.  Before  long,  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  dominions 
recognized  the  French  prince  as  Philip  v.  Thus  the  great  ambition 
of  William's  life  was  frustrated,  for  the  union  of  Spain  with  France 
seemed  likely  to  make  Louis  xiv.  more  dangerous  to  the  European 
balance  than  ever. 

23.  Nothing,  however,  could  be  effected  for  the  moment.  A 
The  Tory  strong  Tory  reaction  had  followed  the  treaty  of  Bys- 
reaction,  wick,  and  the  new  parliament,  which  met  in  1698,  had 
1698-1700.  redded  the  English  army  to  seven  thousand  men, 
and  done  all  that  it  could  to  baffle  William  and  his  Whig  ministers. 


-i7oi.]  WILLIAM  III.  509 

The  wish  of  the  Commons  was  to  drive  the  Whigs  from  power, 
hut  William  did  not  see  why  he  should  dismiss  ministers  he  liked 
because  the  Commons  did  not  happen  to  agree  with  their  policy. 
For  a  long  time  he  held  out,  being  helped  in  his  resistance  by  the 
support  of  the  House  of  Lords,  a  body  in  which  the  Whigs  had  in 
those  days  a  permanent  majority.  However,  before  the  end  of  1700 
he  was  obliged  to  give  way,  and  accept  a  Tory  ministry,  headed  by 
the  earl  of  Rochester  and  Lord  G-odolphin.  It  was  another  step 
forward  towards  our  modern  cabinet  system  when  so  able  a  king 
as  William  had  to  change  his  ministers  at  the  bidding  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  It  was  gradually  becoming  clear  that  the  revolution 
had  made  the  Commons  stronger  than  either  the  king  or  the  Lords. 

24.  William  felt  bitterly  that  his  Tory  ministers  and  parliament 
prevented  him  from  taking  any  steps  to  prevent  the  establishment 
of  Philip  of  Anjou  in  Spain.  The  Tories  declared  that  j^e  Act  of 
the  balance  of  power  was  no  concern  of  England,  and  Settlement, 
impeached  the  fallen  Whigs  for  having  made  the  I701' 
partition  treaty  without  the  consent  of  parliament.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, came  of  this,  because  the  Whig  House  of  Lords  took  good  care 
not  to  condemn  the  chiefs  of  their  own  party.  There  was  another 
general  election  in  1701,  but  the  Tories  were  still  in  a  majority. 
The  chief  measure  of  this  new  parliament  was  the  Act  of  Settlement 
of  1701,  by  which  the  succession  to  the  throne  was  provided  for  in 
the  event,  which  seemed  certain,  of  both  William  and  his  sister-in- 
law  Anne  dying  without  children.  By  it  the  crown  was  settled, 
after  Anne's  death,  on  Sophia,  electress  of  Hanover,  and  her  heirs, 
being  Protestants.  Sophia  was  the  daughter  of  Frederick  the 
Elector  Palatine,  and  sometime  king  of  Bohemia,  and  of  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  James  1.  She  was  selected  for  this  position  because  she 
was  the  nearest  Protestant  descendant  of  James  1.,  her  grandfather. 
There  were  plenty  of  nearer  heirs,  but  they  were  all  Catholics. 

25.  In  providing  for  the  Protestant  succession  without  regard 
to  the  strict  laws  of  inheritance,  the  parliament  of  1701  showed 
that  Tories,  like  Whigs,  now  accepted  the  doctrines 

of  the  revolution,  and  treated  the  monarchy  as  an   Theeonsti- 
offlce  which  could  be  conferred  by  act  of  parliament.   limitations 
In  fact,  the  Tory  Commons  were  so  jealous  of  a  Whig  in  the  Act 
king  like  William,  that  they  took  particular  care  to   menet#  *" 
limit  the  authority  of  the  crown  as  soon  as  the  new 
law  came  into  force.     Some  of  the  constitutional  safeguards  tDtro- 
duced  into  the  Act  of  Settlement  have  great  future  importance, 
and  worthily  completed  the  legal  changes  brought  about  by  the 


5IO  WILLIAM  III.  [170*. 

revolution  settlement.  All  future  kings  were  to  be  members  of  the 
Church  of  England ;  they  were  not  to  engage  England  in  war  to 
protect  their  foreign  dominions  without  the  consent  of  parliament, 
and  no  foreigner  was  to  hold  grants,  or  office,  or  sit  in  parliament. 
Judges  were  to  have  fixed  salaries,  and  only  to  be  removed  from 
office  by  petition  of  parliament,  and  no  royal  pardon  could  be 
pleaded  as  an  answer  to  an  impeachment.  All  these  articles  showed 
distrust  of  the  crown  and  a  wish  to  wound  "William's  feelings. 
The  same  spirit  came  out  even  more  clearly  in  three  clauses,  which 
were  repealed  in  the  next  reign  before  they  came  into  operation. 
By  these  the  future  king  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  leave  England 
without  consent  of  parliament.  No  minister,  placeman,  or  pen- 
sioner was  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  affairs  of  state 
were  to  be  transacted,  not  in  cabinet  councils  of  ministers  after  the 
Whig  fashion,  but  in  the  full  privy  council.  Had  these  two  last 
articles  ever  come  into  operation,  they  would  have  altered  the 
whole  course  of  our  later  history  by  stopping  the  growth  of  cabinet 
government.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  it  was  the  only 
practical  way  of  giving  the  strongest  party  a  chance  of  getting  its 
own  way.  However,  when  in  the  next  reign  the  clause  excluding 
placemen  from  parliament  was  repealed,  the  present  plan  was  brought 
in  of  making  ministers  seek  re-election  after  receiving  office. 

26.  William  was  thus  checked  both  at  home  and  abroad.  His 
health  was  breaking  up,  but  he  never  lost  heart,  and  gradually  the 
outlook  became  brighter.  At  last  a  false  step  on  the 
The  Grand  p^  0f  Louis  xiv.  gave  him  his  chance.  James  11. 
and  the  '  died,  in  1701,  and  Louis,  moved  by  a  generous  impulse 
death  of  not  to  desert  the  unfortunate,  recognized  his  son 
1702.am  "  James>  prince  of  Wales,  as  the  true  English  king. 
This  was  a  breach  of  the  treaty  of  Byswick,  and  bad 
policy,  because  it  stirred  up  English  national  feeling  against 
France.  Even  the  Tories  became  willing  to  fight  the  French; 
and  William  was  at  last  enabled  to  build  up  a  Grand  Alliance 
against  the  union  of  France  and  Spain,  in  which  England  was  to 
take  a  leading  part.  Before  long  William  was  able  to  dismiss  his 
Tory  ministers  and  dissolve  his  Tory  parliament.  A  Whig 
majority  was  returned  at  the  general  election,  which  backed  up  the 
new  Whig  ministers  in  their  preparations  for  war  with  France. 
All  was  ready  for  fighting  when  William  died  on  March  8, 1702, 
from  the  effects  of  a  fall  from  his  horse.  He  lived  long  enough  to 
start  the  great  league  which  in  the  next  reign  was  to  carry  out  his 
dearest  wish  to  destroy  the  power  of  Louis  xrv. 


CHAPTER  VII 
QUEEN  ANNE  (1702-1714) 

Chief  Dates : 

1702.  Accession  of  Queen  Anne. 

1704.  Battle  of  Blenheim  and  Act  of  Security. 

1706.  Battle  of  Ramillies. 

1707.  Battle  of  Almanza  and  union  with  Scotland. 

1708.  Battle  of  Oudenarde. 

1709.  Battle  of  Malplaquet. 

1710.  Fall  of  the  Whigs. 

1713.  Treaty  of  Utrecht. 

1714.  Death  of  Anne. 

1.  Queen  Anne  was  good-natured,  true  to  her  friends,  sincerely 
religions,  and  a  thorough.  Englishwoman.  She  was  popular  because 
of  her  honesty,  and  her  strong  sympathy  with  the  character 
Tories  and  the  High  Churchmen.  But  she  was  ob-  of  Queen 
stinate,  and  narrow-minded,  and  her  husband,  Prince  Anne* 
George  of  Denmark,  was  even  duller  than  his  wife.  Anne  had 
been  entirely  ruled  for  many  years  by  her  old  friend  Sarah 
Jennings,  who  became  the  wife  of  Marlborough.  Lady  Marl- 
borough was  strong-willed,  quick-witted,  and  devoted  to  her 
husband.  The  result  was  that  Marlborough  really  governed  the 
policy  of  the  new  queen.  A  cold-hearted  and  selfish  man,  who  had 
betrayed  James  11.  and  William  in  turn,  Marlborough  was  a  clear- 
headed and  far-seeing  statesman,  and  the  greatest  general  of  his 
age.  He  was  the  one  man  in  Europe  strong  enough  to  continue 
the  life-work  of  William  in.,  and  it  was  well  for  England  that  he 
was  available  to  guide  the  counsels  and  direct  the  armies  of  the 
new  queen. 

2.  Marlborough  was  a  Tory,  and  his  influence  caused  Anne 
to  dismiss  her  brother-in-law's  Whig  ministers  and  put  Tories 
in  their  place.  The  chief  of  the  new  ministers  was  Marlborough's 
close  friend,  Grodolphin,  a  shrewd  and  prudent  financier,  who  was 
made  lord  treasurer,  and  the  earl  of  Nottingham,  the  leader  of 
the  High  Churchmen,  who  became  secretary  of  state.   Marlborough 

5" 


512  QUEEN  ANNE  [1702- 

was  made  a  duke  and  captain-general  of  the  English  and  Dutch 
armies.     It  was  his  business  to  carry  on  the  war,  while  Godolphin 

found  the  money  to  pay  for  it.  But  he  remained  a 
Tj??.pu|f  statesman  as  well  as  a  general,  and  the  custom  of  the 
borough  armies  of  the  period  going  into  winter  quarters  en- 

and  Godol-  abled  him  to  take  his  share  in  the  work  of  parlia- 
1 708.  ment  and  government  in  the  winter,  while  commanding 

the  troops  in  the  field  during  the  summer.  It  was 
a  great  proof  of  his  power  over  his  party  that  he  persuaded  them 
to  prosecute  the  war  so  vigorously,  though  all  the  Tory  tradition 
was  in  favour  of  peace. 

3.  War  began  within  a  few  weeks  of  Anne's  accession.  The 
chief  parties  to  the  Grand  Alliance  were  England  and  Holland, 
The  war  of  wni°k  s^U.  acted  closely  together,  and  the  emperor, 
the  Spanish  who  hoped  to  win  the  Spanish  throne  for  his  younger 
Recession,     son     Many  of  the  smaller  German  princes  followed 

the  emperor's  lead,  conspicuous  among  them  being 
the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  had  been  bribed  to  take  sides 
against  France  by  being  recognized  as  Frederick  1.,  king  of 
Prussia.  Yet  Louis  had  greater  resources  than  ever  under  his 
control.  France  was  the  richest,  most  compact,  and,  in  some  ways, 
the  best  ruled  state  in  Europe.  Its  army  had  an  almost  unbroken 
record  of  victory,  and  its  generals  and  statesmen  enjoyed  the 
highest  reputation.  Spain,  hitherto  the  opponent  of  France,  was 
now  Louis's  active  ally,  and  was  inspired  with  a  new  energy 
by  her  French  king.  The  Spanish  Netherlands,  hitherto  an 
impregnable  barrier  to  French  advance,  were  under  Louis's  control, 
and  the  Dutch  frontier  stood  open  to  invasion.  Even  in  Germany 
the  French  still  had  some  partisans,  notably  the  elector  of  Bavaria, 
and  his  brother,  the  elector  of  Cologne.  Italy  also,  which  had 
hitherto  been  against  him,  was  mainly  on  his  side,  owing  to 
Spanish  influence  and  to  his  alliance  with  Victor  Amadeus,  duke 
of  Savoy  and  lord  of  Piedmont,  the  strongest  of  the  Italian  princes. 
The  struggle  between  allies  so  well  matched  was  soon  to  prove  itself 
one  of  the  most  memorable  in  history. 

4.  The  first  campaigns  of  the  war  were  not  very  eventful     The 

Dutch  were  fearful  of  their  land  being  invaded  by  the  French,  and 

Theearlv        compelled  Marlborough  and  the  chief  army  of  the 

campaigns     allies  to  devote  his  main  attention  to  the  defence  of 

of  the  war,  their  frontier.  In  1702  and  1703  Marlborous-h  not 
1702-1703 

only  saved  Holland  from  invasion,  but  captured  Liege 

and  Bonn,  and  overwhelmed  the  elector  of  Cologne,  Louis's  chief 


■1704.]  QUEEN  ANNE  5  I  3 

ally  in  $  orthern  Germany.     Elsewhere,  however,  the  coalition  was 
less  successful.     In  upper  Germany  the  French  and  their  Bavarian 
supporters  invaded  Austria  and  marched  on  Vienna,  while  a  revolt  in 
Hungary  also  exposed  the  emperor  to  trouble  in  the  east.     Spain 
and  Italy  were  so  entirely  under  French  control  that  Portugal  and 
Savoy,  alarmed  at  the  danger  they  were  exposed  to  from  French 
ascendency,  changed  sides  and  joined  the  coalition.     The  treaty 
between     England    and    Portugal    was    called    the   _ 
Methuen  Treaty   (1703),   from    its   negotiator,  John  Methuen 
Methuen.     By  it  Portugal   opened  up  her  markets   Treaty, 
to  English  manufacturers,  while  England  agreed  that 
Portuguese  wine  should  pay  a  less  duty  than  French  wine.     The 
result  of  the  compact  was  that  for  the  best  part  of  a  century  Portugal 
became  dependent  on  England  both  in  politics  and  trade. 

5.  In  1704  matters  became  critical  for  the  allies.  Vienna  was 
threatened  both  from  Bavaria  and  from  Hungary,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  the  emperor  would  be  forced  to  make  peace.  The  gattie  0f 
only  army  that  could  help  him  was  that  of  Marl-  Blenheim, 
borough,  which  lay  hundreds  of  miles  away  protecting  l?04* 
the  Dutch  frontier,  and  whose  presence  there  the  Dutch  thought 
necessary  for  their  safety.  Armies  of  this  period  were  unwieldy 
and  slow,  but  it  is  the  mark  of  a  general  of  genius  to  break  from 
the  traditions  of  his  day,  and  Marlborough  rose  to  the  great 
opportunity  which  was  offered  to  him.  He  resolved  to  shift  his 
army  from  the  lower  Rhine  to  the  upper  Danube  and  save  the 
emperor.  He  overcame  the  reluctance  of  the  Dutch  with  extra- 
ordinary tact,  and  persuaded  them  to  allow  him  to  remove  his  troops 
on  the  pretence  of  fighting  on  the  Moselle.  But  he  hurried  his 
force  up  the  Rhine  and  Neckar,  and  invaded  Bavaria  from  the  west. 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  the  best  of  the  imperial  generals,  now 
united  his  army  with  that  of  Marlborough.  Thereupon  the  French 
and  Bavarians  were  compelled  to  fight  a  battle  to  save  Bavaria  from 
being  overrun.  It  took  place  on  August  13,  1704,  at  Blindheim, 
called  by  the  English  Blenheim,  a  village  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Danube,  not  far  east  from  Hochstadt.  The  Franco-Bavarian  army 
took  up  a  position  facing  eastwards  on  some  rising  ground  com- 
manding the  marshy  valley  through  which  the  little  river  Nebel 
runs  to  join  the  Danube.  Blenheim,  the  right  of  their  position, 
was  held  by  Marshal  Tallard,  the  chief  French  general ;  in  the  left 
were  the  Bavarians  under  their  elector  ;  while  the  centre  consisted 
of  French  troops  under  Marshal  Marsin.  The  allies  .were  on  the 
opposite  bank,  Prince  Eugene  being  opposed  to  the  elector  and 


5H 


QUEEN  ANNE 


[1704- 


Marsin,  while  Marlborough  fought  against  Tallard.  The  battle 
began  by  Marlborough  fiercely  attacking  Blenheim  ;  but  the 
village  was  strongly  fortified,  and  many  lives  were  lost  to  no 
purpose.  Marlborough's  quick  eye  soon  saw  that  Tallard  had 
drawn  off  many  troops  from  Marsin's  column  in  order  to  protect 
his  threatened  right.  He  at  once  threw  all  his  forces  against  the 
weak  point  in  the  enemies'  lines,  and  managed  to  break  through  his 
centre.  Thereupon  the  elector  retreated  with  the  left  wing,  while 
Tallard  and  the  defenders  of  Blenheim  were  forced  to  lay  down 
their  arms.    The  battle  of  Blenheim  was  the  first  great  victory  won 


EmeryWaUter  so 


against  Louis  xiv.  in  the  open  field,  and  dealt  a  heavy  blow  to  the 
prestige  of  the  French  army.  Austria  was  saved ;  Bavaria  forced 
to  make  peace ;  the  French  were  driven  over  the  Danube ;  and 
Marlborough  won  the  reputation  of  a  brilliant  general  whose 
daring  tactics,  rapid  movements,  and  brilliant  attacks  raised  hfm 
far  above  the  stiff  and  slow  commanders  of  the  age. 

6.  In  1706  the  successes  of  Blenheim  were  followed  up  by  a 
remarkable  series  of  victories.  Marlborough,  who  had  returned  to 
the  Netherlands,  won  the  battle  of  Ramillies,  near  Namur,  the 
result  of    which  was    the    capture   of    almost    all    the    Spanish 


- 1 709-  ]  Q  UEEN  ANNE  5 1 5 

Netherlands.  Prince  Eugene,  who  had  undertaken  the  command 
in  Italy,  won  the  decisive  battle  of  Turin,  which  drove  the  French 
out  of  Italy  and  established  the  archduke  Charles  in  victories  of 
Milan  and  Naples.  The  attack  on  Philip  v.  in  Spain,  the  allies  in 
which  had  begun  by  Admiral  Rooke's  capture  of  1704-1706. 
Gibraltar  in  1704,  and  extended  after  Barcelona  had  been  won 
in  1705,  was  consummated  by  the  union  of  two  allied  armies  in 
Madrid.  One  of  these,  starting  from  Barcelona,  consisted  largely 
of  the  Catalans,  who  had  revolted  from  Philip  and  proclaimed 
the  archduke  Charles  their  king;  while  the  other,  composed  of 
Portuguese,  English,  and  Dutch,  marched  up  «the  Tagus  valley  to 
the  Spanish  capital.  It  seemed  as  if  France  were  beaten  in  every 
field  of  the  war. 

7.  Louis  and  his  grandson  were  inspired  to  new  efforts  by  their 
earlier  failures,  and  in  1707  the  tide  of  victory  turned  against  the 
allies.     This  was  particularly  the  case  in  Spain,  where    ~     battie 
the  proclamation  of    the  hated  Austrian  had  been   Almanza, 
followed  by  a  great  popular  rising  of  the   Spanish    1707. 
people  in  favour  of  the  king  of  their  choice.     In  1707  the  allies 
were  decisively  beaten  in  the  battle  of  Almanza,  and  Philip  v.  was 
restored  to  Madrid.     In  the  Netherlands  many  of  the  fortresses 
lost  after  Blenheim  were  won  back,  while  the  invasion  of  Germany 
was  renewed.    It  was  clear  that  the  French  were  not  yet  powerless. 

8.  In  1708  the  allies  regained  their  lost  ground  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Marlborough  and  Eugene  won  the  battle  of  Oudenarde, 
which  repeated  the  success  of  B-amillies,  and  was  BattIe  of 
followed  by  the  recapture  of  the  Netherlandish  Oudenarde, 
fortresses.  At  last  the  storming  of  Lille,  the  key  of  1708. 
French  Flanders,  opened  up  Louis's  own  dominions  to  invasion. 
Louis  became  so  despondent  that  he  offered  to  make  peace  and 
renounce  the  Spanish  succession.  But  the  allies  declared  that  they 
would  only  agree  to  make  terms  if  Louis  would  help  them  to  expel 
Philip  from  Spain.  The  French  king  declined  to  do  this,  and 
manfully  prepared  to  resist  invasion. 

9.  In  1709  Marlborough  won  the  last  of  his  great  victories  at 
Malplaquet.     The  French  resistance  was  very  stubborn,  and  the 
allies  lost  more  heavily  than  the  defeated  enemy.    Very   The  battle 
few  important  results    attended    this    triumph,  and    ofMalpla- 
for  the  rest  of  the  war  the  campaign  in  the  Nether-    <luet«  1709- 
lands  languished.     The  English  now  made  their  chief  efforts  in 
Spain,  where,  in  1708,  General  Stanhope  captured  the  important 
island  of  Minorca,  and  in  1710  again  occupied  Madrid.     Again  the 


$\6  QUEEN  ANNE  [1709- 

loyalty  of  the  Spaniards  to  Philip  v.  made  the  allies  triumph  a  short 
one.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  Stanhope  was  defeated,  and  forced 
to  surrender  with  most  of  his  troops  at  Brihuega. 
?7ioUe8a'  Henceforth  Philip  of  Anjou  reigned  over  Spain. 
Only  the  Catalans  continued  to  uphold  the  archduke 
Charles.  And  in  1711  the  allies  themselves  became  lukewarm  in 
Charles's  service,  for  in  that  year  Charles  became  emperor  on  his 
brother's  death.  Henceforth  his  accession  to  Spain  seemed  nearly  as 
likely  to  upset  the  balance  of  power  as  the  rule  of  Philip  v.  The 
war  was  waged  with  decreasing  energy,  and  neither  side  scored 
any  remarkable  sucsesses.  The  conquest  of  the  Netherlands  by  the 
allies  and  the  exhaustion  of  France  were  balanced  by  the  establish- 
ment of  Philip  both  in  Italy  and  Spain.  At  last  a  change  in  the 
political  conditions  of  England' made  our  country  anxious  to  put  an 
end  to  the  war. 
/ 1/*  10.  For  the  first  few  years  of  Anne's  reign,  Godolphin  and 
Marlborough  ruled  England  as  the  heads  of  a  Tory  ministry. 
_    .  Their  great  anxiety  was  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  for 

tests,  1702-  that  reason  they  strove  to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with 
1708.  the  Whig  leaders,  who  were  the  natural  supporters  of 

a  spirited  foreign  policy.  To  conciliate  the  Whigs  they  had  to 
check  the  zeal  of  the  High  Tory  party  for  upholding  the  Church  at 
the  expense  of  the  Dissenters.  The  Highfliers,  as  they  were  called, 
were  anxious  to  make  law  a  Bill  against  Occasional  Conformity, 
which  was  to  prevent  Dissenters  qualifying  for  office  by  receiving 
once  in  the  way  communion  in  Church.  Marlborough  and 
Godolphin  hesitated  to  pass  a  measure  that  would  have  utterly 
alienated  the  Whigs  and  Dissenters.  Before  long  they  opposed  it, 
whereupon  Nottingham  resigned  office  in  disgust,  and  raised  the 
cry  that  the  ministry  was  hostile  to  the  Church.  Besides  this, 
Marlborough  was  gradually  finding  out,  like  William,  that  only 
the  Whigs  were  really  to  be  depended  upon  for  supporting  his  war 
policy.  Accordingly,  he  filled  up  vacancies  with  Whigs,  and  in 
1706  gave  the  office  of  secretary  of  state  to  his  son-in-law,  Lord 
Sunderland,  the  son  of  the  old  adviser  of  James  11.  and  William  in. 
Sunderland  was  a  strong  Whig  and  closely  allied  to  the  chiefs  of 
the  Whig  Junto,  who  were  still  excluded  from  office.  Gradually 
the  Tory  element  in  the  ministry  was  pushed  into  the  background. 
In  desperation  the  Tories  intrigued  against  their  colleagues,  and 
strove  to  win  court  favour  by  undermining  the  influence  of  the 
duchess  of  Marlborough  with  the  queen.  Robert  Harley,  the  Tory 
secretary  of    state,    obtained   a   place   at   court  for    his   cousin. 


-i7io.]  QUEEN  ANNE  $1? 

Mrs.  Masham,  whose  placable  and  easy  temper  soon  won  Anne's 
confidence,  especially  as  she  was  getting  tired  of  the  overbearing 
dnchess.  Mrs.  Masham  taught  the  queen  that  the  Whigs  were 
plotting  against  the  Church. 

11.  It  was  clear  that  either  the  Whigs  or  the  Tories  must  go. 
Marlborough  and  Godolphin  definitely  went  over  to  the  Whigs, 
forced  the  reluctant  queen  to  turn  out  Harley  and  his 

Tory  colleagues,   and   replaced    them   with    Somers,   borough's 
Orford,  and  the  lords  of   the  Junto.     Among  the   Whig 
younger  Whigs  now  taken  into  office  was  the  capable   JI'qI^ *7:q 
Norfolk  squire,  Robert  Walpole,  who  succeeded  Henry 
St.  John,  the  most  brilliant  of  the  Tories,  as  secretary  at  war. 
From  1708  to  1710  Marlborough  and  Godolphin  retained  power 
through  the  help  of  their  old  opponents.     Foreign  policy  now  really 
divided  Whig  and  Tory.   It  became  the  party  interest  of  the  Whigs 
to  prolong  the  French  war,  and  for  this  reason  they  rejected,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  offers  of  peace  which  Louis  xiv.  made  in  the  days  of 
his  worst  distress.    After  the  campaigns  had  ceased  to  be  successful 
and  the  accession  of  Charles  vi.  to  the  Empire,  they  were  still 
anxious  to    continue    the    struggle.      Henceforth  war  or  peace 
depended  less  on  the  armies  in  the  field  than  on  parliamentary 
struggles  and  court  intrigues.     It  was  soon  made  clear  that  the 
Whigs  were  playing  a  factious  game  in  the  hope  of  maintaining 
their  power,  and  plain  men  became  disgusted  that  a  bloody  and 
unprofitable  war  should  be  continued  indefinitely  to  meet  the  interest 
of  a  place-loving  ministry. 

12.  Once  more  the  cry  was  raised  that  the  Church  was  in 
danger.  Anne,  now  altogether  under  Mrs.  Masham's  influence, 
became  extremely  suspicious  of  her  ministers'  doings, 

and  a  Tory  parson,  named  Dr.  Sacheverell,  won  extra-   peachment 
ordinary  influence  by  his  political  sermons  against  the   of  Dr. 
Whigs.      The  Whigs    unwisely  made  a  martyr  of   2*5  j^gg. 
Sacheverell  by  impeaching  him,  though  his  offence 
was  so  technical  that  even  the  Whig  House  of  Lords  could  inflict 
upon  him  no  worse  punishment  than  three  years'  suspension  from 
preaching.     This  was  enough,  however,  to  make  the  doctor  a 
popular  hero,  and  an  effective  electioneering  agent  for  the  Tories. 
Anne  began  to  consult  Harley  and  remove  the  Whigs  from  office. 
The  general  election  of  1710  returned  a  strong  majority  of  Tories 
and  High  Churchmen  to  the  House  of  Commons.     The  result  of 
this  was  that  the  Tories  remained  in  power  for  the  rest  of  the 
queen's  life. 


518  QUEEN  ANNE  \\-jxo- 

13.  Robert  Harley,  who  became  in  1711  earl  of  Oxford  and  lord 
high  treasurer,  was  now  the  chief  minister.  He  was  a  skilful  party 
The  Tory  manager  and  a  dexterous  intriguer,  but  was  timid, 
ministry,  hesitating,  a  poor  speaker,  and  of  somewhat  ordinary 
1710-1713.  temperament.  Far  more  brilliant  and  attractive  was 
Henry  St.  John,  the  secretary  of  state,  who  soon  became  Yiscount 
Bolingbroke.  He  was  a  man  of  fashion  and  a  famous  writer,  of 
wonderful  eloquence,  and  clear  insight  into  English  character. 
But  he  looked  upon  politics  as  a  mere  game,  and  had  little  real 
earnestness  or  conviction.  Under  the  influence  of  these  two,  Marl- 
borough was  dismissed  from  the  command  of  the  army,  and  charges 
of  corruption  and  peculation  brought  against  him.  His  successor 
as  general-in-chief  was  the  duke  of  Ormonde,  an  incompetent 
nobleman,  who  withdrew  from  all  active  share  in  the  war.  The 
Whig  majority  in  the  House  of  Lords  was  broken  down  by  creating 
twelve  Tory  peers,  one  of  whom  was  Mrs.  Masham's  husband.  The 
Tories  now  showed  as  much  factious  zeal  in  hurrying  forward  the 
conclusion  of  peace  as  the  Whigs  had  manifested  in  refusing  to 
end  the  war.  They  threw  over  the  emperor  altogether,  and  in 
1713  united  with  the  Dutch  to  make  a  separate  treaty  with  the 
French  and  Spaniards  at  Utrecht.  It  was  only  in  the  following 
year  that  Charles  vi.  was  reluctantly  forced  to  end  the  war  by  the 
treaty  of  Rastadt. 

14.  The  chief  condition  of  the  treaty  of  UtrecJit  was  that 
Philip  v.  should  be  recognized  as  king  of  Spain  and  the  Indies, 
The  Treaty  eye11  the  Catalans,  who  had  fought  so  well  for  Charles, 
of  Utrecht,  being  forced  to  accept  his  rule.  The  emperor  was 
*713'  compensated  in  Italy,  where  Milan,  Naples,  and  Sar- 
dinia were  ceded  to  him.  Charles  vi.  had  also  hoped  to  get  the 
Netherlands  and  Sicily,  but  the  Netherlands  were  handed  over 
to  the  Dutch,  who  were  only  to  resign  them  to  the  emperor  when 
he  had  concluded  with  them  a  barrier  treaty,  by  which  the  fortresses 
on  the  French  frontier  were  to  be  permanently  garrisoned  by  Dutch 
troops.  Sicily  escaped  Charles  altogether,  being  given  to  Victor 
Amadeus,  duke  of  Savoy,  with  the  title  of  king.  England  received 
some  reward  in  the  recognition  of  the  Protestant  succession,  the 
cession  of  Newfoundland  and  Acadie  (Nova  Scotia)  by  France,  and 
the  surrender  of  Gibraltar  and  Minorca  by  Spain.  Important 
commercial  advantages  were  also  secured  to  England  and  Holland. 
The  commerce  of  the  Netherlands  was  ruined  to  please  the  Dutch, 
and  Spain  made  with  England  a  contract  called  the  Asiento,  which 
gave  the  English  the  lucrative  monopoly  of  supplying  her  American 


■I7I3-1 


QUEEN  ANNE 


519 


1    a.    co    00    % 


520  QUEEN  ANNE  [1713- 

colonies  with  negro  slaves.     Spain  also  permitted  England  to  send 
one  snip  a  year  to  trade  with  Portobello,  in  South  America. 

15.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht  marked  an  epoch  both  in  the  history 
of  Europe  and  of  England.  It  completed  the  downfall  of  the  over- 
End  of  great  power  of  Louis  xiv. ,  who  died  in  1 715 ,  after  having 
the  age  of       outlived  the  glories  of  his  age.     It  brought  about  the 

ou  s  v.  revival  of  Spain  and  the  beginning  of  the  European 
importance  of  the  two  new  monarchies  of  Brandenburg-Prussia  and 
Sicily- Savoy.  It  witnessed  the  establishment  of  England  in  the 
prominent  position  won  for  her  by  Marlborough's  victories,  and  gave 
her  great  commercial  advantages,  fresh  colonies,  an  establishment 
in  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  status  of  the  supreme  maritime 
power  in  the  world.  It  was,  however,  concluded  in  such  a  hurry 
that  the  Whigs  complained  with  reason  that  the  government  had 
neglected  to  secure  many  advantages  which  Louis  might  have 
yielded,  if  the  English  had  shown  more  caution  in  the  conduct  of 
the  negotiations.  The  treaty  was  denounced  as  a  party  move,  and 
"the  Tories  were  held  up  to  shame  as  having  neglected  the  interests 
of  their  country  in  their  desire  to  play  the  game  of  their  faction. 
It  is  impossible  to  justify  the  way  in  which  England  threw  over 
her  allies  or  hurried  on  the  treaty.  But  it  was  a  good  thing  to 
make  peace,  and  it  would  not  have  been  to  the  permanent  interest 
of  England  to  have  humiliated  the  French  any  further. 

16.  Oxford  and  Bolingbroke  looked  forward  to  a  long  lease  of 
power.     The  peace  was  popular  and  the  country  prosperous.     The 

High  Church  party  was  won  over  by  passing  the  Act 
ministry  against  Occasional  Conformity  in  1711,  to  which  was 
and  the  added,  in  1714,  the  Schism  Act,  which  prevented  any 

Protestant      Dissenter  from  becoming  a  schoolmaster.      A  new 

general  election  returned  another  Tory  House  of 
Commons,  and  the  good-will  of  the  queen  was  absolutely  secured 
for  them.  But  Anne's  health  was  now  breaking  up,  and,  as  the 
electress  Sophia,  who  was  over  eighty  years  of  age,  died  at  this 
time,  it  looked  as  if  the  throne  would  soon  pass,  according  to  the 
Act  of  Settlement,  to  her  son,  George,  elector  of  Hanover.  George 
was  an  enemy  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  and  a  friend  of  the  Whigs, 
and  Bolingbroke  feared  lest  his  accession  should  involve  the  expulsion 
of  the  Tories  from  office.  Above  all  things,  Bolingbroke  was  a 
strong  party  man,  and  he  began  to  think  that  his  party  could  only 
be  kept  in  place  by  overthrowing  the  Act  of  Settlement.  He  had 
no  faith  in  divine  right  or  arbitrary  power,  but  he  preferred  a 
Stewart  to  a  foreign  king,  and  put  the  interests  of  his  party  first 


-1714]  QUEEN  ANNE  521 

of  all.  There  were  still  many  Tories  and  High  Churchmen  who 
upheld  the  divine  right  of  the  old  line  of  kings,  and  Anne  herself 
was  not  unwilling  to  secure  the  succession  for  her  half-brother. 
The  main  obstacle  in  the  way  was  the  fact  that  James  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  and  that  he  would  not  deny  or  dissemble  his  faith. 

17.  Bolingbroke  threw  himself  with  eagerness  into  his  treason- 
able policy.  He  won  over  some  of  his  colleagues,  but  his  chief 
difficulty  was  with  Oxford,  who  was  too  cautious  and 

timid  to  embark  upon  great  risks,  and  was  jealous  oxford  and 
of  the  personal  ascendency  of  the  brilliant  secretary,  the  death 
The  result  was  a  fierce  quarrel  between  Bolingbroke  °}  2i?47<4 
and  Oxford,  which  culminated  in  an  unseemly  alterca- 
tion before  the  sick  queen.  Anne  took  Bolingbroke's  side,  and 
on  July  27,  1714,  deprived  his  rival  of  office.  Bolingbroke  then 
had  everything  his  own  way,  and  prepared  for  a  revolution.  His 
plans  were  still  but  half  ready  when,  on  July  30,  the  queen  was 
smitten  with  apoplexy.  All  was  now  confusion,  and  the  cabinet 
met  to  decide  what  was  to  be  done.  While  they  were  deliberat- 
ing, the  Whig  dukes  of  Argyll  and  Somerset  demanded,  as  privy 
councillors,  to  be  admitted  to  share  their  deliberations.  The 
law  knew  nothing  of  cabinets,  and  they  claimed  that  one  privy 
councillor  had  as  much  right  to  be  consulted  as  another.  One  of 
the  ministers,  the  duke  of  Shrewsbury,  backed  up  their  claims,  and 
they  insisted  that  he  should  be  made  Oxford's  successor  as  treasurer. 
The  three  dukes  now  took  everything  upon  themselves,  and 
ignoring  the  ministers,  summoned  to  the  council  all  the  privy 
councillors,  the  majority  of  whom  were  Whigs.  When  Anne  died 
on  August  1,  they  proclaimed  the  accession  of  the  elector  of 
Hanover  as  George  1.  Bolingbroke  shrunk  from  open  resistance, 
and  set  down  his  misfortune  to  the  sudden  death  of  the  queen. 
"  In  six  weeks  more,"  he  said,  "  we  should  have  put  things  in  such 
a  condition  that  there  would  have  been  nothing  to  fear.  But 
Oxford  was  removed  on  Tuesday  ;  the  queen  died  on  Sunday ! 
What  a  world  is  this,  and  how  does  fortune  banter  us  !  " 

18.  Under  Queen  Anne  the  parliamentary  union  of  England 
and   Scotland  was  happily  accomplished.     Since  the 

collapse  of  the  Darien  project,  there  had  been  much  ill-    delations 

feeling  between  the  two  countries.    It  had  been  hoped   of  England 

that  the  revolution  had  set  tha  northern  kingdom  free   fIld.s<;°t" 

,     ,.    .  -r.   1  „     t-w     . .       .  -i  land,  1699- 

to  work  out  its  own  destinies.    But  the  Darien  failure    1702.  " 

had  shown  that  Scotland,  as  the  weaker  power,  was  still 

obliged  in  important  matters  to  follow  the  lead  of  England,  and 


522  QUEEN  ANNE  [1702- 

that  as  long  as  Scotland  remained  under  a  separate  government, 
Scotsmen  were  shut  out  from  all  the  sources  of  wealth  which 
were  making  England  the  greatest  commercial  country  in  the  world. 
It  was  clear  that  things  could  not  go  on  as  they  were,  and  that 
there  must  either  he  complete  separation  or  fuller  union.  Wise 
men  like  William  in.  saw  in  the  latter  course  the  hest  way  out  of 
the  deadlock.  But  a  patriotic  party  grew  up  in  Scotland,  led  by 
Andrew  Fletcher,  of  Salton,  who  wished  for  absolute  separation 
between  the  crowns,  and  the  restoration  of  Scotland  to  the  position 
of  independence  it  had  enjoyed  before  1603.  Largely  through 
Fletcher's  influence,  the  Scots  rejected  William's  overtures  for  a 
union,  and  the  need  of  providing  for  the  succession  after  Anne's 
death  gave  him  the  chance  of  vindicating  the  freedom  of  his  country. 

19.  It  had  been  expected  that  just  as  in  1689  Scotland  had 
followed  the  lead  of  England,  and  had  dethroned  James  in  favour 
The  Act  of  °^  William,  so  after  1701  she  would  pass  a  new  Act  of 
Security,  Succession  on  the  lines  of  the  English  Act  of  Settle- 
1703-1704.  men-fc.  Fletcher  was  resolved  that  Scotland  should 
take  up  her  own  line,  and  in  1703  brought  forward  a  Bill  of 
Security,  by  which  on  Anne's  death  the  Scottish  throne  was  to  go 
to  some  Protestant  descendant  of  the  royal  house,  but  excluding 
the  successor  to  the  English  throne,  unless  he  accepted  a  series  of 
Limitations,  by  which  all  the  power  of  the  crown  in  Scotland  was 
permanently  handed  over  to  a  committee  of  the  Scottish  Parlia- 
ment. It  was  the  moment  of  the  crisis  of  the  Spanish  succession 
war,  and  Godolphin  dared  not  risk  a  conflict  between  England  and 
Scotland.  After  once  refusing  the  royal  assent  to  the  Bill  of 
Security,  Anne  accepted  it  in  1704. 

20.  The  Act  of  Security  was  in  substance  a  declaration  of 
war.  The  English  not  unnaturally  retaliated  by  cutting  off  all 
The  Flvinc  trade  with  Scotland,  denying  the  Scots  all  rights  in 
Squadron.  England,  and  by  massing  troops  on  the  Borders.  But 
and  the  gradually  the  Scots  became  more  prudent.  If  they 
tionsfor  quarrelled  with  England,  they  lost  all  chance  of  a 
the  union,       share  in  English  trade,  and  there  was  a  real  danger 

lest  they  became  the  tools  of  the  Jacobites  and  en- 
dangered Presbyterianism  and  Protestantism.  A  middle  party 
arose,  called  the  Flying  Squadron,  which,  while  professing  to  hold 
the  balance  between  Fletcher  and  the  English  party,  ■  showed  a 
willingness  to  accept  reasonable  proposals  for  union.  Godolphin 
then  took  up  a  moderate  line,  and  in  1706  commissioners  from  the 
two  nations  were  empowered  to  draw  up  the  conditions  of  a  treaty. 


-1707.]  QUEEN  ANNE  523 

In  1707  an  Act  of  Union  was  laid  before  the  two  Parliaments. 
Accepted  easily  by  the  English  parliament,  it  also  passed  through 
the  Scots  estates  by  a  small  majority,  though  Scottish  national 
feeling  was  bitterly  opposed  to  it. 

21.  By  the  Act  of  Union  it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be 
one  parliament,  one  privy  council,  one  government,  and  the  same 
law  of  succession  to  the  united  monarchy.    The  United 
Kingdom  was  to  be  called   Great   Britain,  with   a   TneP*rlla- 
national  flag — the  "  Union  Jack,"  made  of  the  crosses    union  of 
of  St.  Andrew  and  St.   George  combined.     Scotland   England 
was  to  be  represented  in  the  united  parliament  by    jan<i  1707. 
forty-five  commoners,  chosen  by  the  shires  and  burghs, 
and  by  sixteen    peers,   elected  by  the   whole  body  of   Scottish 
nobles.      The    Presbyterian    Church    system    was    declared   the 
only    government    of    the    Church   within   Scotland,    and  every 
monarch  was  required  on  his  accession  to  take  an  oath  to  protect 
it.     The  Scottish  law  courts  and  law  were  continued,  though  there 
was  now  an  appeal  from  the  Court  of  Session  at  Edinburgh  to  the 
House  of  Lords.     Complete  commercial  equality  between  the  two 
countries  was  established,   so  that   Scots  might  trade  with  the 
English  colonies.     This  last  clause  was  very  important,  because  it 
soon  gave  the  Scots  such  material  advantages  from  the  union  that 
they  were  content  to  put  up  with  the  rest  of  it.     Moreover,  the 
wise  care  taken  to  safeguard  the  Scottish  Church  and  the  Scottish 
law  blunted  the  sharpest  edge  of  hostility.    Yet  the  union  remained 
intensely  unpopular  in  Scotland,  and  even  in  England  was  looked 
upon  with  but  little  favour.     The  best  sign  of  the  hostility  of  the 
Scots  to  the  new  system  was  soon  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
within  forty  years  of  the  Act,  the  fervid  Protestants  of  the  north 
twice  stood  aside  and  allowed  the  Highlanders  to  proclaim  popish 
pretenders. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
GREAT  BRITAIN   UNDER  THE  STEWARTS 

1.  In  the  course  of  the  Stewart  period  England  became  the  greatest 
colonizing  and  commercial  nation  in  the  world.     We  have  seen 

how  she  established  colonies  in  North  America  and 
and  com-  ^ne  West  Indies,  and  trading  stations  in  Africa  and 
merclal  India,  which  spread  English  commerce  and  influence 

ment  over   <^s^an^i  hinds.      While  the    Stewarts  were  still 

on  the  thr&ne,  England  made  np  for  the  lateness 
with  which  she  had  entered  in  these  fields  by  the  superior  energy 
and  vigour  with  which  she  outdistanced  Portugal  and  beat 
Holland  after  a  severe  struggle.  The  last  Stewart  reigns  saw  the 
carrying  trade  of  the  Dutch  transferred  to  England.  Our  colonies 
became  more  important  than  those  of  any  European  state  save 
Spain,  and  infinitely  superior  to  those  of  the  Spaniards  in  all  that 
makes  new  lands  great.  The  same  age  witnessed  the  first  triumphs 
of  England  over  France,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  long  process 
that  was  to  bring  the  trade  and  colonies  so  laboriously  established 
by  Louis  xiv.  under  the  control  of  the  English  state.  After  the 
Revolution  and  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  England  had  established  her- 
self firmly  as  the  chief  trading  power  of  Europe. 

2.  The  effects  of  this  expansion  on  England  were  numerous 
and  important.  The  growth  of  trade  resulted  in  increased  weight 
Results  of  being  given  to  commercial  questions,  enhanced  the 
the  growth  wealth  and  influence  of  the  trading  classes,  and  pro- 
of trade  on     foundly  affected  our  foreign  policy.      It  enabled  a 

larger  national  income  to  be  levied  without  incon- 
venience to  the  taxpayer,  and  thus  made  it  possible  to  equip  the 
navy  which  contested  with  the  Dutch  and  French  for  the  supre- 
macy of  the  seas,  and  the  great  armies  which,  under  William  in. 
and  Marlborough,  broke  down  the  supremacy  of  Louis  xiv.  Bank- 
ing and  finance  became  important,  as  was  shown  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Bank  of  England.  Men  began  to  give  serious  thought 
to  the  problems  arising  from  commerce,  and  to  those  questions 
524 


I7M-J      GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS        $i$ 

concerning  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth  which  are 
called  economic.  The  theory  of  trade  which  now  held  the  field 
was  called  the  Mercantile  System.  This  taught  that  the  advantage 
of  foreign  trade  depends  upon  the  amount  of  gold  and  silver  which 
it  brought  into  a  country.  If  a  trade  thus  brought  in  bullion,  the 
Balance  of  Trade  was  said  to  be  in  our  favour ;  if  not,  then  the 
balance  was  against  us.  It  was,  therefore,  a  matter  of  supreme 
concern  to  make  exports  exceed  imports,  and  the  growth  of  ex- 
ports involved  the  increase  of  manufactures  and  commerce. 

3.  Manufactures  became  more  numerous  and  important,  though 

England  still  remained  a  commercial  and  agricultural  rather  than 

a  manufacturing  country,  and  depended  upon  France, 

Holland,  and  the  East  for  the  finer  wares  which  our  own   JJanufac" 

tures. 
craftsmen  were  still  unable  to  produce.  A  great  impetus 

was  given  to  our  industries  when  the  persecutions  of  the  French 
Protestants  by  Louis  xiv.  drove  to  Britain  as  to  other  Protestant 
lands  a  large  number  of  skilled  Huguenot  mechanics  and  craftsmen. 
Agriculture  was  so  prosperous  that  farmers  and  landlords  alike 
throve,  and  the  demand  for  more  land  led  to  great  schemes  for 
draining  swamps  and  fens,  of  which  the  most  important  was  that 
carried  out  by  Dutch  engineers  in  the  fen  district  of  northern 
Cambridgeshire,  where  vast  tracts  of  country  were  turned  from 
their  old  condition  of  an  unhealthy  desert  into  the  best  corn- 
growing  land  in  England. 

4.  The  peasantry  shared  in  the  increased  prosperity,  and 
pauperism,  so  terrible  a  trouble  under  the  Tudors,  became  less 
burdensome  under  the  Stewarts.    Yet  it  still  remained   The  poor 

a  real  evil,  and  the  unequal  distribution  of  the  poor  and  the 
made  their  relief  very  burdensome  to  those  districts  poor  * 
where  the  poor  chiefly  congregated.  Hoping  to  remedy  this,  the 
Restoration  Parliament  passed  the  Act  of  Settlement  of  1662.  By 
it,  each  parish  was  allowed  to  remove  a  new-comer,  likely  to  become 
chargeable  to  the  rates,  to  the  place  where  he  had  previously  had  a 
legal  settlement.  The  act  gave  a  great  blow  to  vagrancy,  but  by 
tying  down  the  workman  to  the  spot  of  his  birth,  prevented  him 
from  transferring  himself  freely  to  the  district  where  his  services 
were  most  wanted. 

5.  Population  grew,  but  not  rapidly.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
century  there  were  perhaps  five  million  inhabitants  of  England 
and  Wales.  The  north  was  still  poor  and  scantily  peopled,  and 
the  increase  was  still  mainly  in  the  east  and  south.  London,  which 
had  perhaps  half  a  million  inhabitants,  was  the  only  really  large 


526         GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER    THE  STEWARTS    [1603- 

town,  the  next  to  it  being  Bristol  and  Norwich,  with  abont  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants  in  each.    It  followed  from  this  inequality  that 

London  had  immense  influence  on  politics,  fashion, 
the  towns       an<*  OP""011'     Nearly  all  the  ablest  men  lived  in  or 

near  it;  nearly  all  the  printing  of  the  nation  was 
done  there.  It  had  grown  so  enormously  since  Elizabeth's  days 
that  men  grew  alarmed,  and  feared  that  it  would  soon  prove  im- 
possible to  feed,  govern,  and  keep  healthy  so  great  a  mass  of  human 
beings.  Yet  the  measures  taken  to  prevent  the  growth  of  London 
proved  entirely  ineffectual,  and  great  suburbs  arose  on  every  side 
of  the  city  of  London,  which  did  not  extend  its  ancient  narrow 
limits.  A  fashionable  quarter  grew  up  round  the  court  to  the  west, 
while  manufacturing  and  commercial  regions  extended  eastwards 
of  the  city  down  the  course  of  the  Thames.  The  new  districts 
were  less  overcrowded  than  the  city,  and  free  from  the  antiquated 
rules  of  the  city  companies,  which  restrained  rather  than  encouraged 
the  trades  they  were  meant  to  protect.  The  sanitary  condition 
of  city  and  suburbs  alike  was  deplorable.  Until  the  reign  of 
James  1.  all  drinking  water  came  from  the  Thames  or  from  shallow 
wells,  until  the  New  River  Company  brought  a  wholesome  supply 
of  running  water  from  the  streams  of  Hertfordshire.  Plague  was 
seldom  long  absent,  and  the  wooden,  closely  packed  houses  were  in 
constant  danger  of  fire.  After  the  Great  Fire  in  the  city,  brick 
replaced  wood  as  a  building  material,  but  no  attempt  was  made 
to  rebuild  the  town  on  an  intelligent  plan,  or  with  streets  and 
public  places  of  adequate  size.  The  streets  were  badly  paved,  dirty, 
and  ill-lighted ;  the  police  was  very  ineffective ;  robbery  and 
violence  were  common,  and  after  dark  bands  of  gentlemen  amused 
themselves  by  assaulting  and  insulting  the  passers-by. 

6.  With  all  its  drawbacks,  life  in  London  had  plenty  of  attrac- 
tions.    Until  1642  the  playhouses  were  in  full  swing,  but  they  were 

then  closed  by  order  of  parliament,  and  were  not  re- 
ments  opened  until  the  Restoration.     After  that  event  plays 

were  represented  with  much  more  attention  to  scenery 
and  spectacular  effects  than  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  and  James  1. 
Women  for  the  first  time  acted  in  the  female  parts,  and  ballet- 
dancing,  brought  in  from  France,  became  popular.  Gentlemen 
exercised  themselves  at  the  riding-school  or  with  fencing,  tennis, 
and  a  game  at  ball  called  pall-mall.  They  amused  themselves  with 
the  fashionable  sports  of  cock-fighting,  horse-racing,  and  gambling. 
It  was  a  sign  of  the  progress  of  refinement  that  the  old  national 
amusements  of  bull-  and  bear-baiting  were  no  longer  approved  of 


-1714J    GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE   STEWARTS       $2? 

in  polite  circles,  though  still  extremely  popular  with  the  people. 
The  bear-gardens  were  also  used  for  boxing  and  prize-fights  with 
swords.  Two  features  of  the  Restoration  period  were  the  open- 
ing of  public  gardens,  of  which  Vauxhall  was  the  most  famous, 
and  the  growth  of  Coffee-houses,  which  served  the  purpose  of 
modern  clubs,  and  were  centres  of  gossip  and  society.  Coffee  and 
tea  were  first  drunk  in  Charles  u.'s  time,  and  these  beverages  did 
something  to  change  social  habits  and  make  life  more  refined, 
though  drunkenness  was  still  very  common  in  all  classes  of  society. 
Charles  n.  was  famous  for  bringing  in  a  more  elegant  way  of 
living,  but  foreigners  still  complained  of  the  grossness  of  English 
repasts.  There  was  still  only  two  meals  a  day.  Dinner  was  at  one 
o'clock,  and  few  took  anything  earlier  but  a  "  morning-draught " 
of  beer,  with  some  bread-and-butter. 

7.  Despite  the  badness  of  the  roads  men  flocked  to  London,  and 
fashionable  people  spent  their  holidays  at  inland  watering-places, 
such  as  Bath,  Tunbridge  Wells,  Harrogate,  or  Buxton. 

Coaches,  which  were  a  rare  luxury  under  Elizabeth,  efj?i!l!g 
became  common,  though  active  people,  who  wished  to 
travel  quickly,  still  preferred  to  go  on  horseback.  Carriers' 
waggons  began  to  replace  pack-horses  as  means  of  transporting 
goods,  especially  in  the  south.  Stage-coaches  began  under  the 
Commonwealth,  and  under  Charles  n.  flying-coaches,  as  they 
were  called,  managed  to  travel  about  fifty  miles  a  day.  Hackney- 
coaches,  plying  for  hire  in  the  streets,  first  began  under  the 
Commonwealth,  and  the  same  period  saw  the  establishment  of  a 
government  postal  system,  which  the  Restoration  adopted  and 
improved. 

8.  Dress  underwent  a  complete  revolution  during  the  century. 
The  dignified  costume  of  the  gentlemen  depicted  in  Van  Dyck's 
portraits    of    the    contemporaries    of   James    I.  and 

Charles  i.  became  more  fantastic  and  extravagant 
towards  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  afforded  reasonable  grounds 
for  Puritan  attack.  Some  simplification  resulted  for  a  time  from 
Puritan  influence,  though  it  is  an  exaggeration  to  suppose  that 
the  politics  of  a  gentleman  during  the  Civil  War  could  at  once  be 
discerned  by  the  cut  and  colour  of  his  clothes.  Under  Charles  n., 
the  doublet  and  long  cloak  ceased  to  be  worn,  and  in  their  place 
men  dressed  in  the  garments  which  ultimately  became  the  modern 
coat  and  waistcoat,  and  in  loose  knee-breeches.  Low  shoes  super- 
seded boots,  and  a  lace  cravat  took  the  place  of  bands.  Early  in 
the  reign  men  shaved  their  heads,  and  used  wigs  instead  of  their 


5  28         GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS    [1603- 

own  hair.  Up  to  this  time  moustaches  and  a  pointed  beard  had 
been  generally  worn,  even  by  bishops  like  Laud,  but  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  periwig  the  face  began  to  be  clean-shaven.  Ladies 
dress  underwent  similar  changes.  The  beauties  of  Charles  n.'s 
court  wore  trains  and  low  dresses,  and,  like  men,  many  of  them 
adopted  wigs,  while  others  wore  "  puffs  "  of  false  curls,  extended  on 
wires,  that  made  their  heads  look  very  wide.  Patches  also  came 
into  common  use. 

9.  In  fashionable  circles  education  became  more  and  more  the 
learning  of  good  and  graceful  manners,  and  for  this,  as  for  more 
_-       ..  solid  things,  everyone,  after  the  Restoration,  looked 

to  France  for  guidance.  Gentlemen  of  fashion  were 
content  with  a  superficial  smattering  of  elegant  French  culture, 
and  the  average  lady  of  quality  could  neither  spell  nor  express 
herself  correctly.  Yet  there  were  many  scholarly  and  learned  men 
in  the  chief  professions,  and  even  among  the  higher  classes.  In  the 
great  world  the  elements  of  knowledge  became  more  widespread, 
and  the  growing  taste  for  reading  encouraged  the  multiplication 
of  books,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers.  Since  the  days  of  Whitgift 
and  Laud  the  universities  had  been  purged  of  all  Puritan  leanings, 
until,  under  the  Commonwealth,  they  were  reformed  on  Puritan 
lines.  The  expulsion  of  many  men  of  learning  because  of  their 
views  led  to  evil  results,  despite  the  high  character  of  the  Puritan 
scholars  who  replaced  them.  Things  were  made  worse  when  the 
Restoration  brought  about  more  ejections  on  political  and  religious 
grounds.  Both  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  strong  supporters  of 
Church  and  king,  but  the  violence  of  their  politics  did  not  prevent 
the  prosecution  of  serious  study.  In  particular  they  became  the 
centres  of  the  strict  investigation  of  nature,  which  was  a  marked 
feature  of  the  time. 

10.  The  revolt  of  the  Reformation  against  the  Middle  Ages 
had  led  to  an  utter  contempt  for  its  theories  of  natural  science. 

The  Novum,  Organum  of  Francis  Bacon,  though  of 
seience  little  influence  on  scientific  workers,  expressed  with 

brilliant  eloquence  *the  high  expectations  which  gifted 
minds  had  formed  of,  the  fruitful  results  to  be  expected  from  the 
scientific  methods  of  observation  and  experiment.  The  great 
British  men  of  science  of  this  age  were  the  Scottish  laird, 
Napier  of  Merchiston,  the  inventor  of  logarithms,  and  William 
Harvey,  Charles  i.'s  physician,  who  demonstrated  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.  About  the  middle  of  the  century  the  diffused 
interest   in    experimental    science   led   to   the   periodic   meeting 


-I7I4-]     GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS        529 

together  of  a  little  band  of  able  men  devoted  to  its  pursuit.  This 
society  was  incorporated  in  1662  under  the  name  of  the  Royal 
Society  by  Charles  11.,  who  was  himself  much  interested  in  these 
studies.  Among  the  early  members  of  this  body  was  Isaac 
Newton,  a  professor  of  mathematics  at  Cambridge,  whose  famous 
mathematical  and  physical  discoveries  raised  him  to  a  unique 
position  among  English  men  of  science.  By  the  labours  of  these 
men  the  foundations  of  modern  English  science  were  securely 
laid. 

11.  The  steady  progress  of  science  stands  in  strong  contrast  to 
the  necessary  fluctuations  of  art.  Under  James  1.  nobles  built  their 
great  country  houses  on  lines  which  are  not  readily 
distinguishable  from  those  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth,  but  ^^ ltec" 
two  new  impulses  came  in  early  in  the  century,  when 
the  Laudian  school  revived  the  use  of  Gothic  architecture,  notably 
at  Oxford,  and  when  the  work  of  the  Welsh  architect,  Inigo  Jones, 
brought  into  England  a  taste  for  the  classical  buildings  which  the 
example  of  the  Italian  designer,  Palladio,  had  already  made  fashion- 
able in  Italy.  After  the  Restoration,  Sir  Christopher  Wren 
carried  out  still  further  the  work  begun  by  Inigo  Jones.  The 
Great  Eire  of  London  gave  him  a  unique  opportunity.  His  new 
St.  Paul's  and  a  crowd  of  noble  city  churches  have  immortalized 
his  name.  His  eye  for  proportion  made  the  interior  of  many  of 
his  churches  beautiful  works  of  art,  conspicuous  among  them  being 
St.  Stephen's,  Walbrook.  A  special  feature  of  his  work  were  the 
graceful  spires  and  towers  which,  grouped  round  the  great  dome  of 
St.  Paul's,  still  give  the  characteristic  feature  to  all  views  of  the 
modern  city  of  London.  His  pupils  carried  on  his  traditions  far 
into  the  eighteenth  century,  and  Queen  Anne's  Act  for  building 
fifty  new  churches  round  London  gave  them  opportunities  of 
showing  their  skill.  Domestic  architecture  found  its  best  models 
in  the  brick-built  houses  of  Holland,  and  culminated  in  the 
picturesque  and  convenient  "  Queen  Anne  "  style,  which  has  been 
largely  revived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

12.  There  was  more  taste  for  painting  and  sculpture  in  England 
under  the  Stewarts  than  under  the  Tudors.     Charles  1.  was  a  dis- 
cerning patron  of  art,  and,  despite  his  scanty  means,    pajntine 
made    a    fine    collection    of     pictures.     Though    no    sculpture, 
Englishman   made    a   great  name   for  himself   as   a   a      muslc« 
painter  or  sculptor,  many  distinguished  foreign   artists   took  up 
their  residence  in  England,  and  produced  there  many  of  their  bes$ 
works.     Conspicuous  among  these  were  the  magnificent  Flemish 
II  2  m 


530        GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER    THE  STEWARTS     [1603- 

colourist,  Peter  Paul  Rubens,  and  his  best  pupil,  Antony  Van 
Dyck,  both  of  whom  were  dubbed  knights  by  Charles  1.  Puritan 
intolerance  worked  havoc  with  all  forms  of  art.  Charles  i.'s 
pictures  were  sold  and  dispersed,  though  the  sound  taste  of  Crom- 
well saved  some  of  the  most  precious  of  them  for  the  country. 
Peter  Lely,  a  shrewd  Dutchman,  came  to  England  during  the 
Commonwealth,  and  for  forty  years  did  an  excellent  business  in 
painting  all  manner  of  men  and  women,  from  the  Lord  Protector 
to  the  ladies  of  Charles  11. 's  court.  His  successor  was  another 
foreigner,  Godfrey  Kneller.  Very  important  was  the  work  of  the 
incomparable  Dutch  wood-carver,  Grinling  Gibbons,  whose  tasteful 
and  delicate  work  adorned  the  interior  of  many  of  Wren's  churches. 
Music  received  a  peculiarly  heavy  blow  from  Puritan  ascendency, 
especially  by  reason  of  the  hostility  of  Puritans  to  the  dignified 
worship  of  the  cathedrals,  whose  choirs  had  always  been  the  best 
schools  of  English  vocal  art.  Yet  two  of  the  foremost  Puritans, 
Cromwell  and  Milton,  were  sincere  lovers  of  music,  and  the  cathedral 
choir,  revived  after  the  Restoration,  produced  in  Henry  Purcell 
a  great  English  composer,  whose  untimely  death  cut  off  the 
prospect  of  the  growth  of  a  really  English  school  of  musicians. 
Under  the  Commonwealth  and  Charles  11.,  Italian  opera  was  first 
introduced  into  England,  and  Purcell  himself  wrote  notable  operas. 
This  form  of  art,  though  ridiculed  by  Addison  as  foreign  and 
womanish,  became  popular,  and  did  something  by  its  combination 
of  poetry  and  music  to  compensate  for  the  decay  of  the  masque 
of  the  early  seventeenth  century.  • 

13.  The  revolution  in  taste  and  feeling  which  the  Stewart 
period  showed  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  its  literature.  Under 
James  1.  we  were  still  in  the  Elizabethan  age.  The 
first  years  of  the  reign  of  the  first  Stewart  witnessed 
the  production  of  the  most  sublime  of  Shakespeare's  dramas.  But 
about  1611  Shakespeare  retired  with  a  fortune  to  Stratford,  where 
he  died  in  1616.  Seven  years  after  his  death,  in  1623,  the  First 
Folio,  the  earliest  collected  edition  of  his  works,  was  published  by 
his  friends  and  fellow-actors.  His  place  as  a  dramatist  was  in  some 
measure  taken  by  his  friend,  Ben  Jonson  (1573-1637),  a  rough, 
strong,  and  learned  playwright  and  an  admirable  critic,  who,  as  he 
grew  old,  became  the  oracle  of  the  chief  literary  society  of  his  time. 
After  Jonson  the  chief  dramatists  of  James  i.'s  reign  were  Francis 
Beaumont  and  John  Fletcher,  who  wrote  many  plays  in  partner- 
ship, and  John  Webster,  a  man  of  mighty  tragic  genius.  Under 
Charles  I.,    Philip  Massinger    and    John   Ford    carried    on  the 


-I7I4-]    GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS        53 1 

Elizabethan  tradition.  Bnt  the  character  of  the  drama  changed 
slowly  bnt  surely,  becoming  more  fantastic,  extravagant,  and 
profligate.  Yet  good  pieces  were  still  written  until  the  closing  of 
the  playhouses  in  1642,  and  James  Shirley,  the  last  of  the  "  Eliza- 
bethan "  dramatists,  lived  to  see  the  theatres  reopened  in  1660. 
After  the  Restoration  dramatic  fashions  changed,  though  the  plays 
of  the  great  period  were  still  admired  and  acted,  and  John  Dryden 
(1631-1700),  the  foremost  man  who  wrote  for  the  stage,  based  the 
style  of  his  later  dramas  on  the  Elizabethans.  However,  in  his 
earlier  pieces  Dryden  had  imitated  the  classical  French  school,  and 
had  adopted  the  heroic  rhyming  couplet  as  his  dramatic  metre. 
The  theatre  now  became  limited  to  bombastic  and  empty  "  heroic  " 
tragedy,  and  to  bright  and  witty  but  coarse  comedies  of  manners, 
the  work  of  the  so-called  Restoration  dramatists,  whose  main 
woi-k  was  done  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
famous  attack  of  the  Non-juring  divine,  Jeremy  Collier,  on  the 
profligacy  of  the  stage,  was  written  under  William  m.  in  1698. 
Under  Queen  Anne,  Joseph  Addison  attempted,  with  no  great 
success,  to  bring  into  England  the  severe  and  stately  forms  of  the 
classic  French  drama.  The  stage,  still  popular  as  an  amusement, 
failed  to  play  the  part  in  the  life  of  the  later  Stewarts  which  it  had 
taken  before  the  Civil  Wars. 

14.  The  poets  of  the  early  Stewarts  worthily  continued  Eliza- 
bethan tradition,  and  a  remarkable  aftergrowth  of  the  Elizabethan 
spirit  was  to  be  seen  in  the  delicate  school  of  lyric 
poets  which  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  the  poets 
and  whose  most  charming  representative  was  Robert 
Herrick.  The  Laudian  revival  produced  a  school  of  religious 
poets,  whose  best-known  work  is  to  be  seen  in  the  quaint  piety  of 
"  holy  G-eorge  Herbert."  A  deeper  and  more  individual  note  was 
struck  by  John  Milton  (1608-1674),  a  London  scrivener's  son,  whose 
early  verse,  sweet,  musical,  and  strong,  produced  between  1629  and 
1637,  would  in  itself  entitle  him  to  a  great  place  in  our  literature. 
Called  away  from  poetry  by  travel  and  politics,  he  wrote  no  verse, 
save  a  few  masterly  sonnets,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  lavishing 
his  great  powers  on  his  routine  work  as  Latin  secretary  to  the 
council  of  state  set  up  after  Charles  i.'g  death,  and  only  employing 
his  pen  on  political  pamphleteering,  the  acrimony  and  narrowness 
of  which  are  redeemed  by  its  splendid  eloquence.  The  Restoration 
sent  the  Cromwellian  partisan  into  a  retirement  which  was  made 
more  irksome  by  his  blindness  and  domestic  troubles.  His  austere 
and  somewhat  impracticable  character  had  kept  him  aloof  from  hie 


532         GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS    [1603- 

age  even  in  the  days  of  his  pamphlet-writing.  He  was  doubly  lonely 
when,  amidst  the  riot  of  the  Restoration,  his  genius  attained  its 
loftiest  heights  in  Paradise  Lost,  which  wedded  the  severest  and 
sternest  spirit  of  Puritanism  to  the  most  exquisite  and  scholarly 
music.  Yet  sound  critics,  like  Dryden,  at  once  recognized  the 
unique  greatness  of  the  Puritan  epic,  and  to  men  who  loathed  his 
politics  and  religion,  Milton's  solitary  figure  represented  all  that 
was  most  characteristic  of  English  literature. 

15.  After  Milton's  death,  Dryden  represented  the  prevailing 
tendency  in  our  poetry.     He  stood  as  literary  oracle  to  the  end  of 

.  .    the  century  in  much  the  same  position  as  Ben  Jonson 

the  poetry  had  attained  in  a  previous  age.  His  generation  was 
of  the  Re-  largely  influenced  by  the  dominant  classic  school  of 
France.  The  spontaneous  poetry  of  emotion  was  now 
succeeded  by  the  studied  poetry  of  the  intelligence,  and  it  was 
characteristic  that  Dryden's  most  famous  verses,  Absalom  and 
Achitophel,  and  The  Hind  and  the  Panther,  dealt  with  such  sub- 
jects as  the  Popish  Plot  and  the  religious  controversies  excited 
by  James  u.'s  attempt  to  win  back  England  to  Some.  For  the 
naturalness  and  freshness  of  the  older  poetry  we  have  now  to  go 
from  the  fashionable  versifiers  to  such  works  as  the  vivid  and  life- 
like allegories  of  the  village  preacher  of  the  Baptists,  John  Bunyan, 
whose  Pilgrim's  Progress,  published  in  1678,  sets  forth  the  Puritan 
ideal  with  a  dramatic  force  and  vividness  that  make  it  a  real  prose 
poem.  Bunyan's  were  the  first  great  books  in  modern  English 
literature  written  by  a  man  of  the  people  for  the  people. 

16.  Prose  thus  advanced  while  poetry  declined.  Early  in  the 
century  a  noble  standard  of  good  prose-style  was  set  almost  uncon- 
E  tablish-  sciously  by  the  committee  of  scholars  who  drew  up  the 
mentofa  Authorized  Version  of  the  Bible.  The  majestic  but 
modern  involved  periods  of  Elizabethan  prose  still  formed  the 

model  of  the  stately  periods  of  Clarendon's  History 
of  the  Rebellion,  of  the  poetic  and  luscious  eloquence  of  Jeremy 
Taylor,  and  of  the  rich  meditative  soliloquies  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne, 
the  Norwich  physician.  As  men  read  more  widely  and  more 
hurriedly,  the  style  of  books  began  gradually  to  assimilate  itself  to 
the  spoken  speech.  A  crowd  of  pamphlets  and  newspapers,  pro- 
duced by  the  Civil  Wars  and  the  fierce  party  strife  of  the  later 
seventeenth  century,  helped  forward  the  creation  of  .a  natural  prose. 
Dryden's  famous  critical  works  first  gave  the  new  prose  the  stamp 
of  a  high  style  and  the  sanction  of  a  great  name.  French  influence 
is  as  decisive  on  the  development  of  our  prose  as  on  the  new 


-I/I4-7     GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER   THE  STEWARTS        533 

departure  in  our  poetry.  Before  the  end  of  the  century,  a  nervous, 
simple,  and  idiomatic  standard  of  composition  had  become  established 
which  greatly  raised  the  level  of  all  the  journeymen  work  of 
literature  and  of  the  books  whose  importance  rests  in  facts  and 
arguments  rather  than  in  their  style.  It  attained  its  culmination 
in  the  age  of  Queen  Anne,  when  the  periodical  essay  which  began 
with  Steele's  Tatler  in  1709,  became  famous  when  Addison  joined 
him  in  1711  in  starting  the  Spectator,  which  "  brought  philosophy 
out  of  closets,  libraries,  and  schools,  to  dwell  in  clubs  and  assemblies, 
at  tea-tables  and  coffee-houses." 


Books  recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  the  Period 
1603-1714 

S.  R.  Gardiner's  elaborate  investigations  cover  the  period  1603-1656,  and 
are  detailed,  careful,  impartial,  and  authoritative.  His  work  is  published  as 
History  of  England  to  the  Outbreak  of  the  Great  Civil  War,  1603-1642  (10  vols.), 
History  of  the  Great  Civil  War,  1642-1649  (4  vols.),  and  History  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  Protectorate,  1649-1656  (3  vols.).  It  is  continued  in  C.  H.  Firth's 
iMst  Years  of  the  Protectorate,  1656-1658  (2  vols.).  Gardiner's  short  books,  the 
Puritan  Revolution,  the  Thirty  Years'  War  (both  in  "  Longmans'  Epochs  of 
Modern  History  "),  and  Cromwell's  Place  in  History,£ive  briefly  some  of  his 
chief  conclusions.  C.  H.  Firth's  Oliver  Cromwell  ("  Heroes  of  the  Nations  ") 
and  Cromwell's  Army  are  of  great  importance.  Airy's  English  Restoration  and 
Louis  Xnr.,  and  Morris's  Age  of  Anne  (both  in  "  Epochs  of  Modern  History  "), 
are  useful  for  the  latter  part  of  the  period.  For  ecclesiastical  history,  Frere's 
History  of  the  English  Church  under  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  W.  H.  Hutton's 
History  of  the  English  Church  from  Charles  I.  to  Anne,  W.  A.  Shaw's  History 
of  the  Church  during  the  Commonwealth,  and  H.  Wakeman's  The  Church  and 
the  Puritans  1570-1660.  The  Oxford  translation  of  Ranke's  History  of  England 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century  (6  vols.),  and  J.  R.  Seeley's  Growth  of  British 
Policy  (2  vols.),  are  of  special  value  for  foreign  policy.  Lucy  Hutchinson's 
Memoirs  of  Colonel  Hutchinson  and  the  Memoirs  of  the  Verney  Family  (4  vols.) 
throw  light  on  English  society  of  the  Puritan  period ;  while  Pepys'  and 
Evelyn's  Diaries  illustrate  the  social  life  of  the  age  of  the  Restoration  ;  and 
Macaulay's  History  of  England  tells  with  great  detail  and  picturesqueness  the 
history  of  the  reigns  of  James  11.  and  William  111.,  and  G.  M.  Trevelyan's 
England  under  the  Stuarts  ably  sketches  the  general  tendencies  of  the  period. 
The  period  is  covered  by  three  volumes  of  Longmans'  Political  History  of 
England,  vol.  vii.,  1603-1660,  by  F.  C.  Montague;  vol.  viii.,  1660-1702,  by 
R.  Lodge ;  and  vol.  ix.,  1702-1760,  by  I.  S.  Leadam. 


534         GREAT  BRITAIN  UNDER    THE  STEWARTS    [1603- 


GENEALOGY  OF  THE   STEWART  KINGS  IN  SCOTLAND  AND 
ENGLAND 

Robert  r.,  Bruce,  King  of  Scots. 

I  (d.  1329). 

Margaret,  m.  Walter,  Stewart 

I         of  Scotland. 
Robert  n.,  King  of  Scots, 

I  1371-1390. 

Robert  m.,  King  of  Scots, 

I  1390-1406. 

James  1.,  King  of  Scots, 

I  1406-1437. 

James  II.,  King  of  Scots, 

I  1437-1460. 

James  in.,  King  of  Scots, 
Henry  vii.  I  1460-1488. 

I 
The  Earl  of  Angus,  (2)  m.  Margaret,  m.  (1)  James  iv.,  King  of  Scots, 
i  1488-1513. 

Margaret,  James  v.  of  Scots, 

m.  Matthew  Stewart,  1513-1542, 

earl  of  Lennox.  m.  Mary  of  Guise. 

I  1 

Henry  Lord  Darnley,  m.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
,  1542-1567. 

James  vi.  of  Scotland  (1567-1625),  and  1.  of  England,  1603-1625. 
m.  Anne  of  Denmark. 


Henry,  prince  of  Wales, 
d.  1612. 


Charles  i.,  1625-1649, 
m.  Henrietta  Maria  of  France. 


Charles  ii., 

1660-1685. 

m.  Catharine 

of  Braganza. 

(illegitimate) 
James,  duke 
of  Monmouth. 


Mary,  m. 
William  n. 
of  Orange. 


James  ii., 

1685-1688, 

m.  (1)  Anne  Hyde. 

(2)  Mary  of" 

Modena. 


William  hi.,  m.  Mary, 

1689-1694. 

William,  alone,  1694-1702. 


Elizabeth,  m.  Frederick, 
Elector  Palatine. 
I 


Charles 

Louis, 

Elector 

Palatine. 


(1)  (2) 

Anne,  James, 

1702-1714,        the  Old 

m.  George  of  Pretender, 

Denmark.        d.  1765. 

I 


Prince         Sophia, 
Rupert,      m.  Elector 
of  Hanover. 


George  i., 
1714-1727 
(see  table  on 
pages  640-641). 


Charles  Edward, 

the  Young  Pretender, 

d.  1788. 


Henry,  duke  of 

York,  and  Cardinal, 

d.  1807. 


-I7I4-]     GREAT  BRITAIN   UNDER    THE  STEWARTS        535 


BOURBON  KINGS  OF  FRANCE 

Henry  iv\, 

1589-1610 

(formerly  duke  of  Bourbon  and  king  of  Navarre  ;  descendant  in  male 

line  of  Robert,  sixth  son  of  Louis  ix.) 


Louis  xiii., 
1610-1643. 


Henrietta  Maria, 
m.  Charles  1.  of  England. 


Louis  xiv., 
1643-1715. 

Louis  the  Dauphin. 

Louis, 
duke  of  Burgundy. 

Louis  xv., 
1715-1774. 

I 
Louis  the  Dauphin. 


Philip, 
Duke  of  Orleans. 

Philip,  duke  of  Orleans, 

Regent  after  1715, 

great-grandfather  of 

Louis  Philippk, 

king  of  the  French, 

1830-1848. 


Louis  xvi., 
1774-1792. 

I 
Lonis  the  Dauphin, 
called  Louis  xvii. 


Louis  xviii., 
1814-1824. 


Charles  x., 
1824-1830. 


LIST   OF   MINISTRIES   AFTER  1689 

1689-1696.     Mixed  Ministry  of  Whigs  and  Tories. 

1696- 1701.     First  Whig  Ministry  of  the  Junto. 

1701-1708.    Mixed  Ministries  of  varying  character  under  Marlborough  and 

Godolphin. 
1708-1710.     Whig  Ministry  under  Marlborough  and  Godolphin. 
1710-1714.     Oxford  and  Bolingbroke  Ministry  (Tory). 


BOOK    VII 

THE  HOUSE   OF  HANOVER   AND   THE  RULE 
OF  THE  ARISTOCRACY  (17 14-1820) 

CHAPTER   I 

GEORGE  I.  (1714-1727) 

Chief  Dates : 

1714.  Accession  of  George  i. 

1715.  Jacobite  Revolt. 

1716.  The  Triple  Alliance. 

1717.  The  Whig  Schism. 

1718.  Battle  of  Cape  Passaro. 

1720.  South  Sea  Bubble. 

1721.  Walpole  becomes  Prime  Minister. 
1725.     First  Treaty  of  Vienna. 

1727.     Death  of  George  i. 

1.  George,  elector  of  Hanover,  was  more  than  fifty  years  old  when 

he  became  king  of  Great  Britain,     He  was  a  slow-minded,  heavy 

The  acces-       man>  with  fixed  habits.   He  understood  foreign  politics, 

sion  of  though  he  always  looked  at  them  from  the  point  of 

George  I.,       view  of  his  electorate,  which  he  had  ruled  well  as  a 
1714. 

despot,  and  to  which  he  was  sincerely  attached.     He 

never  took  the  trouble  to  learn  English,  and  was  ignorant  of  Eng- 
lish politics  and  English  ways.  He  knew,  however,  that  he  owed 
his  throne  to  the  Whigs,  and  was  content  to  entrust  them  with 
the  government  of  his  kingdom.  He  got  rid  of  the  Tory  ministers 
of  Queen  Anne,  against  whom  the  Whigs  clamoured  for  venge- 
ance. Oxford  was  impeached  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower. 
Bolingbroke  fled  to  France,  where  he  became  the  secretary  of 
state  of  the  pretender.  Ormonde  followed  him  into  exile,  and 
sentences  of  attainder  were  passed  against  both.  The  Tory 
party  was  destroyed  by  the  treason  of  its  chiefs.  .  Plain  English- 
men thought  that  the  Tories  wished  to  bring  back  despotism 
S36 


1 7*4- J  GEORGE  I. 


537 


und  popery,  and  no  longer  gave  thorn  their  support.     The  times 
were  changing,  and  the  strong  High  Church  feeling   Tho  lmg 
which   had   been  the  main   strength  of    tho   Tories    Whig  rule, 
rapidly  declined.     For  two  generations  the  Whigs  had    1714  17G1. 
a  great  majority  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  as  well  as  the  favour 
of  the  crown.     From  1714  to  1761  none  but  Whigs  held  office. 

2.  During  the  long  Whig  rule  the  full  effects  of  the  revolution 
of  1688  worked  themselves  out.     Cabinet  government,  which  had 
made  groat  strides  both  under  William  m.  and  Anno, 
was  finally  established,  owing  to  the  harmony  of  policy   customY/^ 
between  tho  Whig  leaders  and  the  two  foreign  kings   the  constl- 
who  now  governod  England  in  succession.     The  result  tut,on' 
of  this  was  that  a  much  greater  change  was  brought  about  in  the 
working  of  our  constitution  than  by  any  of  the  new  laws  which 
had  been  passed  as  the  direct  result  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Stewarts. 
The  formal  law  of  the  constitution  remained  as  it  had  been,  but 
there  gradually  grew  up  a  new  custom  of  the  constitution  which 
effected  a  real  revolution.      By  law  the  executive  power  still  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  his  advisers.     But  the  custom 
grew  up  which  in  practice  compelled  the  king  to  chose  as  his 
ministers  the  leaders  of  the  party  which  possessed  the 
confidence  of  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons.    JJirtJjJ11181 
These  ministers  formed  the  Cabinet — that  is,  a  small 
body  of  men  agreeing  on  all  the  main  questions  of  the  day,  and 
having  at  its  back  the  support  of  the  House  of  Commons.     The 
king  acted  mainly  by  the  advice  of  his  cabinet,  and  was  often  com- 
pelled to  follow  its  recommendations,  whether  he  agreed  with  them 
or  not.     The  result  of  this  was  twofold.     Many  legal  rights  of  the 
crown  fell  into  disuse.     For  instance,  it  ceased  to  refuse  its  con- 
sent  to  laws  which  had  passed  through  parliament.     The  main 
power  of  the  crown,  the  power  of  governing  the  country,  imper- 
ceptibly passed   away   from  the  king   and  went  to  his  advisers. 
Henceforth  the  power  of  the  king  became  much  diminished,  though 
the  authority  of  the   crown,  as  exercised  by  its  constitutional 
advisers,  was  continually  growing.     The  result  was  that  the  Com- 
mons, not  the  king,  had  the  ultimate  voice  in  the  government  of 
England.     For  the  Commons'  control  over  the  public   The  supre. 
purse  kept  the  Lords  as  well  as  the   crown  in  sub-   macy  of  tho 
jection.      The    House   of    Lords    gradually  lost  co- 
ordinate authority  with  the  Commons,  and  became  a  regulating, 
checking,  and  revising  chamber,  compelled  to  give  way  before  the 
strongly  expressed  opinion  of  the  popular  representatives. 

ru  T* 


538  GEORGE  I.  [1714- 

3.  The  House  of  Commons  thus  became  supreme,  but  the  result 
of  this  change  was  to  make  England  an  aristocracy  rather  than 
The  Whig  a  democracy-  There  were  two  chief  reasons  for  this : 
aristo-  one  was  to  be  found  in  the  temper  of  the  people,  and 

eracy.  the  other  in   the    fashion   in  which  the   House  of 

Commons  was  elected.  Few  Englishmen  troubled  themselves 
about  politics  except  lords,  country  gentlemen,  and  rich  merchants. 
The  ordinary  man  thought  it  quite  natural  that  the  landlords 
should  govern  the  country,  and  was  quite  content  to  follow  their 
lead  and  receive  his  opinions  from  them.  Moreover,  since  the 
failure  of  Cromwell's  reformed  plan  of  elections,  the  House  of 
Commons  remained  chosen  after  the  same  fashion  that  had  pre- 
vailed since  the  Middle  Ages.  Few  members  were  really  appointed 
by  the  people.  The  counties,  which  returned  two  members  each, 
whether  they  were  big  or  little,  rich  or  poor,  populous  or  desolate, 
were  looked  upon  as  the  freest  electing  bodies,  though  none  but 
landholders  had  votes  in  county  elections.  The  boroughs  were 
far  worse,  for  while  some  great  towns  returned  no  members 
at  all,  many  small  places,  of  the  sort  afterwards  called  "rotten 
boroughs,"  elected  their  two  representatives  each.  It  was  not  hard 
under  these  circumstances  for  rich  people  to  buy  estates  which 
included  boroughs  of  this  description,  and  then  return  what 
members  they  chose.  Even  the  counties  and  the  larger  boroughs 
could  be  influenced  by  the  great  landholders,  or  by  the  government 
of  the  day.  Bribery  or  intimidation  came  in  when  influence  was 
not  enough.  It  was  found  that  with  these  narrow  constituencies 
it  was  easy  for  a  ring  of  politicians  to  return  a  large  proportion  of 
members  through  their  personal  influence.  Electioneering,  or  the 
management  of  elections,  became  a  regular  system,  and  side  by  side 
with  it  arose  the  arts  of  parliamentary  management,  by  which  the 
ministry  kept  its  hold  by  flattery  or  corruption  on  the  members 
who  were  returned  to  parliament.  Skill  in  these  arts  made  the 
Whig  nobles  the  real  rulers  of  the  country.  They  owned  the  small 
boroughs  and  controlled  the  counties;  they  dictated  the  king's 
policy ;  their  favour  alone  opened  up  the  road  to  power  and  place 
both  in  Church  and  state.  Thus  for  fifty  years  the  Whig  aristocracy 
governed  the  country,  owing  to  their  control  over  king  and 
Commons.  It  was  natural  that  they  should  forget  their  old 
popular  cries.  Thinking  that  the  country  had  got  all  it  wanted 
by  the  revolution,  they  became  very  conservative,  opposing  all  new 
and  sweeping  changes.  But  they  gave  England  a  long  period  of 
"round  and  careful  rule,  during  which  the  fierce  religious  and 


-1 7 1 5l  GEORGE  I.  539 

political  passions  of  the  Stewart  period  gradually  died  away. 
Under  their  prudent  but  uneventful  government,  England  grew 
more  rich  and  prosperous,  and  neither  king  nor  Commons  really 
saw  how  they  were  both  alike  in  the  hands  of  an  aristocratic  clique. 

4.  The  Tories  were  powerless  and  unpopular,  and  the  Jacobites, 
seeing  that  the  way  of  bringing  back  the  pretender  by  intrigue  had 
failed,  made  a  half-hearted  effort  to  upset  the  throne 

of  the  Hanoverian  king  by  open  revolt.    In  1715  a  I!leJa1C7i,i 
Jacobite  conspiracy  was  formed  to  excite  rebellion 
both  in  England  and  Scotland.     Ill-luck  attended  every  step  of 
the  desperate  movement.     Louis  xiv.,  from  whom  much  was  hoped, 
died  at  this  time,  and  the  regent,  Philip,  duke  of  Orleans,  who 
governed  in  the  name  of  the  little  Louis  xv.,  the  late  king's  great- 
grandson  and  successor,  wished  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  George  1., 
and  would  give  the  Jacobites  no  help.     The  pretender  was  dull  and 
ignorant.     He  had  so  little  confidence  in  Bolingbroke,  his  only  able 
adviser,  that  the  exile  before  long  gave  up  his  cause  in  despair,  and 
strove  to  make  his  peace  with  the  new  king.  Prompt  measures  nipped 
in  the  bud  the  English  conspiracy.    A  Riot  Act  was 
passed  which  gave  the  ministers  increased  power  to    .  ®  .«;. 
put  down  popular  disturbances.     The  plotters'  plans 
were  discovered,  and  the  leading  Jacobites  were  arrested  before 
they  could  do  any  harm.     The  result  was  that  it  was  only  in 
Northumberland  that  the  English  Jacobites  were  able  to  rise  in 
revolt,  and  here  the  rebellion  was  insignificant.    A  few  hundred 
country  gentlemen  and  their  retainers  rose  in  arms  under  the 
incompetent    leadership    of    Thomas    Forster,    the    member    for 
Northumberland.      But  the  mass  of  the  people  would  not  join 
them,  and  they  wandered  about  aimlessly,  not  knowing  what  to  do. 

5.  In  Scotland  the  rebellion  was  much  more  serious.     In  the 
hills  of  the  south  the  Jacobite  lords  and  gentry  took  arms  under 
Lord  Kenmure,  and,  crossing  into  Northumberland,   Tne  Yi\g\\- 
joined  Forster  and  his  followers.     But  the  combined   lands  of 
forces  were  insignificant,   and    the    real   danger  to   Scotland. 
Hanover  came,  not  from  the  south,  but  from  the  north.     Beyond 
the  Grampians  and  the  Firth  of  Clyde  the  Highland  clans  still 
retained  their  ancient  freedom.     The  union  made  no  practical 
difference  to  them,  and  the  clan  chieftains  still  ruled  over  their 
kinsfolk  and  tribesmen,  as  careless  of  the  government  at  West- 
minster as  their  fathers  had  been  of  the  government  at  Edinburgh. 
The  Highlanders  were  poor  and  rude ;  they  lived  in  miserable 
turf -^  died  cots;  their  only  wealth  was  in  cattle,  and  their  only 


540  GEORGE  I.  [1715- 

language  was  Gaelic.  They  were  passionately  devoted  to  their 
native  glens,  and  fervently  loyal  to  their  chieftains.  They  know 
nothing  of  the  disputes  of  Whig  and  Tory,  Prelatist  and  Presby- 
terian. Many  were  avowed  Catholics,  and  most  were  ignorant, 
superstitious,  and  fickle.  Their  good  qualities  were  their  polite- 
ness, devotion  to  old  poetry,  their  simplicity,  hravery,  and  con- 
tentment; but  they  were  idle,  untruthful,  revengeful,  and  quick 
to  shed  blood.  Rival  clans  waged  constant  war  against  each  other, 
but  would  sometimes  unite  to  raid  the  farms  and  plunder  the  cattle 
of  their  Saxon,  or  English-speaking,  neighbours  in  the  Lowlands. 
The  gentry  were  often  educated  in  Prance,  and  were  thus  made 
good  Catholics  and  loyal  partisans  of  the  house  of  Stewart.  Besides 
their  traditional  patriarchal  influence  over  their  clansmen,  they 
enjoyed  in  many  cases  a  grant  of  regality,  or  of  royal  powers,  which 
enabled  them  to  exercise  an  hereditary  jurisdiction  over  their 
district.  The  greatest  clan  was  still  that  of  the  Campbells,  whose 
head,  now  duke  of  Argyll,  was  a  great  Lowland  noble,  as  well  as 
the  first  of  the  Highland  chieftains.  As  in  the  days  of  Montrose, 
the  Campbells  were  still  Whigs,  Presbyterians,  and  enemies  of  the 
Stewarts.  This  made  the  lessor  clans  Tories,  Jacobites,  and  foes 
of  the  Protestant  succession.  They  had  long  feared  the  aggressions 
of  the  Campbells,  and  their  alarm  was  now  the  greater  since 
the  Campbell  chieftain  was  one  of  King  George's  most  trusted 
councillors.  Their  interests,  their  sympathies,  and  their  love  of 
adventure  combined  to  make  the  Tory  clans,  as  they  were  called, 
as  ripe  for  revolt  as  they  had  been  when  their  forefathers  followed 
Montrose  or  Dundee  to  battle  for  the  Stewarts. 

6.  The  signal  for  revolt  was  given  by  John   Erskine,  earl  of 
Mar,  sometime  a  member  of  Bolingbroke's  Tory  ministry,  but  so 
weak  and  changeable  a  politician  that  he  was  nick- 
bite  rising      named  "  Bobbing  John."     On  September  6,  1715,  he 
of  1715.  raised  the  standard  of  James  vm.  in   Braemar,  and 

at  once  rallied  the  Macdonalds,  the  Camerons,  the  Stewarts,  the 
Frasers,  the  Mackenzies,  and  the  other  Tory  clans  to  the  Jacobite 
cause.  Save  in  the  west,  where  Argyll  kept  the  country  loyal  to 
King  George,  the  whole  of  the  Highlands  was  soon  under  Mar's 
power,  and  with  a  little  more  energy,  he  might  easily  have 
made  himself  master  of  the  Lowlands,  where  disgust  at  the  union 
made  even  Whigs  and  Presbyterians  lukewarm  for  the  cause  of 
King  George.  As  it  was,  Mar  reached  no  further  south  than 
Perth,  where  he  uselessly  lingered  while  Argyll  collected  an  army 
against  him.     Hearing,  however,   that   the  southern   insurgents 


-I7i6.]  GEORGE  I.  541 

were  hardly  pressed,  Mar  despatched  Brigadier  Macintosh,  with 
nearly  two  thousand  men,  to  swell  their  numbers.  This  force 
marched  right  through  Fife  and  the  Lothians  without  meeting 
any  opposition,  and  joined  Kenmuro  and  Forster,  who  were  now 
in  Scotland,  at  Kelso.  After  much  indecision,  the  united  forces 
resolved  to  invade  England,  and  marched  through  Cumberland  and 
Lancashire.  On  November  9  they  reached  Preston,  but  armies  of 
superior  strength  surrounded  them  on  every  side,  and  they  were 
ill-disciplined  and  badly  led.  After  a  mere  show  of  resistance,  the 
whole  force  surrendered  on  November  13. 

7.  On  the  day  of  the  capitulation  at  Preston,  Mar  and  his 
Highlandei-s,  who  at  last  had  moved  south  from  Perth,  engaged 
in  battle  with  Argyll  on  the  Sheriffmuir  of  Menteith,    B  ...     . 
near  Dunblane.     The  fight  was  indecisive,  the  right    Sherlff- 
wing  of  each  army  defeating  the  left  wing  of  the    mulr,  1715, 
enemy,  and  neither  Mar  nor  Argyll  had  the  skill  or  resolution 
to  profit  by  the  measure  of  success  that  they  gained.     The  fruits 
of  victory  remained,  however,  with  the  Hanoverians.   Mar  retreated 
to  Perth,  and  on  the  approach  of  winter  many  of  tho  clansmen 
went  back  to  their  homes.     There  was  a  slight  rally  towards  the 
end  of  the  year,  for  on  December  22  the  pretender  himself  landed 
at  Peterhead.    But  the  Highlanders  lost  all  heart  when  they  found 
that  the  silent,  melancholy  prince  had  neither  courage  to  lead  them 
nor  faith  in  his  own  cause.      Early  in  1716  Argyll    _  ..  _ 
drove  the  Jacobite  army  out  of  Perth,  its  headquarters,    the  rebel- 
aad  a  few  days  later  both  the  pretender  and   Mar    lion- 
slunk  back  to  France.      The  Highlanders   disbanded   after  the 
flight  of  their  leaders,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  punish  them. 
The  vengeance  of  the  government  fell  rather  upon  the  English 
and  Lowland  lords,  taken  prisoners  at  Preston.     Several  of  these, 
including  Kenmure,  were  executed ;   while  others,  among  whom 
was  Forster,  escaped  death  by  breaking  out  of  prison. 

8.  According  to  the  Triennial  Act  a  general  election  should 
have  been  held  in  1716,  when  the  country  was  still  excited  by  the 
recent  revolt.     Knowing  that  their  success  was  due  ^Q  „ 
rather  to  the  unpopularity  of  the  Stewarts  than  to  tennlalAct, 
the  merits  of  the  new  dynasty,  the  ministry  feared  to  1716. 

risk  a  general  election  at  so  critical  a  time.  They  repealed  the 
Triennial  Act,  substituting  for  it  the  Septennial  Act,  increasing  the 
length  of  Parliament  to  seven  years,  which  remained  law  till  1911. 
This  measure  made  the  House  of  Commons  more  independent  of  its 
constituents,  and  so  made  it  easier  for  the  Whig  lords  to  manage  it. 


542  GEORGE  I.  [1714- 

9.  From  George  i.'s  accession  to  1717  the  ministerial  history 
was  uneventful;  but  the  older  generation  of  Whig  statesmen 
The  Whie  passed  away,  and  Marlborough,  though  still  alive, 
ministry,  was  broken  in  health  and  trusted  by  nobody.  Their 
1714-1717.  removal  left  Viscount  Townshend,  a  Norfolk  noble- 
man, who  held  one  of  the  secretaryships  of  state,  the  chief 
of  the  ministers.  Under  him  were  his  brother-in-law,  Robert 
Walpole,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  General  Stanhope,  the 
sometime  commander  of  the  English  forces  in  Spain,  the  other 
secretary  of  state,  and  Sunderland,  the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland. 
Dissensions,  however,  soon  arose  among  tho  Whig  magnates.  One 
section,  chief  among  whom  were  Stanhope  and  Sunderland,  clung 
to  the  foreign  policy  held  by  the  Whigs  of  Anne's  time,  and 
sympathized  with  George's  efforts  to  continue  it. 

10.  In  1716  Stanhope  went  with  George  to  Hanover,  and 
became  responsible  for  a  Triple  Alliance,  which  George  there 
The  Whig  concluded  with  Holland  and  France.  Townshend  and 
schism  of  Walpole,  who,  like  the  Tories  under  Anne,  disliked 
171 7«  unnecessary  foreign  complications,  denounced  the 
treaty  as  Hanoverian,  and  resigned  office  in  1717.  They  united 
with  George,  prince  of  Wales,  who  was  on  bad  terms  with  his 
father,  in  a  furious  opposition  to  the  king  and  the  ministers  of 
his  choice.     Their  removal  broke  the  Whig  party  into  two. 

11.  Stanhope  became  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and  Sunderland 
secretary  of  state,  the  other  secretaryship  falling  to  Joseph 
Addison,  the  famous  Whig  essayist  and  pamphleteer.  The  policy 
of  the  new  government  was  more  active  than  that  of  Townshend. 
At  home  they  showed  a  more  aristocratic  spirit  than  any  other 
ministry  of  the  time.  Anxious  to  retain  power  for  the  existing 
The  Peer-  peers,  they  introduced,  in  1719,  a  Peerage  Bill,  which 
age  Bill,  provided  that  only  six  new  peers  should  be  added  to 
171 9*  the  existing  number,  and  only  allowed  the  king  to 
exercise  his  right  of  calling  fresh  members  to  the  House  of  Lords 
on  the  extinction  of  existing  peerages.  The  authors  of  the  measure 
hoped  to  make  the  Whig  majority  in  the  Lords  secure  against  a 
Tory  ministry  filling  the  Upper  House  with  new  peers,  as  they 
had  done  under  Anne.  They  also  sought  by  it  to  protect  the 
independence  of  the  House  of  Lords  of  the  king  just  a3  the 
Septennial  Act  had  made  the  Commons  more  independent.  The 
effect  of  the  measure  would  have  been  to  hand  over  the  government 
to  a  ring  of  great  families,  whose  power  could  only  be  overthrown 
by  revolution.   However,  the  opposition  of  Walpole  and  the  Tories 


-I719-]  GEORGE  I.  543 

wrecked  the  bill  in  the  Commons,  after  it  had  easily  passed  the 
Lords.  In  ecclesiastical  matters  the  Stanhope  ministry  showed  a 
great  dislike  to  the  High  Church  party.  They  repealed  the  Act 
against  Occasional  Conformity  and  the  Schism  Act,  and  thought 
of  abolishing  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts.  Before  they  could 
do  this,  they  were  driven  from  power. 

12.  The  foreign  policy  of  the  Stanhope  ministry  was  active  and 
enterprising.     The  government,  as  we  have  seen,  owed  its  origin  to 
the  Triple  Alliance  of  1716.   This  was  a  union  of  Eng-   Foreign 
land  and  Holland,  now  often  described  as  the  Maritime   policy. 
Powers,  with  Prance  to  maintain  the  peace  of  Europe    1717~,72°- 
on  the  basis  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.     It  was  strange  that  France 
should  have  joined  with  its  old  enemies,  England  and  Holland,  in 
upholding  a  treaty  by  which  France  had  lost  so  much.    But  Philip, 
duke  of  Orleans,  the  regent  of  France  for  Louis  xv.,  was  very 
jealous  of  Philip  of  Spain,  and  anxious  to  secure  the  throne  of 
France  for  himself  to  the  exclusion  of  Philip  in  the  event  of  the 
death  of  the  sickly  young  king.      Moreover,   Philip  of   Spain, 
guided  by  his  Italian  adviser,  Cardinal  Alberoni,  was 
making  a  great  eifort  to  win  back  for  Spain  its  old 
position  in  Europe.     The  first  step  towards  this  was  to  restore  the 
Spanish  power  in  Italy.     To  do  this  was,  of  course,  a  violation  of 
the  Utrecht  settlement.     Hence  the  French  king  of  Spain  broke 
away  from   his  fellow-countrymen,  and  disturbed  all  Europe   by 
efforts  to  upset  the  treaty.     Finding  no  support  among  the  chief 
powers,  Alberoni  turned  to  two  famous  men  whose  rivalries  had 
long  distracted  northern  Europe.     These  were  Charles  xn.,  the 
last  great  king  of   Sweden,  and  his  successful  rival,  Peter  the 
Great,  the  first  great  tsar  of  Russia.     The  old  enemies  were  per- 
suaded to  unite  against  the  parties  to  the  Triple  Alliance,  and 
there  was  talk  of  the  Swedes  landing  in  Scotland  to  stir  up  a  new 
Jacobite   revolt.     Nothing  came   of  these   wild  projects,  but  a 
serious  attack  was  made  upon  the  recent  acquisitions  of  Austria 
and  Savoy  in  Italy.     The  Spaniards  conquered  Sardinia  and  Sicily, 
but  their  further  progress  was  stopped  when  Admiral  Byng  won 
for  the  English  fleet  the  supremacy  in  the  Mediter-   Battle  of 
ranean  in  the  battle  off  Cape  Passaro  in  Sicily  (1718).    Cape  Pas- 
The  Emperor  Charles  vi.,  who  had  been  holding  aloof   saro*  17    ' 
from  the  maritime  powers,  because  of  his  dislike  of  the  Barrier 
Treaty,  was  now  forced  by  fear  for  Italy  to  join  them  and  France. 
His  inclusion  converted  the  Triple  Alliance  into  a  Quadruple 
Alliance.      In  1719  Alberoni  fell  by  a  court  intrigue,  and  next 


544  GEORGE  I.  [172c- 

year  peace  was  secured.  The  chief  result  of  th9  troubles  was  that 
the  emperor  obtained  Sicily,  forcing  Victor  Amadous  to  accept  the 
less  fertile  and  wealthy  island  of  Sardinia.  Henceforth  the  duke 
of  Savoy  was  called  king  of  Sardinia. 

13.  The  year  1720  was  marked  by  a  great  commercial  crisis, 
known  as  the  bursting-  of  the  South  Sea  Bubble.  Ever  siuce  the 
The  South  treaty  of  Utrecht  trade  had  been  particularly  brisk, 
Sea  Bubble,  and  many  people  were  looking  out  for  good  invest- 
1 720.  ments  for  the  money  they  had  saved.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances joint  stock  companies  were  floated  in  large  numbers, 
and  found  their  shares  eagerly  taken  up.  Conspicuous  among  such 
undertakings  was  the  South  Sea  Company,  a  body  of  merchants 
formed  by  Harley  in  1711,  and  to  which  had  been  given  all  the 
rights  of  trade  with  Spanish  America  granted  to  England  at 
Utrecht.  The  company  was  successful  in  its  commerce  and  paid 
good  dividends.  Though  much  was  said  about  the  great  wealth 
to  be  gained  by  trade  with  the  South  Seas,  Spanish  jealousy  strictly 
limited  the  operations  of  the  society,  and  it  sought  to  increase 
its  business  in  other  directions.  In  particular,  the  South  Sea 
Company  entered  into  competition  with  the  Bank  of  England  for 
the  conduct  of  government  financial  business  and  the  management 
of  the  National  Debt.  The  ministers  gladly  accepted  the  large 
sum  of  money  which  the  directors  offered  to  the  state  for  these 
privileges.  The  company  sought  to  get  its  return  by  persuading 
holders  of  government  stock  to  exchange  their  state  bonds  for 
South  Sea  stock,  holding  out  as  the  inducement  the  vast  profits 
they  were  likely  to  make.  The  plan  was  successful;  there  was 
such  a  run  on  South  Sea  shares  that  their  price  went  up  tenfold. 
The  speculation  in  them  fomented  the  gambling  spirit  which 
now  seized  upon  all  classes  of  society.  All  sorts  of  companies 
were  started,  and  people  were  found  to  invest  their  money  in  the 
most  foolish  of  them.  Among  them  were  companies  for  making 
salt  water  fresh,  for  importing  jackasses  from  Spain,  and  for  "  an 
undertaking  which  should  in  due  time  be  revealed." 

14.  Before  long  the  reaction  came.  The  South  Sea  Company 
was  so  afraid  of  the  effect  of  the  bubble  companies  on  its  own 
The  burst-  shares  that  it  prosecuted  some  of  them.  A  panic  soon 
Ing  of  the  set  in.  The  fraudulent  ventures  collapsed  altogether, 
babble.  an^  ^e  Tajue  0f  ^q  gh^es  of  even  the  soundest  under- 
takings went  down  so  rapidly  that  those  who  had  bought  them 
when  they  were  artificially  inflated,  found  themselves  ruined.  There 
was  everywhere  panic,  suspicion,  and  distress.     There  was  a  loud 


-1727]  /  GEORGE  I.  545 

outcry  for  the  punishment  of  those  who  had  lured  the  dupes  on  to 
ruin.  The  directors  of  the  South  Sea  Company  were  disgraced 
and  stripped  of  their  property.  Indignation  rose  high  when  it  was 
discovered  that  many  of  the  ministers  had  made  large  sums  by 
speculation,  and  some  had  received  bribes  from  company  promoters 
to  further  their  criminal  ends.  The  ministers  were  fiercely  attacked 
in  parliament.  Aislabie,  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  was 
turned  out  of  the  House  for  corruption ;  and  one  guilty  minister 
committed  suicide.  Stanhope  died  suddenly ;  and  Sunderland,  after 
being  acquitted  of  the  charges  of  malversation  brought  against  him, 
retired  from  office,  and  soon  afterwards  died. 

15.  The  misfortunes  of  their  rivals  gave  the  leaders  of  the 
Whig  schism  of  1717  a  chance  to  win  back  place.  In  the  general 
distress  of  the  nation,  it  was  thought  wise  that  the 

party  should  again  present  a  united  front.     Towns-    prjme 
hend  and  Walpole  came  back  to  office,  and  in  1721    minister, 
Walpole  became  the  chief  minister  as  first  lord  of  the 
treasury  and  chancellor  of  the   exchequer.      He   was  the  ablest 
financier  of  his  generation,  and  his  judicious  measures  soon  re- 
stored public  credit  and  confidence. 

16.  A  long  calm  succeeded  the  storm  of  1720.     Walpole  (Sir 
Robert  Walpole  after  1725)  remained  in  power  for  the    Death  of 
rest  of  the  old  king's  reign,  and  under  him  England    George  I., 
again   became    peaceful    and  prosperous.     In  1727 

George  1.  died,  when  on  a  visit  to  Hanover,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  George,  prince  of  Wales. 


CHAPTER   II 
GEORGE  II.  (1727-1760) 

Chief  Dates : 

1727.    Accession  of  George  11. 
1731.     Second  Treaty  of  Vienna. 

1737.  Porteous  Riots. 

1738.  Third  Treaty  of  Vienna. 

1739.  War  with  Spain  ;  beginnings  of  the  Methodist  movement. 

1742.  Fall  of  Walpole. 

1743.  Battle  of  Dettingen;    England  join3  the  war  of  the  Austrian 

succession. 

1745.  Jacobite  revolt ;  battle  of  Fontenoy. 

1746.  Battle  of  Culloden. 
1748.  Treaty  of  Aachen. 
1754.     Death  of  Henry  Pelham. 

1756.  Beginning  of  Seven  Years'  War. 

1757.  Pitt's  Ministry  formed ;  battle  of  Plassey. 

1759.  Battles  of  Quebec  and  Minden. 

1760.  Death  of  George  II. 

1.  George  11.  was  over  forty  when  lie  became  king,  and  was 
almost  as  much  of  a  German  as  his  father,  though  he  could  speak 
Ge  ee  II  English  fluently,  and  had  more  knowledge  of  British 
and  Caro-  affairs  than  George  1.  He  was  regular,  business-like, 
line  of  straightforward,  just,  a  brave  soldier,  and  a  shrewd 

observer  of  foreign  politics.  He  was  small-minded, 
vain,  selfish,  hot-tempered,  greedy  for  money,  and  a  despiser 
of  learning.  He  was  under  the  influence  of  his  clever  wife, 
Caroline  of  Anspach,  who  showed  her  good  sense  by  inducing 
her  husband  to  keep  "Walpole  in  power,  though  George  disliked 
him  because  he  had  been  the  faithful  minister  of  his  father.  The 
result  of  this  was  that  Walpole  remained  in  office  for  more  than 
twenty  years. 

2.  The  long  ministry  of  Walpole  best  illustrates  the  strong  and 
the  weak  points  of  the  rule  of  the  Whig  aristocracy.  He  was  a 
shrewd  man  of  business,  whose  aim  was  to  keep  his  party  in  power 
and  retain  for  himself  the  chief  position  in  his  party.  He  was 
no  orator,  but  a  skilful  debater,  who  thoroughly  understood  the 
546 


1727]  GEORGE  II.  547 

management  of  men,  and  had  a  complete  insight  into  the  temper 
of  the  House  of  Commons.     He  was  a  successful  administrator  and 
a  very  able  financier.     He  disliked  violent  changes, 
and  was  careful  not  to  rouse  up  opposition  by  attack-   and  policy 
ing  vested  interests.     "  Let  sleeping  dogs  lie  "  and   of  Walpole, 
quieta  non  movere  were  his  favourite  sayings.     In  -1742. 

this  spirit  he  sought  to  conciliate  the  Dissenters  without  irritating 
the  Church.  The  Dissenters  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and 
Corporation  Acts,  and  "Walpole  professed  every  sympathy  with 
them.  But  he  kept  putting  them  off  from  year  to  year,  and  at 
last  refused  to  carry  out  their  wishes.  He  was  afraid  to  stir  up  the 
fierce  ecclesiastical  passions  which  had  brought  such  harm  to  the 
Whigs  in  the  days  of  the  trial  of  Sacheverell.  But  any  measure 
that  helped  the  Dissenters  without  annoying  the  High  Churchmen 
met  his  entire  approval.  Though  he  would  not  repeal  the  Test 
Act,  he  passed  every  year  an  Indemnity  Act,  by  which  the  penalties 
imposed  on  those  who  broke  the  Test  Act  were  remitted.  This 
curious  compromise  went  on  from  1727  to  1828.  All  that  time  the 
Test  Act  remained  the  law,  but  the  Dissenters  who  held  office  in 
defiance  of  the  law  were  excused  by  annual  acts  from  the  punish- 
ment they  had  incurred  for  breaking  it. 

3.  Walpole  practised  with  great  skill  the  arts  of  managing 
elections  and  controlling  the  House  of  Commons.  He  took  care 
to  conciliate  public  opinion  and  to  please  the  average  parliamen- 
Englishman.  But  he  was  quite  willing  to  bribe  or  tary  man- 
to  browbeat,  when  more  legitimate  measures  were  not  aSement- 
sufficient  for  his  purpose.  He  had  no  high  ideals,  but  was  coarse, 
callous,  and  corrupt.  Under  him  bribery  became  a  regular  system, 
and  many  members  of  parliament  were  kept  faithful  to  the  govern- 
ment by  sinecure  places  and  even  direct  payments  of  money.  Yet 
crooked  as  were  his  means,  Walpole's  ends  were  patriotic  and 
honourable.  He  saw  that  the  country  required  rest  after  the 
storms  through  which  it  had  passed,  and  aimed  at  giving  it  what  he 
knew  was  best  for  it.  He  brought  the  country  gentry  round  from 
Jacobitism  to  support  the  new  dynasty.  He  kept  the  merchants 
and  tradesmen  Whigs  by  his  sound  commercial  and  financial 
measures.  Many  more  high-minded  statesmen  have  done  less  good 
to  their  country  than  this  sagacious  worldling. 

4.  Walpole  was  so  much  the  strongest  of  the  ministers  that  he 
was  able  to  assume  a  position  of  superiority  over  his  colleagues 
that  no  previous  minister  had  aspired  to.  It  took  a  long  time  to 
reconcile  Englishmen  to  the  idea  of  a  cabinet;  but  they  were 


548  GEORGE  II.  [1727- 

even  more  suspicious  of  the  notion  of  a  Prime  Minister,  thinking 
that  such  an  offi.ce  threatened  both  the  supreme  position  of  the 
Walpole  the  crown  an<l  the  right  of  all  the  chief  ministers  to  be 
first  Prime  regarded  as  equal  associates  with  each  other.  Under 
Minister.  "William  in.  and  Anne,  the  monarch  presided  at  cabinet 
councils,  but  when  the  Hanoverian  kings  absented  themselves 
from  a  body  whose  deliberations  they  could  not  readily  follow,  it 
was  found  necessary  for  some  one  minister  to  take  the  chair  and 
direct  the  debates.  Moreover,  the  growth  of  the  party  system  made 
a  leader  a  necessity,  to  whom  the  party  could  look  up  for  direction 
and  encouragement.  Walpole's  great  ability  and  masterful  dis- 
position combined  to  make  him  the  first  real  prime  minister  that 
English  history  knows.  Yet,  even  when  exercising  the  power, 
Walpole  disclaimed  the  name  of  prime  minister,  because  his 
enemies  regarded  it  as  a  matter  of  reproach  that  he  seemed  to 
dictate  the  whole  policy  of  the  government,  and  degrade  colleagues 
who  should  have  been  his  equals  into  subordinates  compelled  to 
carry  out  his  orders. 

5.  Walpole  had  to  exert  all  his  skill  to  keep  order  among  the 
ministers.  Every  servant  of  the  crown  resented  his  chief's  habit  of 
The  oppo-  domineering,  and  was  indignant  that  his  own  power 
sition  to  was  so  circumscribed.     It  had  been  common  in  earlier 

Walpole.  ^yg  £or  one  master  to  intrigue  against  another,  but 
Walpole  thought  that  the  party  system  required  from  all  ministers 
loyalty  to  the  prime  minister,  and  a  general  acceptance  of  his  policy. 
His  colleagues  cherished  their  independence,  and  strove  hard  to  un- 
dermine his  influence.  The  result  was  that  minister  after  minister 
was  brought  into  conflict  with  him,  and,  being  worsted,  was  driven 
from  power.  So  early  as  1724  he  dismissed  Lord  Carteret,  the 
king's  favourite  minister,  from  the  office  of  secretary  of  state, 
because  Carteret  did  his  best  to  prevent  Walpole  establishing  a 
cordial  alliance  with  France.  Pulteney,  the  chief  Whig  orator, 
also  broke  with  him,  and  Walpole  came  into  conflict  with  his 
brother-in-law,  Townshend,  who  was  annoyed  at  his  increasing 
ascendency.  Walpole  himself  put  the  real  cause  of  the  quarrel 
clearly  enough  when  he  said,  "  As  long  as  the  firm  was  Towns- 
hend and  Walpole,  the  utmost  harmony  prevailed,  but  when  the 
firm  became  Walpole  and  Townshend,  everything  went  wrong." 
Townshend  maintained  that  as  secretary  of  state  he  was  respon- 
sible to  the  king  only,  and  not  to  the  first  lord  of  the  treasury. 
As  he  could  not  gain  his  point,  he  resigned  office,  and  retired  into 
private  life.   The  majority  of  the  fallen  ministers,  however,  plunged 


-1742.]  GEORGE  II.  549 

into  furious  opposition,  and  denounced  Walpole  for  ambition  and 
corruption.  They  called  themselves  the  Patriot  Whigs,  and  took  a 
very  high  line  in  everything.  Walpole  treated  them 
with  great  contempt.  "  All  these  men,"  he  said,  "  have  whlgs 
their  price."  But  he  did  not  choose  to  pay  the  high 
price  necessary  to  buy  back  the  support  of  the  factious  seceders 
from  his  party.  He  preferred  to  go  on  ruling  with  the  help  of  men 
of  less  brilliant  parts  but  of  more  trustworthy  character.  Con- 
spicuous among  those  who  still  adhered  to  him  were  Thomas  Pelham, 
duke  of  Newcastle-under-Lyme,  and  his  brother,  Henry  Pelham.  • 
6.  "Walpole  took  little  pains  to  conciliate  the  younger  generation 
of  politicians,  and  most  of  the  rising  men  joined  the  Patriots  in 
opposing  him.  In  his  scornful  way  Walpole  laughed  jhe  «<  Boys  » 
at  them,  calling  them  the  "  Boys,"  and  affecting  to  and  Wil- 
despise  them.  But  one  of  the  "  boys  "  was  a  man  of  llam  p 
far  loftier  ideals  and  more  power  to  move  men  than  Walpole 
had  ever  possessed.  This  was  William  Pitt,  whose  impassioned 
eloquence,  unswerving  honesty,  and  contempt  for  jobbery  and  the 
tricks  of  the  politician's  trade,  had  already  won  for  him  a  unique 
position.  Like  the  Patriots,  Pitt  and  the  Boys  were  all  professed 
Whigs.  Since  the  fall  of  Bolingbroke  the  Tory  party  had  been 
represented  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  two  or  three  score  of 
country  gentlemen,  despised  for  their  want  of  ability,  Bolingbroke 
and  suspected  of  being  more  friendly  to  the  pretender  and  the 
than  to  King  George.  However,  a  revival  of  the  New  Tories- 
Tory  party  was  now  brought  about  by  the  same  restless  genius 
that  had  formerly  destroyed  it.  Convinced  by  his  personal  rela- 
tions with  the  pretender  that  Jacobitism  was  a  lost  cause,  Boling- 
broke made  his  peace  with  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  in  1723  was 
suffered  to  return  to  England.  Henceforth  he  devoted  all  his  social 
charm  and  literary  skill  to  building  up  a  new  Tory  party,  purged 
of  all  suspicion  of  Jacobitism.  So  loyal  was  he  now  to  the  German 
dynasty  that  he  loudly  professed  his  wish  to  save  the  monarchy 
from  its  dependence  on  the  Whig  faction  and  to  inspire  it  with 
a  mission  to  lead  the  people  and  to  exercise  to  the  full  all  its 
prerogatives.  Though  the  old  king  was  not  won  over,  Boling- 
broke found  a  disciple  in  his  son  Frederick,  prince  of  Wales,  who 
was  on  as  bad  terms  with  his  father  as  George  himself  had  been 
with  George  1.  Frederick  was  a  shallow,  worthless  man,  but  he 
was  pleased  to  pose  as  a  true  English  prince,  and  glad  to  annoy 
his  father  by  associating  himself  with  the  opposition  to  Walpole 
Round  his  court  at  Leicester  House  the  chief  enemies  of  Walpole 


550  GEORGE  II.  [1727- 

met  on  common  ground,  and  Bolingbroke  cleverly  suggested  the 
part  which  Frederick  was  to  play  "by  his  pamphlet  On  the  Idea  of 
a  Patriot  King.  Most  of  the  men  of  letters  lent  their  pens  to  the 
opposition.  Among  them  was  the  poet  James  Thomson,  who  wrote 
his  Rule  Britannia  as  the  popular  song  of  the  new  national  party. 
In  a  few  years  a  powerful  hut  heterogeneous  opposition  had  at 
least  this  much  unity  of  policy  that  it  agreed  in  assailing  the  prime 
minister.  But  despite  Patriots,  Boys,  New  Tories,  and  the  prince 
of  Wales,  Walpole  still  commanded  a  parliamentary  majority, 
as  well  as  the  vigorous  support  of  the  king,  though  he  lost  a 
sturdy  friend  in  1737  by  the  death  of  Queen  Caroline. 

7.  Gradually  the  opposition  began  to  make  head  against  the 
minister.     Its  first  triumph  was  in  1733,  when  its  unreasonable 

_  ..  clamour  forced  Walpole  to  give  up  his  Excise  Scheme, 

of  Walpole's    on  which  he  had  set  his  heart.     This  was  a  plan  to 

excise  turn  the  customs  duties,  first  on  tobacco  and  afterwards 

scli6mc 

on  wine,  into  excise  duties — that  is  to  say,  to  convert 

taxes  levied  at  the  ports  when  the  commodities  came  into  the 

country  into  internal  dues,  paid  at  the  warehouse  when  the  goods 

were  required  for  consumption.     One  of  Walpole's  chief  motives 

for  effecting  this  change  was  the  wide  prevalence  of  smuggling  by 

which  customs  duties  were  evaded.     Another  object  that  he  had  was 

to  make  England  a  central  market  where  all  nations  could  buy  and 

sell  freely,  without  their  trade  being  hampered  by  the  necessity  of 

paying  outport  charges.    The  scheme  was  a  wise  one,  and  Walpole 

believed  that,  without  adding  to  the  burdens  borne  by  taxpayers,  it 

would  so  largely  increase  the  revenue  that  he  would  be  able  to 

conciliate  the  country  gentry  by  reducing  the  land  tax.    Unluckily 

the  name  "  excise  "  was  an  unpopular  one,  partly  because  it  suggested 

the  visiting  of  every  man's  house  by  prying  excisemen,  and  partly 

because  it  had  been  borrowed  from  the  Dutch,  who  were  still  far 

from  being  loved.     The  opposition  made  an  unscrupulous  use  of 

the  weapon  which  prejudice  put  into  their  hands.     They  said  that 

Walpole  was  preparing  the  way  for  a  general  excise,  and  that  his 

excisemen  would  rob  Englishmen  of  their  liberty  by  violating  the 

sanctity  of  their  homes.     Walpole  held  his  ground  for  a  time,  but 

saw  that  even  if  he  could  carry  his  plan  through  parliament,  he 

could  only  enforce  it  on  the  people  at  the  risk  of  bloodshed.     At 

last  he  reluctantly  withdrew  the  scheme,  convinced  that,  however 

wise  his  design  was,  it  was  not  expedient  to  carry  it  out. 

8.  Four  years  later,  in  1737,  Walpole  received  another  check. 
The  Edinburgh  mob,  irritated  at  the  harshness  of  Porteous,  the 


-1742.]  GEORGE  II. 


551 


captain  of  the  city  guard,  broke  open  the  Tolbooth,  or  city  prison, 

and  hanged  Porteous  in  the  public  place  of  execution.     Walpole 

proposed  to  punish  this  lawless  act  by  taking  away 

the  charter  of  Edinburgh.    Again  the  opposition  was   JJJI °£t 

up  in  arms  against  this  attack  on  the  liberties  of  a   in  Edin- 

great  city.     Even  the  Scotch  members,  who  received  a   ^^?hf 

regular  salary  to  vote  for  the  government,  refused  to 

support  the  bill,  and  Walpole  dropped  the  essential  parts  of  it.    A 

proposal  to  give  a  pension  to  the  murdered  man's  widow  got  through 

parliament  with  the  greatest  difficulty. 

9.  "Walpole's  foreign  policy  opened  up  easier  chances  of  attack 
than  his  prudent  and  unadventurous  domestic  administration.  The 
prime  minister  remained  faithful  to  the  principles  he 
had  upheld  when  Stanhope  drove  him  from  office,  and  treaties  of 
in  the  fulness  of  his  power  had  the  courage  to  break  Vienna, 
with  the  bad  Whig  tradition  of  excessive  interference  j^j  and 
with  the  affairs  of  Europe.  All  through  his  tenure  of 
office  the  peace  of  Europe  was  endangered  by  the  persistent  efforts 
of  Philip  v.  of  Spain  to  upset  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  Urged  on  by 
his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Farnese,  a  princess  of  Parma  by  birth, 
he  strove  to  establish  their  children  in  Italian  principalities  at  the 
expense  of  Austria.  Besides  that,  Charles  vi.,  who  still  resented 
the  Barrier  Treaty,  continued  very  angry  with  England  and 
Holland,  or,  as  they  were  called,  the  maritime  powers.  Charles, 
though  hating  his  old  rival  in  Spain,  had  a  common  grievance 
with  Philip  in  his  dislike  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  At  last,  in 
1725,  a  clever  Dutch  adventurer,  named  Bipperda,  who  had,  like 
Alberoni,  won  the  confidence  of  Philip  and  his  wife,  persuaded  the 
king  and  the  emperor  that  they  could  best  attain  their  ends  by 
forgetting  their  old  feuds  and  making  a  treaty  of  alliance.  This 
was  done  by  the  first  treaty  of  Vienna  of  1725.  Thereupon  the 
maritime  powers,  inspired  by  Walpole,  united  with  France,  then 
ruled  by  Cardinal  Fleury,  in  the  treaty  of  Hanover  of  1726,  which 
aimed  at  upholding  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  against  Spain  and 
Austria.  Europe  was  threatened  with  a  general  war,  and  in  1727 
there  was  some  half-hearted  fighting  between  England  and  Spain. 
But  the  firebrand  Bipperda  fell  suddenly  from  power  like  Alberoni, 
and  Walpole  and  Fleury  struggled  so  earnestly  for  peace  that 
hostilities  were  soon  suspended.  Spain  and  England  signed,  in  1729, 
the  peace  of  Seville,  and  in  1731  the  second  treaty  of  Vienna 
completed  the  pacification  of  Europe.  It  was  a  great  triumph  for 
Walpole  to  have  avoided  without  dishonour  a  Europjan  war. 


552  GEORGE  II.  [1738- 

10.  Two  years  later  another  war  broke  out,  called  the  War  of 
the  Polish  Succession,  though  in  reality  one  of  the  chief  objects 

for  which  it  was  fought  was  to  establish  Don  Carlos, 
Treaty  of  ^-e  son  °^  Philip  v.  and  Elizabeth  Farnese,  on  the 
Vienna,  throne  of  Naples  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Austrians. 

Franco  and  Spain  again  united,«and  Spanish  troops 
drove  Charles  vi.  out  of  Naples  and  Sicily.  It  was  a  glaring 
violation  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  but  Walpole  steadily  refused  to 
take  any  part  in  it.  "  This  year,"  he  boasted,  "  ten  thousand  men 
have  been  slain  in  Europe,  but  not  one  of  them  was  an  Englishman." 
He  was  as  anxious  for  peace  with  France  as  ever,  even  though  he 
knew  that  Philip  v.  and  Louis  xv.  had  signed  a  Family  Compact 
by  which  they  bound  themselves  to  act  against  England.  The 
result  was  that  Austria  had  to  give  way  and  sign,  in  1738,  the  third 
or  definitive  treaty  of  Vienna,  which  set  up  a  third  Bourbon 
monarchy  in  favour  of  Don  Carlos  in  Naples. 

11.  Many  Englishmen,  who  had  no  love  of  war,  thought  that 
Walpole's  desire  for  peace  had  carried  him  too  far  in  not  opposing 
Outbreak  of  Spain  in  this  business.  The  revival  of  the  Spanish 
war  with  power  made  politicians  exceedingly  suspicious  of 
Spain,  1739.  pfrjijp  v.,  and  commercial  difficulties  soon  arose  which 
strained  the  relations  between  England  and  the  Peninsula.  The 
Spaniards,  who  claimed  a  monopoly  of  all  traffic  with  their  colonies, 
bitterly  resented  the  limited  right  of  trade  with  them  given  to 
England  at  Utrecht,  and  had  good  reason  to  complain  of  the  im- 
mense system  of  smuggling  which  English  sailors  established 
under  cover  of  the  commercial  clauses  of  the  treaty.  They  care- 
fully searched  English  vessels  for  smuggled  goods,  and  loud  com- 
plaints were  raised  of  the  harshness  with  which  the  Spanish 
officials  exercised  their  right  of  search  at  the  expense  of  British 
subjects.  At  last  a  great  cry  arose  that  British  honour  must  be 
vindicated  by  a  declaration  of  war  with  Spain,  and  Walpole  was 
bitterly  attacked  by  the  opposition  for  his  carelessness  and  contempt 
of  his  country's  interests.  The  demand  became  so  persistent  that 
"Walpole  saw  that  he  must  either  submit  or  resign  office.  In  1739 
he  declared  war  against  Spain.  However,  he  conducted  it  so  slug- 
gishly that  the  opposition  had  good  reason  for  denouncing  his 
half-heartedness. 

12.  In  1740  new  troubles  arose  on  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  vi.  A  European  coalition  was  formed  to  break  up  the 
Austrian  monarchy  and  to  prevent  Charles's  daughter,  Maria 
Theresa,  succeeding  to  her  father's  inheritance.     Again  Walpole 


-1746.]  GEORGE  II.  553 

refused  to  interfere,  and  once  more  there  was  bitter  denunciation 
of  his  neglect  to  uphold  British  interests  and  treaty  obligations. 
By  this  time  the  minister's  position  had  become  much 
weakened.   The  opposition  grew  in  strength,  and  after   T*ie  ^us" 
the  general  election  of  1741,  it  commanded  a  majority   ^^00!°' 
of  the  House  of  Commons.     The  king,  who  disliked    1740,  and 
his  pacific  policy,  went  against  him,  and  early  in  1742    weifa,{  of 
he  was  forced  to  resign.   There  was  talk  of  impeaching    1 742. 
him,  but  the  day  was  past  when  a  triumphant  oppo- 
sition could  glut  its  spite  by  the  judicial  condemnation  of  its  beaten 
rivals.     The  king  made  him  earl  of  Orf ord,  and  he  still  had  friends 
in  office  to  save  him  from  all  serious  attack.     He  died  in  1745. 
"With  all  his  faults  he  had  given  England  peace,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

13.  There  was  no  great  change  of  policy  at  home  after  Walpole's 
fall.    The  opposition  agreed  in  nothing  but  in  attacking  the  common 
enemy,  and  neither  the  Tories  nor  the  Boys  were  suffered   _     _ 
to  hold  office.     The  ministry  remained  purely  Whig,    teret  min- 
and  Walpole's  chief  friends,  the  Pelhams,  retained  their   istry,  1 742- 
offices.    George  put  into  Walpole's  post  an  incompetent 
courtier  named  Lord  Wilmington,  on  whose  death,  in  1743,  Henry 
Pelham    himself  became    prime  minister.     More  powerful  than 
Wilmington  was  Lord  Carteret  (afterwards  Earl  Granville),  who  was 
secretary  of  state.     He  was  the  ablest  and  most  attractive  states- 
man of  his  day,  and  knew  more  about  foreign  affairs  than  any 
other  English  politician.     He  was  a  special  favourite  of  the  king, 
because  he  could  talk  German,  and  sympathized  with  his  foreign 
policy.     But  he  was  irregular,  dissipated,  unbusinesslike,  and  con- 
temptuous of  routine.     The  Pelhams  gradually  under-   j^  peinam 
mined  his  influence,  and,  despite  the  favour  of  the  king,   ministry, 
he  was  forced  to  resign  in  1744.     His  retirement,  even 
more  than  Wilmington's  death,  set  Henry  Pelham  free  to  govern 
the   country  after    hi?  own    fashion.     A    thorough    disciple    of 
Walpole,  he  ruled  England  in  accordance  with  Walpole's  ideas. 
But  he  learnt  from  his  master's  mistakes  the  need  of  conciliating 
every  strong   interest,   and   therefore  formed    what  was    called 
a  Broad  Bottom  Administration,  which  took  in   every   section 
of    the  Whigs,  and  even  found   room  for   one   or  two  Tories. 
Nothing  but  George's  personal  dislike  kept  William  Pitt  out  of 
office,  and  in  1746  Pelham  forced  the  king  to  give  way  and  make  . 
the  eloquent  orator  paymaster  of  the  forces.     From  this  time  to   J 
the  death  of  Pelham  in  1754,  there  was  no  further  ministerial 


554  GEORGE  II.  [1739- 

crisis.  The  disciple  of  Walpole  healed  the  Whig  schism  that 
followed  his  fall,  as  effectively  as  "Walpole  himself  had  reunited 
the  party  after  the  collapse  of  the  South  Sea  scheme. 

14.  A  great  European  war  made  it  desirable  that  England 
should  he  at  peace  with  itself.     Since  1739  there  had  been  fighting 

at  sea  between  England  and  Spain,  and  since  1743 
the  Aus-  George  n.  and  Carteret  had  involved  England  in  the 

trian  sue-  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  which  raged  on  the 
mS  174S      continent  from  1740  to  1748.     Troubles  began  with 

the  death,  in  1740,  of  the  Emperor  Charles  vr.,  the 
Archduke  Charles  of  the  succession  war  in  Spain.  Having  no 
sons,  Charles  had  drawn  up  a  document,  called  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  which  declared  that  the  various  states  which  constituted 
the  Austrian  dominions  should  never  be  broken  up,  and  that  his 
elder  daughter,  the  Archduchess  Maria  Theresa,  had  the  right  to 
succeed  to  the  whole  of  them.  He  had  persuaded  nearly  every 
European  power  to  guarantee  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  but  his 
death  was  followed  by  a  general  attempt  to  partition  his  territories. 
The  lead  in  this  was  taken  by  Frederick  n.  (the  Great),  who  had 
become  king  of  Prussia  in  1740,  and  who  soon  showed  a  daring  but 
unscrupulous  statecraft  and  a  matchless  insight  as  a  general,  which 
were  ultimately  to  win  for  his  little  kingdom  a  permanent  position 
among  the  chief  powers  of  Europe.  Frederick  laid  violent  hands 
upon  Silesia,  and  his  success  encouraged  Bavaria  and  Saxony  to 
invade  Bohemia.  Spain  and  Sardinia  threatened  the  Austrian 
power  in  Milan;  and  behind  all  these  powers  was  the  sinister 
influence  of  France.  Maria  Theresa  held  her  own  with  extreme 
difficulty.  Her  territories  were  overrun ;  her  subjects  of  doubtful 
loyalty;  and  she  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  her  husband, 
Francis  of  Lorraine,  rejected  by  the  electors,  who  preferred  to 
choose  her  rival,  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  as  the  Emperor  Charles  vu. 
It  was  the  first  time  for  three  hundred  years  that  an  emperor  had 
been  appointed  outside  the  house  of  HapsbArg. 

15.  In  1743  England  sent  large  subsidies  to  Maria  Theresa,  and 
Greorge  ir.,  who  was  eager  for  fighting,  took  command  of  a  large 
army  of  English  and  Hanoverian  troops,  which  moved  into  Central 
Germany,  so  as  to  threaten  Bavaria  and  turn  the  Bavarians  and 
Battle  of  their  French  allies  from  the  invasion  of  Austria.  On 
Dettingen,  June  27  George  won  a  battle  over  the  French  at 
1743.  Dettingen,  on  the  Main,  between  Aschaffenburg  and 
Frankfort.  It  was  the  last  battle  in  which  an  English  king 
commanded  in  person.     The   consequences  of    George's  victory 


-1745-1  GEORGE  II.  555 

were  considerable.  France  and  England,  who  had  hitherto  fought 
as  auxiliaries  of  the  foes  and  friends  of  Maria  Theresa,  declared 
war  against  each  other.  The  result  of  this  was  to  shift  the  centre 
of  conflict  from  Germany  to  the  Netherlands  and  the  ocean.  Maria 
Theresa  was  forced  by  the  English  and  Dutch  to  resign  Silesia  to 
Prussia.  She  hated  doing  this,  but  had  no  alternative,  as  her  allies 
would  not  support  her  until  she  had  bought  off  the  enemy  they 
chiefly  feared.  At  this  price  she  secured  the  succession  to  the 
rest  of  her  father's  lands,  and,  on  the  death  of  Charles  vn..  even 
Frederick  of  Prussia  voted  for  her  husband  as  emperor.  "With  the 
accession  of  Francis  1.  to  the  empire,  the  attempt  to  break  up  the 
Austrian  dominions  substantially  failed. 

16.  The  struggle  about  the  Austrian  succession  was  soon  blended 
with  a  contest  of  England  with  Spain  and  France  for  maritime  and 
colonial  supremacy.     The  land  war  was  now  mainly   Battle  of 
concentrated    in    the   Southern  Netherlands,  out  of   Fontenoy, 
which  the  French  made   desperate  efforts  to  drive   1745* 

the  Austrians  and  Dutch.  To  assist  her  allies,  England  now 
sent  to  that  region  a  strong  force,  commanded  by  "William,  duke 
of  Cumberland,  George  n.'s  second  son.  On  May  11,  1745, 
Cumberland  was  beaten  in  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Fontenoy, 
near  Tournai.  The  French  then  began  to  capture  the  great 
barrier  fortresses,  a  task  soon  made  more  easy  by  the  withdrawal 
of  most  of  the  English  troops  to  suppress  rebellion  at  home. 

17.  Jacobitism  revived  as  a  result  of  the  •  breach  of  the  long 
friendship  of  France  and  Britain.  The  French  thought  that  a 
good  way  of  diverting  the  English  from  defending  TheJaco- 
the  Netherlands  was  to  excite  a  rising  in  favour  of  bite  revolt 
the  Stewarts.  The  pretender  was  now  getting  an  of  1745, 
old  man,  but  his  son  Charles  Edward,  called  the  Young  Pretender 
by  his  foes  and  the  prince  of  Wales  by  his  partisans,  was  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  was  more  fitted  to  stir  up  enthusiasm 
for  his  cause  than  his  melancholy  and  incompetent  father. 
The  French  planned  an  invasion  of  England,  which  Charles 
Edward  was  to  accompany.  But,  in  1744,  a  terrible  storm 
destroyed  the  fleet  destined  to  take  the  young  pretender  to  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors,  and  after  that  the  French  neglected 
him.  Weary  with  delay,  the  gallant  prince  resolved  to  take 
his  fortunes  into  his  own  hands.  He  collected  what  money  he 
could,  hired  two  ships,  and,  without  the  knowledge  of  either  the 
French  government  or  his  father,  sailed  for  the  Highlands,  and 
on  July  25, 174-3,  landed  with  only  seven  companions  near  Moidart, 


556  GEORGE  II.  [1745-  ' 

on  the  west  coast  of  Inverness-shire.  He  called  npon  the  clans  to 
follow  him,  bnt  even  the  Highland  chiefs,  his  loyal  and  chivalrons 
supporters,  were  aghast  at  the  rashness  of  his  enterprise,  and 
advised  him  to  go  back  to  France.  But  a  trifling  success  over 
two  companies  of  soldiers,  sent  out  to  apprehend  the  invaders, 
stirred  up  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Highlanders.  The  marquis  of 
Tullibardine,  who  had  forfeited  his  duchy  of  Atholl  for  his  treason 
in  1715,  appeared  in  the  Perthshire  Highlands,  and  roused  the 
Stewarts  of  Atholl  to  the  Jacobite  cause.  Before  long  Macdonalds, 
Camerons,  and  other  Jacobite  clans  mustered  by  the  thousand 
round  the  prince's  standards.  General  Cope,  commander  of  King 
George's  troops  in  Scotland,  managed  matters  so  badly  that  Charles 
Edward  soon  found  the  way  to  the  Lowlands  open  before  him.  In 
September  he  marched  into  Edinburgh,  and  proclaimed  his  father 
as  James  vm.  from  the  market  cross  of  the  capital.  Thence  he 
marched  out  against  Cope,  who  had  taken  up  a  position  at 
Preston  Pans,  a  few  miles  to  the  east.  On  September  21  he 
easily  won  the  battle  of  Preston  Pans. 

18.  For  two  months  Charles  Edward  kept  his  court  at 
Holyrood,  and  his  personal  charm  and  gallant  bearing  won  him 
The  march  nmch  devotion  and  support.  But  most  Lowland  Scots 
to  Derby,        remained  indifferent  to  the  claims   of  a  popish  pre- 

7    '  tender,  supported  by  a  rabble  of  plundering   High- 

landers. Great  efforts  were  made  by  the  government  to  suppress 
the  rising,  and  Charles  saw  that  if  he  waited,  doing  nothing  at 
Edinburgh,  the  game  would  soon  be  up.  The  wise  rashness  that 
had  led  him  to  land  at  Moidart  now  inspired  him  to  attempt  an 
invasion  of  England,  though  his  counsellors  denounced  the  enter- 
prise as  madness.  Before  the  end  of  November  the  Highlanders 
were  again  on  the  march.  They  captured  Carlisle  very  easily,  and 
proceeded  without  opposition  through  Cumberland  and  Lancashire. 
Bitterly  to  Charles's  disappointment,  the  Tories  and  Churchmen 
of  Northern  England  showed  as  little  zeal  for  his  cause  as  the 
Whigs  and  Presbyterians  of  Southern  Scotland.  He  gained  very 
few  recruits ;  his  greatest  success  was  at  Manchester,  where  a  force 
of  some  two  hundred  men  was  levied  under  a  Catholic  Lancashire 
squire.  But  he  pressed  on  as  far  south  as  Derby,  though  armies 
far  stronger  than  his  own  were  gathering  on  every  side,  and  the 
Highlanders,  unaccustomed  to  prolonged  warfare,  were  growing 
weary  of  their  absence  from  home  and  of  the  discomforts  of  a 
winter  campaign. 

19.  On  December  6  Charles  was,  against  his  better  judgment. 


17-45  1 


GEORGE  II. 


557 


Emery  W«lkcr  ■£. 


55^  GEORGE  II.  [1746- 

forced  by  his  advisers  to  retrace  bis  steps.  He  made  bis  way  safely 
back  to  Scotland,  only  to  find  that  in  bis  absence  most  of  the  Low- 
Battles  of  km^s  nad  been  won  back  by  the  Hanoverians.  He  had 
Falkirk  and  still  to  retreat  before  them  back  to  the  Highlands.  A 
CuN?den«        last  gleam  of  success  shone  on  his  cause  on  January 

17, 1746,  when  he  inflicted  a  severe  check  on  General 
Hawley  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk.  Cumberland,  recalled  from  the 
Netherlands,  now  took  up  the  command  of  the  king's  troops,  and 
Charles  fled  before  him  beyond  the  Grampians.  At  last,  on  April 
16,  the  Highland  army  was  attacked  by  Cumberland  at  Culloden 
Moor,  near  Inverness.  Experience  had  at  hist  taught  the  soldiers 
how  to  meet  the  fierce  rush  of  the  Highland  charge.  They  stood 
with  fixed  bayonets,  reserving  their  fire  until  the  enemy  was  close 
upon  them,  and  then  firing  a  volley,  which  inflicted  terrible  execu- 
tion. Thrice  the  gallant  clansmen  rallied  to  the  charge,  but  each 
time  they  were  driven  back  with  loss.  Then  the  soldiers  charged  in 
their  turn,  and  slew  many  at  the  bayonet's  point.  No  quarter  was 
given,  and  the  rebels  were  punished  so  brutally  that  Cumberland 
won  the  nickname  of  the  Butcher.  Great  efforts  were  made  to 
capture  Charles  Edward,  and  a  huge  reward  offered  for  his 
apprehension.  But  the  poor  Highlanders  kept  with  remarkable 
loyalty  the  secret  of  his  hiding-places,  and,  after  many  hairbreadth 
escapes,  he  succeeded  in  escaping  to  France.  Disappointment 
soured  his  better  nature,  and  he  showed  a  weakness  of  character 
that  could  not  bear  adversity  with  dignity.  He  became  a  confirmed 
drunkard,  and,  though  he  lived  till  1788,  lost  all  influence.  On 
his  death,  his  brother  Henry,  a  Churchman  and  a  cardinal,  called 
himself  Henry  ix.,  but  he  was  so  poor  that  he  was  forced  to  take  a 
pension  from  George  in.  Jacobitism  had  become  a  mere  sentiment 
long  before  this  hist  representative  of  the  ill-fated  house  of  Stewart 
died  in  1807. 

20.  The  suppression  of  the  Highland  revolt  was  followed  by 
the  putting  down  of  the  old  Highland  anarchy  that  had  made  the 
The  s  bi  -  rebellion  possible.  The  clans  were  disarmed,  and  for- 
gation  of  bidden  to  wear  their  national  dress.  Great  efforts 
tne  High-        were  made  to  break  down  the  warm  attachment  felt 

for  the  clan  chieftains.  The  friends  of  Charles  were 
driven  into  exile,  and  the  Episcopalian  and  Catholic  clergy  cruelly 
persecuted.  Hard  roads  connected  the  garrisons  established  to 
keep  the  clansmen  down,  and  schools  were  established  to  spread  a 
knowledge  of  English.  Within  a  generation  the  whole  social 
condition  of  the  Highlands  was  changed.     The  Celtic  chieftain 


-1748.]  GEORGE  II.  559 

became  like  the  Lowland  landlord,  and  the  clansman  became  a  dis- 
contented crofter,  paying  a  huge  rent  for  a  little  farm  that  would 
hardly  maintain  his  family.  Some  of  the  more  daring  spirits  joined 
the  Highland  regiments  which  parliament  caused  to  be  raised. 
Later  on  there  was  a  great  emigration  to  America.  The  Highlands 
became  peaceful  and  law-abiding,  but  in  the  process  many  of  the 
finest  features  of  Gaelic  life  had  been  destroyed. 

21.  The  continental  war  still  went  on,  and  the  French  had 
taken  advantage  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  English  troops  from  the 
Austrian  Netherlands  to  conquer  the  greater  part  of  The  treaty 
that  district,  and  to  threaten  the  United  Provinces  of  Aachen, 
with  invasion.  But,  as  in  1672,  the  Dutch  resolutely  * 748# 
repulsed  the  invader.  In  other  fields  the  French  had  not  been 
successful.  They  had  lost  many  colonies,  and  their  fleets  had  been 
defeated  by  the  English  and  Dutch.  An  English  sailor,  Captain 
Anson,  plundered  the  Spaniards  in  the  Pacific,  like  another  Drake, 
and,  like  Drake,  completed  his  hazardous  expedition  by  circum- 
navigating the  world  (1740-1744).  At  last  both  England  and 
France  were  willing  to  make  peace,  and  Maria  Theresa  was  forced 
to  fall  in  with  their  wishes.  The  war  was  ended  by  the  Treaty  of 
Aachen  of  1748,  by  which  England  and  France  mutually  restored 
all  conquests,  and  France  accepted  the  Protestant  succession  in 
England,  and  agreed  to  expel  the  pretender.  The  Pragmatic 
Sanction  was  guaranteed,  but  Maria  Theresa,  besides  the  loss  of 
Silesia,  was  forced  to  give  a  slice  of  the  Milanese  to  Sardinia,  and 
to  yield  up  Parma  as  a  duchy  for  Philip  v.'s  younger  son  Philip. 
She  was,  therefore,  very  indignant  with  the  English  and  Dutch, 
who,  she  believed,  cared  little  for  her  interests  as  long  as  their  own 
were  secured.  In  the  peace  between  England  and  Spain,  the 
question  of  the  "  right  of  search,"  which  had  started  the  war  in 
1739,  was  not  so  much  as  mentioned. 

22.  The  years  that  succeeded  the  peace  of  Aachen  were  marked 
by  great  prosperity.   Henry  Pelham,  the  prime  minister,  governed 
the  country  prudently  and  well.     Like  his  master,   pelham.s 
"Walpole,  he  disliked  great  changes,  and  he  was  even   domestic 
more  prudent  than  Walpole  in  conciliating  all  opposi-   r?5£m|k4 
tion.     The  chief  features  of  his  administration  were 

useful  measures  of  domestic  reform,  such  as  the  adoption  of  the 
New  Style  of  reckoning  dates  according  to  the  improved  Gregorian 
Calendar,  so  called  from  Pope  Gregory  xiii.  (1572-1585),  in  whose 
days  it  was  first  devised,  and  which  most  continental  nations  had 
already  accepted.'     There  was  eleven    days'   difference    of    time 


560  GEORGE  IT.  [1754- 

between  the  old  and  the  new  calendars.  Another  important  im- 
provement was  the  consolidation,  after  the  peace,  of  the  various 
loans  which  the  government  had  borrowed  into  a  single  stock, 
paying  the  uniform  rate  of  three  per  cent.  These  were  the  three 
per  cent,  consols  which  remained  famous  for  more  than  a  century. 

23.  The  quiet  times  continued  until  Henry  Pelham's  death  in 

1754.     "  Now,"   said  George  11.,   "  I  shall  have  no  more  peace." 

The  New-        This  was  true  enough,  for  the  declining  years  of  the 

castle  old  king  were  marked  by  a  revival  of  domestic  faction 

mi"^py         and  foreign  war.     Dull  and  commonplace  as  Henry 

Whig  Pelham  had  seemed,  he  had  shown   wonderful  tact, 

schism,  skill,  and  dexterifrv  in  preserving"  peace  both  at  home 

1754-1756 

and  abroad,  and  on  his  death  there  was  no  one  who 

could  step  into  his  place.     His  brother,  the  duke  of  Newcastle, 

became  prime   minister,  but  he  was  fussy,  incompetent,  and  so 

greedy  of  power  that  he  would  not  trust  the   other  ministers. 

Newcastle's  strongest  point  was  wonderful  craft  in  wirepulling  and 

intrigue,  but  his  blunders  soon  broke  up  the  ministry.     He  had  to 

appoint  a  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  succession  to  his 

brother,  but  he  was  too  jealous  to  give  him  a  free  hand,  and  found 

that  the  stronger  politicians  would  not  hold  office  on  the  terms  that 

he  offered.     For  a  time  he  strove  to  rule  the  Commons  with  the 

help  of  a  dull  diplomatist,  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  but  the  members 

so  soon  got  out  of  control  that  he  was  compelled  to  get  rid  of 

Robinson  and  give  his  office  to  Henry  Fox,  on  terms  that  made  Fox 

a  colleague  and  not  a  mere  subordinate.     Fox  was  a  very  able  man, 

the  best  debater  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  a  skilful  party 

manager,  but  he  was  selfish,  corrupt,  and  unpopular.     He  was  quite 

content  to  hold  a  lucrative  office  and  to  pile  up  a  fortune  for  himself. 

24.  Very  different  to  the  position  of  Fox  was  that  of  William 
Pitt,  who  from  1746  to  1754  had  been  a  subordinate  member  of  the 
William  Pelham  ministry.  On  Pelham's  death,  Pitt  soon  broke 
Pitt  and  with  Newcastle,  and  once  more  his  eloquent  voice  was 
the  Whig        raised  in  opposition  to  the  government.     He  was  so 

different  from  the  other  statesmen  of  the  day  that  his 
very  singularity  marked  him  out  as  a  person  apart.  He  had  never 
lost  that  command  of  the  popular  ear  which  he  had  won  when 
he  first  thundered  against  the  corruption  of  Walpole  and  the 
Hanoverian  foreign  policy  of  Carteret.  His  birth  excluded  him 
from  the  little  circle  of  great  families  which  divided  between  each 
other  the  government  of  England.  His  lofty  and  imperious  dis- 
position raised  him  above  the  timid  place-hunters  and  self-seeking 


-1760.]  GEORGE  II  561 

jobbers  who  made  politics  a  race  after  the  spoils.  He  appealed 
from  the  venal  politicians  in  Parliament  to  the  unrepresented 
masses  of  the  English  people,  so  that,  though  distrusted  at  court 
and  feared  by  place-hunters,  he  was  the  one  popular  hero  among 
the  statesmen  of  the  day.  His  withdrawal  from  Newcastle's 
ministry  weakened  it  immensely  in  public  opinion. 

25.  Newcastle's  unstable  position  would  not  have  mattered  if 
peace  had  continued ;  it  became  important,  since  England  was 
drifting  into  a  fresh  war.    The  earlier  stages  of  this 

found  England  unprepared  and  Newcastle  incompetent  T»nf uke 
to  grapple  with  the  situation.     Discontent  rose  high   shire's 
out-of-doors,  and  faction  became  intense  in  Parliament,   ministry, 

1756-1757 

In  1756  Newcastle  resigned,  and  the  duke  of  Devon- 
shire,  a    great   Whig  magnate  who    had  quarrelled  with  him, 
became  head  of  a  new  government,  and  gave  high  office  to  Pitt. 
But  the  Pitt-Devonshire  ministry  only  lasted  until  the  next  year. 
Without  Newcastle's  command    over  votes,   the  ministers  were 
unable  to  carry    their    measures    through  parliament.     Things 
seemed  at  a  deadlock,  when,  in  1757,  Devonshire  and  Pitt  resigned. 
But  it  was  no  time  for  English  statesmen  to  quarrel  when  disasters 
were  falling  thickly  upon  our  colours  in  every  part   Tn   pittm 
of  the  world.     It  was  at  last  found  possible  to  make  a   Newcastle 
coalition  between  Pitt  and  Newcastle,  by  which  they   ministry, 
jointly  became  sharers  of  power.     This  arrangement 
worked  well,  and  outlasted  the  reign  of  George  11.    Newcastle 
confined  himself  to  intrigue,  parliamentary  management,  and  the 
details  of  administration.     Scornfully  indifferent  to  such  sordid 
cares,  Pitt  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and 
under  his  guidance,  a  struggle  that  had  begun  disastrously  for 
England  soon  became  one   of  the  most  glorious  wars  that  this 
country  has  ever  waged. 

26.  The  war,  called  the  Seven  Years'  War,  had,  like  the  war  of 
the  Austrian  succession,  a  twofold  origin.     One  source  of  it  was 
a  contest  with  France  for  commercial,  colonial,  and   0piRln  of 
naval  supremacy ;  the  other  was  provoked  by  the  ques-   the  Seven 
tions  of  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe.   Though  inde-   JgJJ8' 
pendent  in  their  origin,  the  two  conflicts  soon  became 

blended  in  a  single  struggle,  which  raged  for  seven  years  over 
America,  India,  and  the  ocean,  as  well  as  upon-  the  continent  of 
Europe. 

27.  Ever  since  the  revolution,  England  had  been  growing 
steadily  richer  by  foreign  trade,  and  was  now  become  the  foremost 


$62  GEORGE  J  J.  [1740. 

commercial,  colonizing,  and  naval  power.  Holland,  her  rival  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  beaten  in  the  race  and  content  to  he 

her  satellite ;  hut  France,  her  nearest  rival,  watched 
and  colonial  ner  progress  with  constant  anxiety.  In  this  com- 
pivalry  of  mercial  competition,  even  more  than  in  jealousies  about 
Emrtand'         European  affairs,  lay  the  true  cause  of  the  long  conflict 

which,  save  in  the  days  of  Walpole,  made  England  and 
France  remain  almost  permanent  enemies  from  1688  down  to  the 
battle  of  Waterloo.  India,  America,  and  the  ocean  were  the  chief 
fields  of  this  hostility,  and  circumstances  now  sharpened  the  conflict 
in  all  these  directions. 

28.  India  had  been,  since  the  early  sixteenth  century,  a  great 
source  of  attraction  to  European  traders.     The  English  East  India 

Company  was  among  the  most  successful  of  the  associa- 
tradenftn  tions  of  foreign  merchants  whose  members  acquired 
India  under  great  wealth  by  the  trade  with  the  East.  The  com- 
the  Mogul       pany  had  long  had  trading  stations  or  factories  in 

India,  of  which  Fort  William  (Calcutta),  Fort  St. 
George  (Madras),  and  Bombay  were  the  most  important.  Since 
the  days  of  Louis  xiv.  it  had  found  its  chief  European  competitor 
in  the  French  East  India  Company,  whose  principal  factory  on  the 
mainland  was  at  Pondicherri,  south  of  Madras.  But  the  rivalry 
hitherto  had  been  that  of  men  of  business  competing  in  the  same 
markets.  India  was  ruled  by  the  great  Mohammedan  Mogul 
Empire,  whose  emperors  at  Delhi  governed  Northern  and  controlled 
Southern  India.  The  Moguls  were  strong  enough  to  prevent  any 
European  society  of  merchants  aspiring  to  establish  its  rule  over 
any  wide  tract  of  India  outside  their  own  factories.  But  in  1707- 
Aurangzeb,  the  last  great  Mogul  emperor,  died,  and  at  once  the 
Mogul  power  broke  up.  A  similar  state  of  things  occurred 
in  India  to  that  which  had  happened  in  Europe  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  empire.  The  Nawdbs,  or  viceroys  of  the  emperor, 
became  practically  independent  and  hereditary  princes.  The 
Hindus,  who  had  borne  with  impatience  the  domination  of  the 
Mohammedans,  began  to  throw  off  their  yoke  and  set  up  indepen- 
dent rajas  and  mahdrdjds  of  their  own  race  and  creed.  In 
particular,  the  warlike  Marathas,  of  the  regions  surrounding  Bom- 
bay, established  great  and  powerful  states.  Yet  India  was  plunged 
into  extreme  confusion.  Any  warlike  adventurer  had  the  chance 
of  making  himself  a  king,  though  he  often  found  it  hard  to  main- 
tain himself  in  his  precarious  sovereignty. 

29.  The  break-up  of  the  Mogul  Empire  first  gave  the  companies 


-I75I-1  GEORGE  II.  563 

of  European  traders  a  chance  of  profiting-  by  the  anarchy  in  India 
to  aspire  to  share  its  sovereignty  with  the  native  rulers.  The 
first  European  to  see  this  was  a  Frenchman.  Dupleix, 
governor  of  Pondicherri,  perceived  that  by  setting  ^^ lx  s 
one  prince  against  another,  he  might  take  a  lead- 
ing part  in  Indian  affairs.  He  grasped  that  India  was  not  a 
nation  but  a  continent,  and  that  immense  differences  in  religion, 
language,  civilization,  and  race  kept  the  various  peoples  of  the 
peninsula  hopelessly  apart.  He  soon  also  realized  that  the  more 
warlike  of  the  tractable  and  intelligent  races  of  India  might,  if 
officered  and  disciplined  by  Europeans,  become  such  good  soldiers 
that  they  could  easily  defeat  the  ill-disciplined  armies  trained  after 
the  native  fashion.  Hence  it  was  not  impossible  with  Indian  gold 
and  Indian  arms  for  a  mere  handful  of  Europeans  to  dominate 
millions  of  Hindus.  In  these  visions  Dupleix  saw  the  whole  future 
history  of  India,  though  in  the  long  run  it  was  not  his  country 
that  was  to  demonstrate  the  practicability  of  his  ambitions. 

30.  Already,  during  the    Austrian    succession  war,    Dupleix 
began  to  carry  out  his  schemes.     In  1746  he  captured  Madras, 
and  this  conquest,  though  surrendered  by  the  peace   EnRjan(| 
of  Aachen,  increased  the  reputation  of  the  French  and  France 
throughout  India.    The  years  of  peace  between  France  I.n.]n.d]^,-R 
and  England  were  no  time  of  peace  for  India.    Dupleix 
took  up  the  cause  of  one  claimant  to  the  great  post  of  nawdb,  or 
viceroy,  of  the  Karnatik,  the  region  in  which  both  Madras  and 
Pondicherri  were  situated.     It  was  inevitable  that  the  English 
should  take  up  the  cause  of  the  other  pretender.      The  English 
at    Madras    were    clerks   and  merchants,   while    the   French  at 
Pondicherri  were  soldiers  and  statesmen ;  yet  among  the  clerks 
of  the  English  factory  a  man  was  found  fully  equal  to  cope  with 
Dupleix.     This  was  Robert  Clive,  the  son  of  a  poor   CHve  and 
Shropshire  squire,  who  had  been  sent  out  to  India  the  siege  of 
because  his  turbulent  disposition  seemed  to  unfit  him   Arcot, 
for  most  careers  at  home.     Clive  had  become  a  soldier 
in  the  days  of  Dupleix's  conquest  of  Madras,  and  now  urged  that 
the  best  way  to  counteract  the  French  schemes  was  to  seize  Arcot, 
the  capital  of  the  Karnatik.     He  was  entrusted  with  the  task, 
and  easily  captured  the  town.     Then,  in  1751,  he  stood  a  siege 
with  such  determination  that  in  the  end  Dupleix  withdrew  dis- 
comfited before  the  walls  which  Clive  and  his  sepoys  so  gallantly 
defended.      The  result  was  the   collapse  of    Dupleix's  schemes, 
soon  to  be  f  ollowed  by  his  recall  in  disgrace.    Thanks  to  Clive,  the 


564  GEORGE  II.  [1731- 

factory  at  Madras  controlled  the  Karnatik,  through  its  nominee 
the  nawab. 

31.  A  few  years  later  the  nawab  of  Bengal,  Siraj-ud-Daula, 

formed  an  alliance  with  the  French,  captured  Fort  William,  and 

shut  up  the  little  band  of  Englishmen  who  held  it 
The  battles 
of  Plassey       *n  a  smaU  prison,  afterwards  called  the  Black  Sole  of 

1757,  and       Calcutta,  where  nearly  all  died  of  suffocation  in  the 

wash  1 760     eourse  °i  one  'tropical  night.     Clive  was  sent  to  restore 

the   English  influence  in  Bengal,   and  on  June  23, 

1757,  utterly  defeated  the  vast  army  of   Siraj-ud-Daula  at  the 

battle  of  Plassey.      The  nawab  was  dethroned,  and  an  English 

dependent  set  in  his  place.      Henceforth   Clive's    genius   ruled 

supreme  in  Bengal  as  well  as  in  the  Karnatik.     But  before  this 

England  and  France  were  at  open  war,  and  the  French  sought  to 

revive  Dupleix's  schemes  in  Southern  India.     Again  they  were 

defeated.     Colonel  Coote  won  the  battle  of  Wandewash  in  1760, 

which  was  as  decisive  for  the  Karnatik  as  Plassey  for  Bengal.     In 

1761  he  annihilated  French  influence  by  the  capture  of  Pondi- 

cherri.     Thus  the  foundations  of  the  British  power  in  India  were 

laid.     Clive  and  Coote  had  learnt  the  lesson  of  Dupleix  so  well 

that  they  had  won  for  England  the  great  position  in  the  East  that 

the  Frenchman  had  hoped  to  secure  for  his  own  land. 

32.  A    similar    struggle    between    France   and    England  for 
supremacy  in  North  America  also  disturbed  the  years  of  nominal 

.  peace.  After  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  which  ceded  New- 
England  in  foundland  and  Acadie  to  England,  there  was  a  con- 
North  tinuous  line  of  English  settlements,  extending  from 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Carolina.  Acadie 
was  colonized  by  British  settlers,  and  renamed  Nova  Scotia,  in 
commemoration  of  the  recent  union  with  Scotland,  which  had 
made  English  colonies  accessible  to  Scotsmen  also.  In  1731  the 
British  sphere  had  been  pushed  southwards  to  the  frontier  of  the 
Spanish  colony  of  Florida  by  the  establishment  of  Georgia,  named 
after  George  11.  This  series  of  English  colonies  was  rapidly 
growing  in  wealth,  population,  and  energy ;  but  the  various 
colonies  were  very  different  in  climate,  population,  character,  and 
industry,  and  were  not  in  the  habit  of  co-operating  with  each  other. 
Moreover,  they  were  surrounded  on  the  north  and  the  west  by 
lands  over  which  the  French  had  claims,  and  some  of  which  the 
French  were  effectively  occupying.  Canada,  which  stretched 
from  the  great  lakes  down  the  course  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  was 
the  most  important  French  settlement.    Besides  this,  the  French 


-1 76 1.]  GEORGE  II.  565 

islands  of  St.  John  (Prince  Edward's  Island)  and  Cape  Breton  still 
gave  to  Breton  fishermen  a  large  share  of  the  Newfoundland 
fisheries.  More  dangerous  still  was  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
French  colony  of  Louisiana,  which,  starting  from  its  capital  of 
New  Orleans,  stretched  northwards  up  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. Though  the  French  colonies  were  thinly  inhabited  and 
badly  governed,  the  population  was  hardy,  adventurous,  and  skilful, 
and,  as  in  India,  the  governors  formed  wide  schemes  for  extending 
French  power.  It  became  French  policy  to  build  a  line  of  forts 
from  Louisiana  up  the  Ohio  valley,  and  thence  northwards  to  the 
great  lakes  of  Canada.  By  this  means  it  was  hoped  to  open  out 
the  whole  Mississippi  valley  to  French  settlement,  and  shut  in  the 
English  colonists  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Atlantic. 

33.  The  key  to  the  French  system  of  frontier  posts  was  Fort 
Buquesne,  on  the  Alleghany    river,  a  tributary  of    the   Ohio. 
Alarmed  at  the  French  advance,  the  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia fitted  out,  in  1754,  an  expedition  of  the  local  j)uauesne 
militia,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Major  George  Wash- 
ington, a  young  Virginian  planter,  who  now  first  had  the  chance  of 
showing  his  great  talents  for  leadership.    Washington  attacked 
Fort  Duquesne,  but  failed  badly,  and  was  compelled  to  surrender 
to  the  French.     Next  year  English  and  French  regulars  were 
both  sent  to  take  part  in  the  struggle,  but  for  long  the  tide  of  war 
flowed  in  favour  of  France. 

34.  A  European  war  soon  complicated  the  struggle  of  Eng- 
land and  France  for  India  and  America.  A  European  coalition 
was  formed,  primarily  against    Prussia,  but    partly 

against  England  also.    A  great  change  in  the  rela-   Ejj^ffjj. 

tions  of  European  states  had  taken  place  after  the    tion  against 

treatv  of  Aachen.     Maria  Theresa  was  so  disgusted    Prussia  and 

,  .       ,  .  „.,     .  ttT        .      England, 

with  England  making  her  give  up  Silesia  to  Prussia   175q# 

that  she  broke  away  from  the  traditional  alliance  of 
Austria  and  England,  and  made  friends  with  France,  the  here- 
ditary enemy.  Russia,  now  ruled  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  a  true 
daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  joined  the  alliance,  which  many 
smaller  states,  in  their  jealousy  of  Prussia,  also  gladly  entered  into. 
Prussia  was  thus  forced  to  struggle  for  her  very  existence,  but 
Frederick  the  Great  showed  a  wonderful  coolness  and  energy  in 
the  face  of  danger.  Up  to  now  George  11.  had  been  very  jealous 
of  Prussia,  but  he  saw  that  the  interests  of  Prussia,  England, 
and  Hanover  were  the  same,  and  in  1756  made  a  treaty  with 
Frederick  which  gave  Prussia  at  least  one  ally.    In  1756  what 


566  GEORGE  II.  [1756- 

is  properly  called  the  Seven  Years'  War  broke  out,  when  Frede- 
rick 11.  anticipated  attack  from  his  enemies  by  beginning1  the  war 
himself.  In  the  same  year  the  tidings  of  disputes  in  India  and 
America  forced  England  and  France  into  open  hostilities.  From 
that  date  the  two  struggles  were  combined  into  a  single  war. 

35.  It  was  a  time  when  England,  divided  against  itself  by 
ministerial  dissensions,  was  quite  unready  to  fight.  From  the  Far 
British  East  came  the  news  of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta, 
disasters,  while  from  the  Far  West  arrived  the  tidings  of  disasters 
1756-1757.  on  ^e  o^q  an(j  the  St.  Lawrence.  Things  were  even 
worse  in  Europe,  where  Frederick  11.  was  holding  his  own  with 
extreme  difficulty  against  overwhelming  odds,  while  the  duke  of 
Cumberland  was  defeated  by  the  French,  who  overran  Hanover,  and 
compelled  him  to  sign  the  capitulation  of  Kloster  Zeven.  By  this 
treaty  Hanover  was  abandoned  to  the  French,  so  that  they  were 
left  free  to  attack  Frederick.  Even  at  sea  England  was  now  beaten. 
Minorca,  which  had  been  English  since  1708,  was  attacked  by  a 
French  force,  and  the  English  admiral,  Byng,  son  of  the  victor  of 
Cape  Passaro,  sailed  away  without  daring  to  fight  a  battle,  and 
abandoned  the  island.  It  was  expected  that  the  French  would 
invade  England,  and  that  Austria  and  Russia  would  wipe  out 
Prussia  from  the  map  of  Europe.  A  disgraceful  panic  seized  upon 
the  English  people.  The  unlucky  Byng  was  made  a  scapegoat  of 
the  popular  fury.  Condemned  by  a  court-martial  for  neglecting  to 
fight,  he  was  shot  on  the  quarter-deck  of  his  flagship  (1757). 

36.  It  was  at  this  crisis  that  the  coalition  between  Pitt  and 
Newcastle  ended  the  struggles  of  faction  in  parliament,  and  gave 
Pitt  as  the  Britain  the  strong  government  that  it  needed.  Pitt 
inspirer  of  himself  took  the  direction  of  the  war,  while  Anson,  the 
ySjSIJjm,      circumnavigator,  became  first  lord  of  the  admiralty. 

The  great  commoner  set  to  work  with  a  sublime  self- 
confidence  that  was  fully  justified  by  results.  "  I  am  sure,"  he 
declared,  "  that  I  can  save  the  country,  and  I  am  sure  that  no  one 
else  can."  He  boasted  that  he  was  called  to  office  by  the  voice  of 
the  English  people.  He  drew  up  brilliant  schemes,  and  sought  out 
subordinates  whom  he  could  inspire  with  something  of  his  lofty 
spirit.  India  was  too  far  off  for  him  to  be  able  to  do  much  for  it, 
and  Plassey  had  been  fought  at  the  moment  of  his  advent  to  power. 
But  he  saluted  Clive  as  a  "  heaven-born  general,"  and  did  all  that 
he  could  to  encourage  him  in  his  career  of  conquest.  He  threw  to 
the  winds  his  old  hatred  of  G-erman  alliances  and  foreign  subsidies. 
The  old  foe  of  Hanover  struggled  manfully  to  recover  from  the 


-i  75  7-1 


GEORGE  II. 


567 


568  GEORGE  II.  [175S- 

French  George's  hereditary  dominions.  He  repudiated  the  capitu- 
lation of  Kloster  Zeven,  and  pushed  the  continental  war  forward 
with  great  energy.  In  1759  the  deliverance  of  Hanover  was 
secured  by  a  victory  at  Minden.  Pitt's  subsidies  to  Prussia  enabled 
Frederick  to  carry  on  his  heroic  struggle.  Yet,  with  all  his  zeal 
for  conquest  in  Germany,  he  never  forgot  that  the  real  mission 
of  England  was  colonial  and  maritime  predominance.  "  America 
must  be  conquered  in  Germany,"  was  his  answer  to  those  who  were 
alarmed  at  the  immense  expense  of  his  German  campaigns.  He 
showed  wonderful  skill  in  selecting  the  right  men  to  be  admirals 
and  generals.  In  1759  his  favourite  admiral,  Hawke,  put  an  end 
to  all  fears  of  invasion  by  annihilating  the  French  navy  in  a  battle 
in  Quiberon  Bay,  off  the  south  coast  of  Brittany.  This  restored  to 
England  the  command  of  the  sea,  and  enabled  the  British  fleets  to 
conquer  French  colonies  and  trading-stations  all  over  the  world. 
"We  have  seen  how  by  this  time  French  influence  was  annihilated 
in  India.  Of  even  greater  moment  for  the  future  was  the  extinction 
of  French  power  in  North  America  by  "Wolfe,  Amherst,  and  Howe, 
three  generals  of  Pitt's  own  choosing. 

37.  Even  before  England  had  thrown  its  energies  into  the 
struggle,  the  French  in  North  America  had  ceased  to  win  victories. 
The  con-  Amherst  conquered  Cape  Breton  and  destroyed  the 

quest  of  fortress  of  Louisburg,  which  had  long  dominated  the 

i7?8-dr760  mou*a  °f  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  English  colonists 
united  as  they  had  never  united  before,  and  drove  the 
French  from  Fort  Duquesne,  which  became  an  English  settle- 
ment, and  was  renamed  Pittsburg  by  the  grateful  colonists.  This 
destroyed  the  French  ambition  of  linking  together  Louisiana  and 
Canada,  and  opened  out  the  west  to  English  settlement.  Canada 
itself  was  now  assailed,  and  though  the  first  effort  to  conquer  it  was 
foiled,  when  the  soul  of  the  expedition  seemed  to  expire  on  the 
death  of  the  gallant  Howe,  "Wolfe  was  sent  in  1759  with  an  expedi- 
tion up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  effect  the  conquest  of  Quebec.  The 
marquis  of  Montcalm,  the  French  governor,  gathered  together  all 
the  forces  of  Canada  to  withstand  the  English  fleet  and  army. 
"Wolfe  made  his  way  up  the  difficult  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
in  safety,  and  took  up  a  position  nearly  opposite  Quebec.  Failing 
to  attack  the  town  on  the  east  side,  "Wolfe  moved  higher  up  the  river 
and  planned  an  attack  on  Quebec  from  the  west,  where  high  cliffs, 
overhanging  the  river  valley,  were  thought  to  make  the  city  im- 
pregnable. In  the  dead  of  night  the  English  troops  were  dropped 
in  row-boats  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  foot  of  the  steep  rocks. 


-1760.]  GEORGE  II.  569 

These  they  scaled  as  best  they  could,  and  before  morning  the 
French  found  the  English  arrayed  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham  to 
the  west  of  Quebec.  The  battle  that  ensued  proved  fatal  both  to 
Wolfe  and  to  Montcalm,  but  the  French  fought  badly,  and  the 
English  won  an  easy  victory.  Canada  was  not  yet  conquered,  but 
Amherst  next  year  completed  the  successes  half  achieved  by  Wolfe. 
Montreal  capitulated  in  1760,  and  with  its  fall  Canada  became 
English. 

38.  In  the  midst  of  these  wonderful  successes  George  11.  died  in 
October,  1760.     He  had  lived  long  enough  to  see  Pitt,  whom  he 
had  once  hated,  restore  his  rule  over  his  own  electorate,   Deatn  0f 
save  Prussia  and  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  win   George  II., 
for  England  the  foremost  place  as  a  naval,  colonial,    I780' 
and  trading  nation,  and  create  the  modern  British  Empire  as  one 
of  tha  greatest  sovereignties  the  world  has  ever  seen. 


CHAPTER   III 

GEORGE  III.  AND  THE  WAR  OF  AMERICAN 
INDEPENDENCE  (1760-1789) 

Chief  Dates  i 

1760.  Accession  of  George  in. 

1761.  Resignation  of  Pitt. 
1763.  Peace  of  Paris. 
1765.  The  Stamp  Act. 
1768.  The  Wilkes  Riots. 
1770.  North,  Prime  Minister. 

1775'  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker's  Hill. 

1777.  Capitulation  of  Saratoga. 

1780.  Gordon  Riots. 

1781.  Capitulation  of  Yorktown. 

1782.  Rodney's    victory    off    Dominica;    Legislative    Independence    of 

Ireland  granted. 

1783.  Treaty  of  Versailles  ;  Pitt  becomes  Prime  Minister. 
J788'    Trial  of  Warren  Hastings. 

1.  Fredeeick,  prince  of  "Wales,  having^iied  in  1751,  George  11. 
was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  George  in.,  Frederick's  eldest  son. 
Character  ^6  new  ^n8"'  w^°  was  twenty -two  years  old  when  he 
and  policy  came  to  the  throne,  was  slow,  serious,  good-natured, 
of  George  ^fl  well-meaning.  He  was  ill-educated,  obstinate,  and 
prejudiced,  of  narrow  intellect  and  limited  outlook. 
But  he  was  hard-working,  religious,  and  the  first  Hanoverian  king 
who  lived  a  good  private  life.  He  had  a  strong  will,  high  courage, 
and  a  vigorous  character.  Brought  up  in  the  traditions  of  his 
father's  court  at  Leicester  House,  he  was  anxious  to  take  as 
his  model  Bolingbroke's  Patriot  King.  Boasting  that  he  was 
"  born  and  bred  a  Briton,"  he  loyally  accepted  the  legal  constitution 
as  defined  after  the  revolution  of  1688,  but  waged  implacable 
war  against  the  customs  of  the  constitution  which,  under  the 
first  two  Georges,  had  undermined  the  power  of  the  monarch. 
Above  all,  he  considered  himself  free  to  choose  as  his  ministers 
whatsoever  persons  he  liked  best.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  see 
that  what  stood  in  the  way  of  his  exercising  this  power  was  the 
57° 


1760.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    57 1 

ring  of  great  Whig  houses  that  had  governed  England  during 
the  last  two  reigns.  He  perceived,  therefore,  that  his  first  object 
should  be  to  destroy  the  Whig  connection.  With  this  motive  he 
dissociated  himself  from  parties,  and  denounced  party  government 
as  inevitably  tending  to  the  rule  of  a  faction.  But  he  made  what 
allies  he  could  in  his  war  against  the  Whigs,  and  often  closely 
associated  himself  with  the  new  Tories  of  the  school  of  Boling- 
broke.  Yet  George  was  no  Tory  king,  as  his  grandfather  and 
great-grandfather  had  been  Whig  kings.  He  strove  to  be  above 
all  parties,  and  only  allied  himself  with  the  Tories  because  they 
were  his  most  effective  helpers  in  breaking  down  Whig  supre- 
macy. But  his  chief  wish  was  to  create  a  party  of  his  own,  which 
would  vote  as  he  told  them,  and  do  his  bidding  in  all  things. 
Gradually  there  grew  up  a  group  of  politicians  known  as  the 
Tung's  friends,  whose  only  principle  of  politics  was  to  obey  George. 
To  keep  his  friends  together,  George  bribed  and  exercised  corrupt 
influence  as  unscrupulously  as  Walpole,  and  cleverly  turned  to 
the  ruin  of  the  Whigs  all  the  machinery  of  jobbery  and  cor- 
ruption which  they  had  built  up  to  consolidate  their  own  power. 
He  pursued  this  policy  with  extraordinary  persistence  and  courage 
for  more  than  fifty  years,  never  flinching  before  the  storm  of  hatred 
that  assailed  him,  and  winning  the  day  in  the  long  run.  He  was 
helped  by  the  respect  felt  for  his  personal  character  and  the  purity 
of  his  aims,  and  still  more  by  the  unpopularity  of  the  great  Whig 
houses,  their  quarrels  among  themselves,  and  the  corrupt  and  irre- 
sponsible character  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  would  have 
won  his  way  much  sooner  had  he  been  more  intelligent  and  more 
scrupulous  in  his  choice  of  means  to  carry  out  his  purpose.  But 
when  bitter  experience  taught  his  slow  mind  the  right  way  to  go  to 
work,  he  was  marvellously  successful.  Before  his  political  career 
was  over,  he  had  put  an  end  to  the  Whig  power  and  restored  to 
the  king  the  chief  voice  of  choosing  the  ministers  of  the  crown: 
At  the  same  time  he  won  greater  popularity  as  he  succeeded  better. 
2.  At  first  everything  was  against  George.  The  ministry  of 
Pitt  and  Newcastle  absolutely  dominated  the  state  and  won  great 
glory  by  its  naval  and  military  successes.  Yet  George 
set  to  work  at  once  to  break  up  the  Whig  party  by  an^Pitt.11* 
sowing  dissension  among  it,  and  showed  great  eager- 
ness to  end  the  war  so  that  he  might  have  more  leisure  and 
money  to  carry  out  his  policy  at  home.  So  slow  was  he  of  compre- 
hension that  he  could  not  see  any  difference  between  Pitt  and 
Newcastle,  except  that  he  hated  Pitt  the  more  because  he  was  the 


572    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    [1761- 

most  powerful  and  popular  of  his  ministers.  Yet  there  "was 
much  in  common  between  Pitt  and  the  new  king,  and  a  wiser 
politician  would  have  made  friends  with  the  statesman  who  agreed 
with  him  in  hating  party,  and  in  disliking  the  great  Whig  lords, 
and  was  ever  exceedingly  deferential  to  the  personal  opinion  of  the 
monarch.  Pitt  was  too  great  for  George  to  appreciate  or  under- 
stand. The  king  preferred  to  he  guided  by  his  mother,  Augusta, 
princess  of  "Wales,  and  by  John,  earl  of  Bute,  a  Scottish  nobleman 
of  great  wealth  and  some  refinement,  but  narrow-minded,  ignorant 
of  politics,  and  too  much  given  to  intrigue. 

3.  An  opportunity  soon  came  for  getting  rid  of  Pitt.  Don 
Carlos  of  Naples,  the  old  foe  of  the  English,  became  Charles  in.  of 
Pitt  driven  Spain  in  1759,  and  in  1761  formed  a  Family  Compact 
from  office,     by  which  the  Bourbon  courts  of  Prance,  Spain,  and 

7    •  Italy  were  united  against  England.     This  accession 

of  Spain  to  the  coalition  against  England  seemed  the  last  chance 
to  destroy  the  wonderful  ascendency  which  Pitt's  victories  had 
gained  for  the  country.  Pitt  gained  early  intelligence  of  the 
Family  Compact,  and  proposed  to  fall  upon  Spain  before  she  was 
ready  to  fight.  But  Bute's  intrigues  had  turned  his  own  cabinet 
against  him,  and  even  Newcastle  refused  to  follow  his  lead.  Pitt 
haughtily  declared  that  he  was  accountable  to  the  people  who  had 
called  him  to  office,  and  resigned,  announcing  that  he  could  not 
remain  responsible  for  measures  which  he  was  not  allowed  to  guide. 
As  soon  as  he  was  got  rid  of,  Newcastle  was  attacked  in  his  turn, 
and  driven  away  from  office  in  1762.  Then  Lord  Bute  beeame  the 
king's  chief  minister.  His  ministry  was  the  first  of  the  series  of 
weak  coalitions  by  which  George  in.,  in  the  early  years  of  his 
reign,  sought  to  destroy  the  Whig  power  and  make  himself  the  real 
head  of  the  ministry. 

4.  Bute  tried  to  make  Pitt  unpopular  by  giving  him  a  pension 
and  making  his  wife  countess  of  Chatham.     Though  eager  for 

peace,  he  was  soon  forced  to  justify  Pitt's  policy  by 
The  Bute  going  to  war  against  Spain.  The  Spaniards  failed 
1761-1763,  signally  to  stem  the  tide  of  English  successes,  and 
and  the  soon  saw  Manila  and  Havana  pass  into  English  hands. 

Paris  1763.    AU  this  time,  however,  Bute,  like  Bolingbroke  in  1713, 

was  pressing  hard  for  peace,  and  sacrificing  the  allies 
of  England  in  his  anxiety  to  score  a  party  triumph.  In  February, 
1763,  he  concluded  with  France  the  peace  of  Paris,  which  gave 
England  a  great  deal,  but  not  nearly  so  much  as  she  had  a  right 
tc  expect.     By  the  treaty  France  ceded  Canada  and  Cape  Breton 


-1763.J   GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   573 

island  to  England,  but  was  allowed  to  keep  a  share  of  the  New- 
f  onndland  fisheries.  The  Mississippi  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  of 
British  North  America  and  Louisiana,  an  arrangement  which  so 
spoilt  the  French  game  that  before  long  Louisiana  was  sold  to 
Spain.  France  surrendered  Minorca,  but  Pondicherri  and  other 
French  possessions  in  India  were  restored  by  England,  along  with 
most  of  her  other  conquests,  though  she  kept  a  few  more  West 
India  islands  and  African  settlements.  Florida  was  ceded  by 
Spain,  but  England  returned  her  Havana  and  Manila. 

5.  Frederick  of  Prussia  was  much  disgusted  at  George's 
abandoning  him,  and  remained  very  hostile  to  England  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  But  he  had  gained  more  by  a  change  of  _  ... 
sovereign  in  Russia  than  he  lost  by  the  change  of  and  foreign 
sovereign  in  England.  His  enemy,  Elizabeth  of  Russia,  politics, 
died,  and  power  went  to  a  tsar,  Peter  in.,  who  had  an 
enthusiastic  admiration  for  Frederick.  He  withdrew  from  the 
war,  and  thus  enabled  Frederick  to  conclude  peace  upon  terms  that 
left  him  Silesia.  For  the  next  few  years  George  in.  kept  aloof 
from  foreign  politics  in  the  hope  of  concentrating  his  efforts  on 
restoring  his  power  at  home.  During  this  period  the  chief  feature 
of  European  history  was  the  growth  of  the  northern  and  eastern 
powers,  such  as  Russia  under  Catharine  n.,  Prussia  under  Frederick, 
and  Austria  under  Maria  Theresa.  The  old  jealousy  of  England 
against  France  and  Spain  became  soon  only  a  secondary  considera- 
tion in  European  politics,  for  France  was  becoming  too  weak  to 
do  England  much  harm.  But  most  foreign  states  looked  with 
jealousy  on  English  trade,  and  envied  England  her  wonderful 
successes  during  the  Seven  Years'  War.  Before  long  George  iii.'s- 
mismanagement  gave  them  a  fine  opportunity  of  revenge. 

6.  Bute  did  not  long  continue  in  power  after  the  peace.     With 
the  help  of  Pitt's  sometime  rival,  Henry  Fox,  he  used  all  the  illicit 
power  belonging  to  the  ministry  to  ruin  the  friends  of   j^q  v^%\^. 
the  Whigs,  and  George  denied  office  to  any  but  Tories,   nation  of 

"  king's  friends,"  or  Whigs  who  had  quarrelled  with  Bute>  1 763, 
Newcastle  and  the  great  Whig  connection.  But  all  this  was  done 
so  clumsily  that  what  was  an  attack  upon  a  greedy  faction  seemed 
also  to  be  an  attack  upon  popular  liberty,  and  George  and  Bute 
made  themselves  more  unpopular  than  ever  the  Whigs  had  been. 
Bute  soon  shrank  from  the  rough  work  which  George  had  given 
him  to  do,  and  resigned  office  in  1763. 

7.  George  was  annoyed  at  Bute's  deserting  him,  especially  as- 
it  involved  his  calling  upon  at  least  some  of  the  Whigs  to  supply 


574    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   [1763- 

his  place.  However,  a  very  slight  shuffling  of  the  cards  "was  all 
that  was  necessary.  Since  the  fall  of  Newcastle  the  Whig  party 
had  fallen  into  various  separate  groups.  The  chief  of  these, 
including  the  partisans  of  Newcastle — the  great  Whig  connection, 
as  it  was  called — was  George's  special  object  of  dislike.  Besides  this, 
there  was  the  personal  following  of  Pitt,  and  various  subordinate 
The  Gren-  bodies.  George  now  made  prime  minister  the  leader 
ville  minis-  of  one  of  these  groups,  George  Grenville,  a  clever 
try,  1763-  lawyer  and  good  parliamentary  leader,  but  a  man  of 
little  sympathy  and  insight,  and  as  narrow  and  pedantic 
as  the  king.  Grenville  was  Pitt's  brother-in-law,  but  had  quarrelled 
with  him.  He  soon  strengthened  himself  by  a  coalition  with 
another  separate  Whig  faction,  called  the  Bloomsbury  Gang,  a 
name  derived  from  the  London  house  of  its  leader,  the  duke  of 
Bedford.  Grenville's  power  seemed  to  be  firmly  established.  But 
within  three  years  his  want  of  tact  and  judgment  had  infuriated  the 
people,  alienated  the  king,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  revolt  of 
the  American  colonies. 

8.  Ever  since  his  accession  George  111.  and  Bute  had  been 
bitterly  denounced  in  the  press.  Among  the  most  scurrilous  of 
Wilkes  and  *he  attacks  were  those  written  by  John  Wilkes, 
the  "North  member  of  parliament  for  Aylesbury,  in  a  newspaper 
Briton."  called,  in  derision  of  Bute,  the  North  Briton.  In 
No.  45  of  that  newspaper  Wilkes  gave  such  offence  to  the  court  by 
his  criticisms  of  the  king's  speech  in  parliament  that  Grenville 
resolved  to  prosecute  him.  With  his  arrest,  Wilkes,  a  clever 
Londoner  of  very  bad  character,  became  the  hero  of  the  people. 
Excitement  ran  high  when  it  was  found  that  the  government,  in 
its  eagerness  to  punish  Wilkes,  had  gone  further  than  the  law 
permitted.  The  law  courts  declared  that  Wilkes's  arrest  was  illegal, 
because  he  had  been  apprehended  on  a  general  warrant — that  is, 
a  document  mentioning  no  persons,  but  generally  authorizing 
the  imprisonment  of  the  authors,  printers,  and  publishers  of 
the  offending  number  of  the  newspaper.  Wilkes  now  sued  the 
ministers  who  had  arrested  him,  and  was  awarded  heavy  damages 
by  a  sympathetic  London  jury.  He  was  soon  after  attacked  for 
publishing  a  blasphemous  and  obscene  poem,  and  running  away  to 
France,  was  declared  an  outlaw,  and  lived  abroad  for  more  than 
four  years. 

9.  Of  more  importance  than  the  Wilkes  episode  was  the  passing 
by  Grenville,  in  1765,  of  the  Stamp  Act,  which  required  that  legal 
documents  in  America  should  be  liable  to  a  stamp  duty.     Before 


-1766.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE   575 

the  disastrous  consequences  of  this  act  had  began  to  be  felt, 
George  drove  Grenville  from  office.  Though  the  king  agreed 
with  Grenville  in  prosecuting  Wilkes  and  taxing  _. 
America,  there  was  so  much  similarity  between  the  ActancTthe 
pedantic,  narrow,  and  hard  dispositions  of  George  and  faH  of  Gren" 
his  minister  that  they  could  not  long  get  on  well  vilIe'  1765* 
together.  Grenville  treated  the  king  with  outrageous  rudeness, 
and  George  could  not  bear  to  endure  him  any  longer.  The  difficulty 
of  the  king  was,  however,  in  the  choice  of  Grenville's  successor.  He 
was  not  strong  enough  to  rule  openly  with  the  help  of  the  "  king's 
friends,"  and  he  had  quarrelled  with  every  other  group  of  politicians 
in  turn.  Finally,  he  was  unwillingly  compelled  to  restore  to  office 
the  chiefs  of  the  great  Whig  connection,  though,  true  to  his  dislike 
of  a  party  ministry,  he  insisted  upon  imposing  upon  them  several 
of  his  own  friends  as  their  colleagues.  Newcastle  was  now  old 
and  feeble,  and  only  held  a  nominal  post  in  the  new  government. 
The  leadership  of  the  party  passed  to  the  marquis  of  Rockingham, 
a  nobleman  of  high  character  but  of  no  strong  ability.  Rocking- 
ham, however,  had  for  his  secretary  a  young  Irish  man  of  letters, 
named  Edmund  Burke,  who  was  soon  to  prove  himself  the  greatest 
writer  and  deepest  political  thinker  of  his  day.  Henceforth  Burke 
was  the  brain  of  the  Whig  party,  though  his  humble  position  long 
kept  him  from  winning  a  foremost  place  in  their  counsels. 

10.  Rockingham  held  office  from  1765  to  1766.     He  repealed 
the  Stamp  Act,  and  put  an  end  for  the  time  to  the  Wilkes  troubles. 
But  he  was  detested  by  the  king  and  secretly  attacked  The  Rock. 
by  the  "  king's  friends."     The  Whig  connection  was    ingrham 
not  strong  enough  to  hold  its  own  long  against  the   ^J?i^Vlyfi\, 
ill-will  of  the  court  and  the  jealousy  of  rival  factions. 

Pitt,  whose  support  might  have  given  Rockingham  the  popular 
backing  which  he  lacked,  obstinately  held  aloof,  being  resolved  to 
have  no  more  dealings  with  Newcastle  and  his  party,  and  the  Whigs 
themselves  disliked  the  "  great  commoner "  so  much  that  they 
took  no  pains  to  induce  him  to  change  his  decision.  Pitt  was  now 
approached  by  the  court,  and  Ms  sympathy  with  some  of  George's 
views,  as  well  as  his  dislike  of  the  Whigs,  made  him  fall  without 
much  difficulty  into  the  king's  plans.  Having  won  over  Pitt, 
George  abruptly  turned  Rockingham  out  of  office,  and  called  upon 
Piit  to  form  a  new  administration. 

11.  The  second  ministry  of  Pitt  was  in  strong  contrast  to  his 
previous  one.  Ill  health  made  it  impossible  for  1dm  to  take  the 
chief  place  or  endure  the  fatigue  of  attendance  in  the  House  of 


576    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    [1766- 

Commons.  George  accordingly  made  him  earl  of  Chatham,  and 
gave  him  the  nominal  post  of  lord  privy  seal.  But  his  acceptance 
Th  rh  t>  °^  a  Peera8'e  made  him  very  unpopular.  "  The  joke 
ham  minis-  is,"  wrote  a  critic,  "  that  he  has  had  a  fall  upstairs, 
try,  1766-  an<j  -^ju  never  be  able  to  stand  on  his  legs  again." 
Moreover,  in  harmony  with  the  dislike  of  party  govern- 
ment which  he  shared  with  George,  Chatham  invited  men  of  all 
schools  to  serve  with  him.  Burke  truly  described  his  ministry  as 
"  such  a  piece  of  mosaic,  such  a  tesselated  pavement  without 
cement,  patriots  and  courtiers,  king's  friends  and  republicans, 
Whigs  and  Tories,  that  it  was  indeed  a  curious  show,  but  unsafe 
to  touch  and  unsure  to  stand  on." 

12.  Chatham  formed  great  schemes  for  carrying  out  his  ideals. 
He  wished  to  transfer  the  government  of.  India  from  the  company 
There  ewal  *°  ^e  CTOWn-  ^e  strove  to  remedy  the  evil  results 
of  the  of  George's  disregard  to  foreign  affairs  by  building 
Wilkes            np  a  northern  alliance,  including  Russia  and  Prussia, 

against  the  house  of  Bourbon.  He  desired  to  remedy 
the  misgovernment  of  Ireland.  But  his  weak  nerves  soon  forced 
him  to  withdraw  altogether  from  politics  without  accomplishing 
anything,  and  in  his  absence  the  "king's  friends"  controlled 
the  ministerial  policy.  Charles  Townshend,  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  imposed  fresh  taxes  on  America.  When  Wilkes  came 
back  to  England,  he  was  thrown  into  prison  by  the  government, 
and  thus  once  more  made  a  martyr.  The  freeholders  ot  Middlesex 
returned  him  to  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the  ministers  persuaded 
parliament  to  defy  the  electors  and  annul  his  election  more  than 
once.  These  ill-judged  measures  involved  king  and  ministers  in 
much  unpopularity.  In  1768  there  were  dangerous  riots  in  South- 
wark,  outside  the  prison  in  which  Wilkes  was  shut  up. 

13.  The  ministry  was  bitterly  attacked  in  the  press,  notably 
by  an  anonymous  writer  named  Junius,  and  by  Edmund  Burke, 

whose  famous  pamphlet  on  the  Thoughts  of  the  Cause 
BurKeand      of  the  Present  Discontents  defended  the  Whig  system 

of  party  government  against  both  George  and  Chat- 
ham. Long  before  discontent  reached  its  climax,  Chatham  partly 
The  Grafton  recovered  his  health,  and  abandoned  in  disgust 
ministry,  colleagues  who  had  used  his  name  to  set  at  naught  his 
1768-1770.  most  cherished  principles.  On  his  retirement  the  duke 
of  Grafton  kept  on  the  ministry  from  1768  to  1770,  when  he  too 
resigned. 

14.  George  then  appointed  Lord  North  first  lord  of  the  treasury. 


-1782.]   GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   $77 

North's  task  seemed  an  impossible  one,  bnt  a  profound  calm  soon 
followed  the  storms  of  the  early  years  of  George's  reign,  and 
North  had  tact  and  dexterity  enough  to  retain  office  The  North 
for  twelve  years.  He  was  the  first  avowed  Tory  to  be  ministry, 
chief  minister  since  the  days  of  Queen  Anne,  but  he  1770_1782« 
was  still  more  a  "king's  friend"  than  a  Tory.  He  permitted 
George  to  have  the  general  direction  of  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment, so  that  the  king,  and  not  North,  was  the  real  prime  minister. 
The  king's  ambition  to  choose  his  own  ministers  was  thus  at  length 
realized.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  Chatham  thundered  against 
the  ministers,  and  declared  that  the  only  remedy  for  the  slavish 
dependence  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  king  and  his  agents 
was  parliamentary  reform.  But  he  still  stood  aloof  from  the 
Whigs,  and  the  divisions  of  the  opposition  weakened  their  influence 
out-of-doors.  George  was  much  more  popular  than  he  had  been 
in  the  early  years  of  his  reign,  and  many  of  his  people  were  better 
pleased  to  be  ruled  by  the  king  than  by  the  Whigs.  One  good 
resulted  from  the  exclusion  of  the  Whigs  from  power.  They 
became  more  liberal  and  less  corrupt  than  in  the  days  of  their  long 
monopoly  of  office.  Inspired  by  Burke  and  led  by  Charles  James 
Fox,  son  of  Chatham's  old  rival,  Henry  Fox,  they  began  to  purge 
themselves  of  the  old  leaven  of  Walpole  and  Pelham.  But  they 
were  still  factious,  violent,  and  unpatriotic,  and  their  narrow  out- 
look increased  the  hold  of  the  king  and  North  on  office.  Unluckily 
the  king  misused  his  power;  he  showed  a  blindness  and  selfish- 
ness at  least  as  great  as  that  of  the  Whigs.  From  the  king's 
triumph  sprang  the  troubles  which  lost  England  her  North 
American  colonies,  and  gave  her  enemies  in  Europe  their  best 
chance  to  seek  revenge  for  the  victories  of  England  during  the 
Seven  Years'  War. 

15.  The  troubles  between  Britain  and  her  American  colonies 
flowed  directly  from  the  expulsion  of  France  from  Canada.     The 
result  of  this  was  that  the  thirteen  colonies  no  longer    0Plgin  of 
stood  in  need  of  English  protection,  and  some  of  the    the  Ameri- 
leading  colonists  began  to  look  with  impatience  on  the   ?*"  revo" 
control  which  the  mother  country  exercised  over  them. 
Politically  the  Americans  had  no  deep   grievances;  they  ruled 
themselves  as  freely  as  do  the  Canadians  or  the  Australians  of 
the  present  day.     They  had,  however,  real  cause  for  dissatisfaction 
at  the  commercial  policy  of  the  mother  country.   By  the  Navigation 
Act  all  the  foreign  trade  of  the  colonies  and   Europe  was  to  be 
exclusively  conducted  in  English  ships,  and  Britain  did  what  it 

x 


578     GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    [1765- 

could  to  prevent  the  growth  of  manufactures  in  America  lest  their 
competition  should  do  harm  to  English  traders.  Things  grew 
worse  after  G-eorge  iii.'s  accession,  for  the  new  king  abandoned 
the  easy  policy  of  the  Whigs,  who  had  left  the  colonies  to  them- 
selves, and,  guided  by  G-eorge  Grenville,  insisted  upon  the  strict 
execution  of  the  commercial  laws  which  gave  Britain  a  monopoly 
of  American  trade.  Resistance  to  this  policy  first  excited  general 
discontent  among  the  Americans.  Things  became  worse  when,  in 
1765,  Grenville  passed  his  Stamp  Act.  This  was  a  measure  which 
required  that  all  legal  documents  and  formal  acts  in  America 
should  be  written  on  stamped  paper,  the  proceeds  of  the  duty  going 
to  the  imperial  exchequer,  and  the  tax  being  imposed  by  authority 
of  the  English  parliament.  Grenville  had  no  thought  of  lessen- 
ing the  liberties  of  America  when  he  brought  in  the  measure.  He 
wished  to  keep  up  a  permanent  army  in  America,  and  thought  that 
the  Americans  ought  to  bear  a  part  of  its  cost.  As  each  colony 
had  a  separate  government  of  its  own,  there  was  no  way  of  passing 
a  law  binding  upon  the  whole  thirteen,  save  by  bringing  it  through 
the  parliament  at  Westminster.  This  had  often  been  done  pre- 
viously without  the  colonies  raising  any  objection.  But  circum- 
stances had  now  changed,  and  the  weak  point  in  Grenville's  policy 
was  that  he  thought  of  nothing  but  the  legal  aspect  of  the  ques- 
tion. Common  sense  would  have  shown  him  that  it  was  unwise  to 
rouse  the  suspicion  of  America  at  a  moment  when  it  was  already 
irritated  about  other  matters. 

16.  The  Americans  took  up  a  high  ground.    They  declared  that 
taxation  and  representation  went  together,  and  as  they  had  no 

share  in  choosing  members  for  the  British  parliament, 
hend's  ^  was  against  their  privileges  as  Englishmen  to  be 

customs  taxed  without  their  consent.     They  refused  to  use  the 

the  Ameri-  stamped  paper,  and  raised  such  an  outcry  that,  in  1766, 
can  resist-  the  Rockingham  ministry  repealed  the  Stamp  Act 
it™'  1768~    altogether.     This  did  not,  however,  end  the  trouble. 

Rockingham  passed  at  the  same  time  a  Declaratory 
Act,  maintaining  that  the  British  parliament  had  the  right  to  make 
laws  binding  on  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  Pitt  alone 
among  prominent  .English  statesmen  objected  to  the  Declaratory 
Act.  He  maintained  that  England  had  no  right  to  tax  the  colonies 
without  their  consent ;  but  by  right  he  meant  moral  right,  wnich 
was  true,  and  not  legal  right,  which  was  false.  Worse  was  soon  to 
follow.  While  Pitt,  now  Lord  Chatham,  was  incapacitated  by  illness, 
Charles  Townshend,  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  of  his  own 


-I770.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   $79 


580    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   [1770- 

ministry,  was  foolish  enough  to  irritate  the  Americans  afresh  by 
imposing  new  duties  on  glass,  colours,  paper,  and  tea  imported  into 
America.  The  result  was  a  fresh  agitation  among  the  colonies, 
and  a  general  determination  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  not  to 
pay  the  new  taxes.  In  1770  there  were  riots  in  Boston,  and  some 
British  soldiers  fired  upon  the  mob  and  shot  several  of  the  rioters. 
The  colonists  denounced  this  as  a  bloody  massacre,  and  became 
very  bitter  against  the  mother  country. 

17.  Lord  North  strove  to  continue  Townshend's  policy.  Not 
seeing  that  the  real  objection  to  the  duties  was  on  the  score  of 
Lord  North  Prmciple»  he  thought  it  would  make  things  easier 
and  the  if  he  lessened  the  amount  of  them,  while  retaining  a 
*ta7duty'         small  tax  so  as  to  insist  upon  the  right  of  England  to 

levy  revenue  in  America.  In  1773  he  repealed  all 
Townshend's  duties  except  that  on  tea.  This  made  the  Americans 
more  angry  than  ever.  What  they  objected  to  was  not  the 
amount  of  the  imposts,  which  was  insignificant,  but  the  principle 
involved  in  taxation  without  representation.  Accordingly,  when  a 
fleet  of  tea-ships  sailed  into  Boston  harbour,  laden  with  taxed  tea, 
a  mob,  dressed  up  as  Red  Indians,  boarded  the  vessels,  and  threw 
their  cargo  into  the  water.  The  government  regarded  this  as 
rebellion,  and  as  the  magistrates  of  Boston  declared  that  they  could 
not  discover  the  offenders,  it  was  resolved  to  punish  the  whole  city 
for  the  disorderly  acts  of  the  rioters.  A  British  act  of  parliament 
closed  the  port  of  Boston  to  all  commerce,  and  soon  afterwards 
another  act  deprived  the  great  colony  of  Massachusetts  of  its 
representative  institutions,  and  put  its  government  in  the  hands  of 
crown  officials  sent  out  from  England. 

18.  This  last  act  brought  things  to  a  crisis.  Delegates  from 
twelve  of  the  thirteen  colonies  met  at  Philadelphia  in  order  to 

organize  a  common  resistance  to  the  British  govern- 

Failure  of  ment.  It  was  now  clear  that  America  meant  to  resist 
conciliation.  . 

by  armed  force,  if  the  attempts  to  control  its  indepen- 
dence were  insisted  upon.  Chatham  and  Burke  urged  upon  parlia- 
ment the  vital  importance  of  conciliating  America,  but  a  deaf  ear 
was  turned  to  their  pleadings.  At  last,  in  February,  1775,  North 
himself  made  concessions  to  American  opinion.  He  carried  a  bill 
by  which  such  colonies  as  made  a  grant  towards  the  expenses  of 
the  Empire  should  be  freed  from  all  imperial  taxation.  But  this 
concession  was  too  small  and  came  too  late.  Within  two  months  of 
his  partial  change  of  front,  open  war  had  broken  out  between  the 
colonists  and  the  mother  country. 


-1776.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   58 1 

19.  A  considerable  force  of   British  troops  had  already  been 
despatched  to  America  and  was  concentrated  at  Boston.     The  Mas- 
sachusetts assembly,  which  refused  to  disperse  when 
parliament  decreed  its  dissolution,  called  out  the  local   Jf fie"'11* 
militia,  and  began  to  collect  military  stores  in  order  to    American 
resist  King  George's  soldiers.    One  of  the  chief  of  the   war' 
colonists'  magazines  was  at  Concord,  and  a  detachment  of  British 
troops  was  sent  from  Boston  to  destroy  it.     Having  accomplished 
their  mission,  the  soldiers  were  making  their  way  back  to  Boston, 
when,  on  April  19, 1775,  they  were  attacked  at  Lexington  by  a  body 
of  colonial  militia,  and  forced  to  retreat  with  some  loss   ^      ^ 
before  their  assailants.     This  was  the  beginning   of   and  Bun" 
the  war  of  American  independence.     The  victorious   ker  Hill, 
colonists  were  soon  strong  enough  to  blockade  Boston.    1775# 
They  took  up  a  commanding  position  on  Bunker  Hill,  a  small 
height  overlooking  the  town.     On  June  17,  General  Gage,  the 
British  commander,  made  an   attack  upon  their  entrenchments. 
After  three   unsuccessful    attempts,  Gage   managed    to    capture 
the  position.     But  the  Americans  fought  so  well  that  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  gave  more  encouragement  to  the  colonists  than  to 
King  George's  troops. 

20.  The  congress  at  Philadelphia  now  assumed  the  position  of 
the  supreme  authority  in  America,  and  levied  an  army.  It 
appointed  as  its  commander-in-chief,  George  Washing-   _    _ 

ton,  a  Virginian  planter,  who  had  taken  a  leading  part   ration  of 
in  the  war  against  the   French,  and  already  held  a   Indepen-^ 
considerable  military  reputation.     Washington  was  a  ' 

wise  and  prudent  soldier,  cheerful,  resourceful,  and  moderate.  He 
reached  Massachusetts  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and 
soon  inspired  the  disorderly  colonial  levies  with  some  of  his  spirit 
and  energy.  He  at  once  renewed  the  blockade  of  Boston,  and 
pressed  Gage  so  hard  that,  in  March,  1776,  the  British  army  fled  by 
sea  to  Halifax,  leaving  the  great  port  of  Massachusetts  in  Wash- 
ington's hands.  On  July  4, 1776,  the  congress,  now  representative 
of  all  the  thirteen  colonies,  took  the  decisive  step  of  renouncing  all 
allegiance  to  King  George.  It  issued  on  that  day  the  famous 
Declaration  of  Independence,  which  claimed  that  the  thirteen 
colonies  were  free  and  independent  states,  free  from  all  political 
connection  with  Great  Britain.  The  new  federal  republic  took  the 
name  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

21.  The  War  of  American  Independence  was  of  more  political 
than  military  importance.     The  armies  on  both  sides  were  small, 


582    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    [1776- 

half -hearted,  and  badly  led,  and  the  profound  differences  felt  both  in 
England  and  in  America  as  to  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  the  war, 
_.         .  had  a  paralyzing  effect  upon  those  entrusted  with  its 

istics  of  the  conduct.  George  ill.  showed  plenty  of  spirit,  and  did 
American       j^g  best  to  secure  victory,  but  he  was  hampered  by 

the  Whigs,  who  rejoiced  at  the  successes  of  the 
Americans,  and  he  could  not  pick  out  the  right  men  as  generals, 
as  Chatham  would  have  done.  Washington  also  had  grave  diffi- 
culties to  encounter.  There  was  a  large  minority,  especially  in  the 
south,  which  had  no  wish  to  break  off  the  English  connection,  and 
his  soldiers  were  ill-trained  and  badly  disciplined.  But  every 
advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  colonists,  for  the  English  never 
understood  how  hard  a  task  lay  before  them  in  conquering  so  vast 
a  country.  At  first,  however,  the  trained  British  troops  proved 
superior  in  battle  to  their  enemies.  Sir  William  Howe  won,  in 
August,  1776,  the  battle  of  Brooklyn,  the  first  fight  in  the  open 
field,  and  drove  Washington  from  New  York,  which  then  became 
the  English  headquarters  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  But  Howe, 
unlike  his  dead  brother,  Pitt's  favourite,  was  a  poor  general.  He 
was  not  active  enough  to  push  home  his  successes,  and  wasted  the 
cold  season  in  winter  quarters  at  New  York.  In  the  summer  of 
1777  he  again  took  the  field,  drove  the  congress  from  Philadelphia, 
and  took  possession  of  that  city.  Meanwhile  General  Burgoyne, 
more  conspicuous  as  a  man  of  fashion  and  a  playwright  than  a 
general,  led  an  expedition  from  Canada  southwards  in  the  hope  of 
joining  Howe.  His  army  was  too  feeble  for  the  task  it  undertook, 
and  in  October,  1777,  Burgoyne  was  surrounded  and  forced  to 

surrender  with  all  his  troops  to  the  American  general, 
lation  of  Gates,  at  Saratoga,  on  the  Hudson.  This  great  failure 
Saratoga,       more  than  counterbalanced  Howe's  victories,  especially 

since  Howe  once  more  wasted  the  winter  in  idleness  at 
Philadelphia.  Though  Washington's  army  was  reduced  by  disease, 
desertion,  and  bad  weather  to  a  few  thousand  dispirited  men, 
Howe  made  no  attempt  to  attack  it,  and  so  lost  the  last  chance  of 
success. 

22.  The  capitulation  of  Burgoyne  made  a  greater  impression  in 
Europe  than  even  in  America.  Foreign  nations,  that  had  long 
The  Euro-  envied  England  the  position  she  had  won  during  the 
pean  attack  Seven  Years'  War,  thought  that  she  was  now  involved 
JSJEuSlS'      in  a  losing  struggle,  and  eagerly  took  the  opportunity 

of  revenge.  Before  long  Britain  had  to  face  not  only 
her  revolted  colonies,  but  a  coalition  of  half  Europe  against  her. 


-I778-]   GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE  583 

France,  now  ruled  by  her  young-  king  Louis  xvi.,  led  the  way  to 
the  attack,  and  early  in  1778  declared  war  against  England. 
Next  year  Charles  in.  of  Spain,  true  to  the  Family  Compact,  fol- 
lowed the  French  example.  In  1780  our  old  ally  Holland  also 
joined  them.  Besides  the  active  enmity  of  three  strong  states, 
Britain  had  to  face  the  passive  hostility  of  several  others.  In 
the  same  year,  1780,  the  northern  powers,  headed  by  Catharine  11. 
of  Russia  and  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia,  formed  what  was 
called  the  Armed  Neutmlity,  whose  object  was  to  prevent  British 
warships  searching  the  merchant  vessels  of  neutral  countries  for 
enemies'  goods. 

23.  When  the  struggle  with  Europe  became  imminent,  many 
Englishmen's  thoughts  turned  to  Chatham.     Once  before  he  had 
saved  England,  and  he  still  seemed  the  only  man  who 
could  deal  with  the  situation.     Chatham  remained  a  and  Amert- 
conspicuous  friend  of  the  Americans.    He  had  resisted   can  inde- 
American  taxation  with  all  his  might,  and  he  urged  ence- 

that  Britain  should  abandon  the  attempt  to  coerce  America,  and 
throw  all  her  energies  into  the  struggle  against  her  foreign  foes. 
He  hated,  however,  the  notion  that  the  Empire  which  he  had  done 
so  much  to  establish  should  be  rent  in  twain,  and  still  hoped  for 
reunion  through  the  voluntary  action  of  America.  The  result  of 
this  policy  was  that  he  could  not  work  with  the  king,  who  was 
eager  to  crush  American  resistance,  or  with  the  Whigs,  who  had 
declared  in  favour  of  recognizing  American  independence.  At 
last  George  was  induced  to  offer  him  a  post  in  the  ministry,  but 
he  declined  to  take  office  unless  an  entirely  new  government  was 
formed  under  his  leadership.  George  refused  to  do  this,  and  in 
truth  it  was  too  late  for  Chatham  to  be  of  any  help.  His  health 
had  broken  down  hopelessly,  and  he  was  nearing  his  end.  Anxious 
to  dissociate  himself  from  the  unpatriotic  Whigs,  he  Death  of 
went  down  to  the  House  of  Lords  to  protest  against  Chatham, 
"the  dismemberment  of  this  ancient  and  most  noble  I778- 
monarchy."  He  fell  back  in  a  fit  when  he  had  finished  his  speech, 
and  died,  a  few  weeks  later,  in  May,  1778.  With  him  expired  the 
last  faint  hope  of  regaining  America. 

24.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  European  war  England  lost  the 
command  of  the  sea.  It  was  impossible  to  prevent  a  swarm  of 
French  volunteers  flocking  over  to  help  the  Americans,  and  difficult 
to  defend  our  scattered  colonies  and  possessions.  Yet  George  stuck 
bravely  to  his  task,  and  the  American  war  was  now  prosecuted 
with  a  vigour  that  had  not  been  shown  in  the  earlier  stages.    A 


584    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   [1780- 

competent  British  general  was  at  last  found  in  Lord  Cornwallis, 
who  conquered  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  where  the  loyal  element 
was  strong.     In  1781  Cornwallis  sought  to  add  Vir- 
and  the  g"inia,  the  home  of  many  of  the  American  leaders,  to 

end  of  the  his  conquests.  But  he  had  not  enough  soldiers  for  so 
war  1781  great  an  undertaking,  and,  after  some  preliminary  suc- 
cesses, was  compelled  to  make  his  way  to  Yorktown,  a 
seaport,  where  he  hoped  to  he  joined  by  the  English  fleet.  Unluckily, 
the  navy  was  not  there,  having  been  driven  into  port  to  refit  after 
a  disastrous  action  with  the  French  commander,  Admiral  de  Grasse, 
who  soon  made  common  cause  with  Washington  in  his  attack  on 
the  British.  Masters  over  both  land  and  sea,  the  enemy  surrounded 
Cornwallis  on  every  side,  and  on  October  17,  1781,  forced  him  to 
surrender  with  all  his  men.  This  second  capitulation  of  a  British 
army  practically  put  an  end  to  the  war.  The  Americans  re- 
conquered the  southern  states,  and  ere  long  only  New  York  upheld 
the  British  flag.  The  independence  of  the  United  States  was  thus 
assured,  and  a  great  migration  of  persecuted  loyalists  to  Canada 
completed  and  made  permanent  the  fall  of  British  influence. 

25.  Great  efforts  were  now  made  to  restore  the  English  supre- 
macy at  sea.     In  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  our  position  was 

so  insecure   that  a  bold  American   privateer,  named 

Rodney  Paul  Jones,  plundered  the  British  coasts ;  our  com- 

restores 

British  merce   suffered  severely  in  every  part  of  the  world ; 

naval  Minorca    and    Gibraltar   were   closely  besieged;   and 

1782QmaCy'    many  colonies,  including  most  of  the   British  West 

India  islands,  passed  into  the  enemies'  hands.     After 

the  fall  of  Yorktown,  Grasse  transferred  himself  from  the  American 

coast  to  the  West  Indies,  and  planned  the  conquest  of  Jamaica. 

But  in  April,  1782,  Admiral  Rodney  won  a  decisive  victory  over 

Grasse  near  Dominica,  in  which  he  managed  to  effect  the  operation 

of  breaking  the  French  line.     This  saved  Jamaica  and  restored  the 

naval  preponderance  of  England.     Though  Minorca  fell,  Gibraltar 

was  relieved  before  the  end  of  the  year  by  Admiral  Howe,  brother 

of  the  two  generals. 

26.  The  French  took  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  England  to 
form  plans  for  recovering  their  influence  in  India.  Haidar  All, 
sultan  of  Mysore,  became  their  ally,  devastated  the  Karnatik  to 
the  walls  of  Madras,  and  strove  to  make  himself  the  chief  power 
in  southern  India.  At  the  same  time  the  Maratha  confederacy 
took  arms  against  the  English,  and  defeated  the  Bombay  army.  A 
great  French  admiral,  the  bailli  de  Suffren,  obtained  the  mastery 


-1782.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   585 

of  the  Indian  Ocean.     Luckily  the  governor-general  of  India  at 

the   time  was  Warren  Hastings,  the  greatest  man  after   Clive 

among  the  founders  of  British  India.     He  rose  to  the 

height  of  the  occasion,  and,  after  a  fierce  struggle,   Warren 

succeeded  in  restoring  the    supremacy  of  England,    restores1 

In  1781  Haidar  All  was  beaten  by  Sir  Eyre  Coote,    British 

the  veteran    hero  of    Wandewash,  at  Porto  Novo;    JEST"* 

Bombay  was  saved  from  the  Marathas  by  troops  sent 

by  Hastings  from  Bengal ;  Suff ren's  career  of  victory  was  stayed ; 

and  with  the  restoration  of  the  English  command  over  the  ocean, 

the  worst  of  the  dangers  to  British  India  passed  away. 

27.  Troubles  at  home  complicated  the  difficulties  of  England 
abroad.  North's  ministry  was  incompetent  to  conduct  so  mighty 
a  struggle ;  the  king,  though  brave,  was  narrow  and 

blind ;  and  the  Whig  opposition  showed  great  want  of  ™®  ^Ttso1 
patriotism.  A  well-meant  attempt  of  North  to  help 
the  Roman  Catholics  led  to  serious  "  no  popery "  riots  in  London 
in  1780,  where  the  mob,  led  by  the  fanatical  and  half -mad  Lord 
George  G-ordon,  burnt  Catholic  chapels,  opened  the  prisons,  plun- 
dered the  town,  and  fought  against  the  soldiers  with  such  effect 
that  the  disturbances  were  only  put  down  after  serious  loss  of  life. 

28.  The  worst  of  Britain's  troubles  was  in  Ireland,  where  a 
systematic  attempt  was  made  to  imitate  America  and  cast  off 
British  ascendency.  There  the  danger  came,  not  from  Ireland 
the  Catholic  Irish,  but  from  the  dominant  Protestant  Imitates 
minority.  Since  the  revolution  of  1688  the  penal  Amerlca- 
code  established  by  the  conquerors  had  deprived  the  Catholics  of 
all  political  rights,  and  had  driven  the  bravest  and  best  of  Irishmen 
to  seek  abroad  the  career  cruelly  denied  them  at  home.  The  mass 
of  the  Irish  Catholics  were  peasants,  reduced  to  misery  by  a  hard 
land  system,  and  paying  an  exorbitant  rent  for  the  little  patoh  of 
ground  which  they  cultivated.  But  the  Protestants  also  had  their 
grievances.  The  best  posts  in  Church  and  state  were  given  to 
Englishmen;  the  administration  was  entirely  conducted  in  the 
interests  of  England ;  Irish  manufactures  were  stopped  lest  they 
should  compete  with  those  of  Britain ;  and  the  Irish  parliament, 
though  exclusively  a  Protestant  body»  was  not  allowed  to  make  what 
laws  it  liked,  for  Poynings'  Act,  passed  under  Henry  vn.,  was  still 
maintained,  which  enacted  that  no  law  should  be  even  brought 
forward  in  the  Irish  parliament  until  it  had  been  approved  by  the 
English  privy  council.  Under  George  m.  things  became  worse 
than  before.     The  king  saw  in  the  great  Protestant  landholders  a 


586    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE    [1782- 

body  not  unlike  the  hated  Whig  connection,  and  strove  to  break 
down  their  power  with  such  energy  that  the  leading  men  in 
Ireland  were  bitterly  inflamed  against  him.  Accordingly,  when 
the  American  troubles  broke  out,  the  Irish  Protestant  leaders 
showed  a  strong  inclination  to  imitate  the  colonists  in  their 
resistance  to  England.  Chief  among  them  was  the  eloquent  Henry 
Grattan,  who  obtained  a  wonderful  hold  over  the  Irish  parliament. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  fear  of  invasion,  and  the  fact  that  the 
island  had  been  stripped  of  regular  troops,  they  enrolled  volunteers 

among  the  Protestants,  and  soon  had  an  armed  force 
lative  inde-  ready  to  carry  out  their  demands.  A  convention  met 
pendence  of  at  Dungannon  in  imitation  of  the  congress  at  Phila- 
17^2"  delphia.    At  last,  in  1782,  a  declaration  of  legislative 

independence  was  unanimously  passed  through  par- 
liament in  which  Ireland  repudiated  the  control  which  England 
had  so  long  exercised  over  the  Irish  parliament.  And  the  attack 
on  England  became  the  more  dangerous  when  G-rattan  passed 
Catholic  relief  acts,  which  began  to  relax  the  severities  of  the 
penal  code  and  associate  the  dumb  millions  of  Irish  peasantry  with 
the  policy  devised  by  their  masters. 

29.  With  all  these  difficulties  to  meet,  there  was  no  wonder  that 
England  lost  America,  and  it  was  a  great  proof  of  her  vigour  and 
The  e  d  tenacity  that  she  kept  her  continental  enemies  in 
Rocking-  check,  won  back  the  command  of  the  sea,  and  main- 
ham  minis-     tained  her  Indian  empire.     But  the  struggle  was  a 

ry*  *  severe  one,  and  though  the  king  never  lost  his  courage, 
Lord  North,  an  easy,  good-natured,  weak  man,  had  long  wearied  of 
the  thankless  task  of  acting  as  minister,  and  in  March,  1782, 
suddenly  resigned  office.  The  king  was  bitterly  incensed  with 
North,  and  looked  upon  him  as  a  deserter.  His  anger  became  even 
more  intense  when  he  found  that  he  had  no  alternative  but  to  give 
office  to  the  hated  Whigs.  Rockingham  became  first  lord  of  the 
treasury  and  Charles  Fox  secretary  of  state.  But  George  was 
strong  enough  to  insist  on  some  of  the  "  king's  friends  "  retaining 
their  posts,  while  he  further  tempered  the  Whig  preponderance  by 
giving  the  second  secretaryship  of  state  to  the  earl  of  Shelburne, 
an  accomplished  and  broad-minded  man,  but  distrusted  for  his  bad 
temper  and  habit  of  intrigue.  Shelburne  was  now  the  leader  of  the 
little  band  of  Chathamites  which  still  kept  alive  the  principles 
of  Pitt. 

30.  Rockingham's  chief  business  was  to  get  England  out  of  her 
many  difficulties.     At  home  he  strove  to  put  down  the  political 


-1783.]   GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   587 

corruption  which  the  Whig8  had  introduced,  hut  which  the  king 
had  now  cleverly  turned  against  them,  hy  a  Bcheme  of  what  was 
called  Economical  Reform.     Burke,  who  was  only  put   Burke  and 
in  inferior  office,  was  entrusted  with  bringing  in  this   Economical 
plan,  but  it  was  made  less  sweeping  than  he  wished,  in   Reform- 
order  to  conciliate  the  king.  The  Irish  disturbances  were  appeased  by 
the  surrender  of  the  chief  demand  of  Grattan's  party.  Poynings'  Act 
was  repealed,  and  the  legislative  independence  of  the  Dublin  parlia- 
ment fully  recognized.     But  the  greatest  work  of  the  new  ministers 
was  entering  upon  negotiations  for  peace  both  with  America  and 
with  our  European  enemies.     However,  before  these  were  ended, 
a  violent    quarrel  between   Fox   and   Shelburne  threatened   the 
stability  of    the  ministry.      Rockingham    died    soon   after,  and 
George,  who  was  eager  to  get  rid  of  the  Whigs,  took  the  decisive 
step  of  putting  Shelburne  in  his  place.     In  July,  Fox  The  Shel- 
and  the  Whigs  went  out  of  office,  leaving  Shelburne   burne 
at  the  head  of  a  ministry  of  "king's  friends"  and  mi?2S^%'» 
Chathamites.     In  this  Chatham's  second  son,  William 
Pitt,  who  had  just  entered  parliament,  became  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  at  the  age  of  twenty-three. 

31.  The  first  work  of  Shelburne  was  the  conclusion  of  peace. 
In  November,  1782,    he    made    a    provisional    treaty   with    the 
Americans,  by  which  England  recognized  the  inde-    The  treaty 
pendence  of  the  United  States,  and  yielded  up  to  them   of  Ver- 

all  her  claims  on  the  lands  to  the  west  of  the  Alle-  ^J,65' 
ghanies.  There  was  more  delay  in  settling  the  terms 
of  peace  with  France,  Spain,  and  Holland,  mainly  because  of  the 
strong  desire  of  Spain  to  get  back  Gibraltar.  However,  early  in 
1783,  an  agreement  was  made  by  which  Spain  was  forced  to  be 
content  with  Florida  and  Minorca.  France  gained  Tobago, 
Senegal,  and  Goree,  but  restored  to  England  most  of  her  con- 
quests. Finally,  the  formal  treaty  of  Versailles  was  concluded  in 
September,  1783. 

32.  Before  the  long  negotiations  had  concluded,  Shelburne's 
ministry  had  fallen.      Shelburne  himself  was  generally  disliked, 
and  held  office  merely  through  the  king's  favour  and   The  coal|_   , 
through  the  disunion  of  his  enemies.     There  were  two   tion  of  Fox 
chief  elements  in  the  opposition :   the  Tories  under   a"|3North* 
North  and  the  Whigs  under   Fox.      Finding  that 

singly  they  were  powerless,  Fox  and  North  agreed,  early  in  1783,  to 
form  a  coalition  to  drive  Shelburne  from  office.  Few  men  were 
prepared  for  so   sudden  a  change   of  front.      Fox  had  bitterly 


588    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE   [1783- 

denounced  North,  for  many  years,  and  had  publicly  declared  that 
the  idea  of  union  with  him  was  "  too  monstrous  to  be  admitted." 
But  though  factious  hatred  of  the  ministry  had  too  large  a  share 
in  the  league  between  them,  both  North  and  Fox  stood  at  the  head 
of  parties  and  as  party  leaders  were  afraid  of  George's  constant 
endeavour  to  choose  whomsoever  he  would  as  his  ministers. 
Moreover,  North  had  so  long  been  subject  as  minister  to  George's 
caprices,  that  his  conversion  to  the  opposition  was  the  more  start- 
ling because  of  its  unexpectedness.  The  former  agent  of  the 
"  king's  friends  "  now  declared  himself  against  the  whole  policy  of 
his  long  ministry.  "  Government  by  departments,"  he  told  Fox, 
"  was  not  brought  in  by  me.  I  found  it  so,  and  had  not  vigour  to 
end  it.  The  appearance  of  power  is  all  that  a  king  in  this  country 
can  have."  The  coalition,  on  its  more  respectable  side,  was  an 
effort  to  save  party  government  from  the  disciples  of  George  ill. 
and  Chatham. 

33.  At  first  the  union  of  Fox  and  North  carried  everything 
before  it.  In  April,  1783,  Shelburne  was  forced  to  resign,  and 
The  coali-  George  was  compelled  to  accept  a  ministry  that  he 
tion  minis-  bitterly  hated.  His  disgust  was  the  greater  since  his 
try,  1783.  eiaest  g0n,  George,  prince  of  Wales,  now  just  of  age, 
was  a  strong  partisan  of  the  coalition.  The  prince  was  dissipated, 
extravagant,  and  reckless,  and  was  only  too  glad  to  have  the  means 
of  annoying  his  father.  In  the  new  government  the  duke  of  Port- 
land was  the  nominal  prime  minister,  but  real  power  was  shared  by 
the  two  secretaries  of  state,  Fox  and  North.  George  scarcely 
treated  his  new  servants  with  civility,  and  set  to  work  to  under- 
mine their  authority  by  all  means  at  his  command.  He  gained 
his  first  success  when  he  forced  them  to  abandon  an  extravagant 
scheme  they  brought  forward  to  provide  for  their  ally,  the  prince  of 
"Wales.  Before  the  end  of  1783,  George  found  a  better  opening  to 
attack  them  in  Fox's  India  Bill.  This  was  a  measure  devised  by 
Burke  to  take  away  from  the  East  India  Company  all  its  political 
power.     Accident  had  entrusted  a  company  of  merchants  with  the 

management  of  a  mighty  empire.  The  disorders  which 
Fox  s  Ind  a     j^  attended  this  system  made  such  a  measure  highly 

desirable,  but  Fox  laid  himself  open  to  attack  when 
he  proposed  that  India  should  be  ruled  by  seven  commissioners 
nominated  by  parliament.  The  India  company  denounced  his 
scheme  as  an  infringement  of  its  chartered  rights.  The  king's 
friends  were  very  indignant  at  his  attack  on  royal  prerogative, 
and  declared  that  India,  if  not  ruled  by  the  company,  should 


-1789.]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE   589 

be  governed,  like  Britain,  by  the  crown.     "  If  this  bill  passes," 
declared  Lord  Thurlow,  the  chief  of  the  "king's  friends,"  "the  king 
will  take  the  diadem  from  his  own  head  and  put  it  on  the  head  of 
Mr.  Fox."     Nevertheless,  Fox's   India  Bill  easily  got  through 
the  Commons,  and  was  only  stopped  in  the  Lords  by  an  extreme 
amount  of  pressure  from  the  king.     The  House  of  Lords  had  now 
lost  its  old  Whig  majority,  through  the  lavish  creation  of  "  king's 
friends"  as  peers,   and  rejected  the  measure.     George  at  once 
turned  the  coalition  out  of  office. 

34.  An  extraordinary  struggle  ensued.     Fox  had  boasted  that 
no  one  but   a  madman  could  venture  to  form  a  ministry.     But 
George  did  not  flinch  from  pursuing  his  advantage,    ...... 

and  called  upon  young  William  Pitt  to  undertake  the    Pitt's 
office  of  prime  minister.     Pitt  had  such  difficulties  in    ministry, 

17R  *\-r  \  ft  A I 

getting  politicians  of  position  to  act  with  him  that  he 
could  not  give  a  single  place  of  cabinet  rank  to  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  was  beaten  over  and  over  again,  and 
called  upon  to  resign  or  dissolve  parliament.  But  he  haughtily 
declared  that,  as  long  as  he  held  the  king's  favour,  he  would  neither 
give  up  office  nor  appeal  to  the  constituencies.  Gradually  popular 
opinion  began  to  flow  in  his  favour.  His  youth,  courage,  and  his 
father's  name  all  helped  him,  and,  young  as  he  was,  he  showed 
remarkable  dexterity  in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  The  king  was 
altogether  on  his  side,  and  was  now  much  more  popular  than  in  the 
early  years  of  his  reign.  Aristocratic  feeling  was  gradually  turn- 
ing towards  the  Tory  policy,  and  the  Tories  began  to  desert  North 
for  George.  The  narrowness  of  the  Whig  oligarchy  had  made 
it  hated,  and  its  unpatriotic  action  during  the  late  war  had 
brought  its  reputation  to  a  very  low  pitch.  Even  thorough- 
going reformers,  like  Wilkes,  preferred  Pitt  to  the  coalition. 
Gradually  Pitt's  position  became  strengthened,  and  in  March,  1784, 
he  felt  himself  able  to  risk  a  general  election.  The  new  elections 
gave  him  and  the  king  a  solid  majority,  and  the  constituencies, where 
the  right  of  voting  was  most  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  were  just 
those  which,  as  a  rule,  rejected  the  nominees  of  Fox  and  North. 
The  king  had  learnt  from  the  younger  Pitt  what  he  would  never 
learn  from  Chatham.  He  had  at  last  discovered  that  the  right 
way  to  win  power  was  not  to  strive  to  fight  his  people  as  well  as 
the  Whigs,  but  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  people  against 
the  greedy  faction  that  had  so  long  claimed  the  sole  right  of 
governing  the  country.  Thus  the  victory  of  George  and  Pitt 
was  also  the  victory  of  the  people.     The  principles  of  Chatham 


590    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE  [1783- 

won  an  easy  triumph  when  allied  with  the  principles  of  Boling- 
broke.  For  seventeen  years  Pitt  remained  chief  minister,  and  at 
last  only  gave  up  office  because  he  had  ceased  to  agree  with  the 
king. 

35.  Pitt  was  five  and  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  won  his 
crowning  victory.     He  was  tall,  thin,  stiff  in  his  manner,  weak  in 

health,  shy  and  proud,  only  showing  the  kinder  and 
and  policy  brighter  sides  of  his  nature  to  a  few  intimates.  He 
of  the  had  but  little  of  his  father's  genius,  but  he  possessed 

p°ttn8eP         *^e  *ac*  an^  business  capacity  which  Chatham  had 

entirely  lacked.  He  was  no  orator  like  Chatham,  but 
he  was  fluent,  ready,  and  impressive  as  a  debater.  Though  closely 
bound  up  with  the  king,  he  was  too  able  and  too  hard-working  to 
become  his  dependant  as  North  had  done.  Though  the  head  of  a 
Tory  administration,  his  views  were  broad  and  liberal.  He  had 
inherited  many  of  his  father's  views,  and  advocated  parliamentary 
reform,  the  relief  of  the  Catholics,  the  generous  treatment  of  Ireland, 
the  growth  of  our  colonies,  trade,  and  manufactures,  and  the  puri- 
fication of  the  administration.  His  fault  was  that  he  was  too  ready 
to  content  himself  with  making  his  views  known,  without  taking 
any  vigorous  steps  to  carry  them  into  effect.  But  there  were  many 
difficulties  in  his  way,  and  he  had  never  quite  faith  enough  in  his 
principles  to  make  the  effort  to  surmount  them.  Thus  he  brought 
forward  a  Reform  Bill,  but  did  not  pin  his  faith  to  it,  dropping 
the  measure  when  he  found  that  the  majority  of  his  supporters 
were  unwilling  to  accept  it.  In  this  as  in  other  measures  he  was 
hampered  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  king,  the  subservience  of  the 
"  king's  friends,"  and  the  dislike  of  his  Tory  followers  to  alter  the 
laws.  But  though  he  made  few  great  changes,  he  breathed  a  new 
spirit  into  the  administration  of  the  country.  He  reduced  ex- 
penditure and  increased  efficiency.  He  got  rid  of  scandals  and 
put  an  end  to  bribery  such  as  the  Whigs  and  George  had  previously 
practised.  He  sought  support  from  the  wealthy  classes,  and  was 
a  lavish  creator  of  new  peers,  believing  that  all  very  rich  men 
ought  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  managing  after  this 
fashion  to  encourage  the  growth  of  a  new  Tory  aristocracy  that 
made  it  difficult  for  the  Whigs  to  win  back  their  old  position.  He 
made  finance  his  special  care,  and  devised  plans,  which  were  not 
very  successful,  for  paying  off  the  national  debt.  He  believed  in 
free  trade  and  in  the  development  of  our  colonies.  He  made  a 
famous  commercial  treaty  with  France,  which  immensely  in- 
creased the  trade  between  the  two  countries.     He  established  the 


-1789]    GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE   59I 

government  of  Canada  on  lines  that  left  the  French  to  themselves 
and  sowed  the  first  seeds  of  Canadian  freedom. 

36.  Pitt  pnt  an  end  to  the  worst  abuses  of  the  government  of 
India  by  his  India  Act  of  1784,  which,  though  not  so  thorough  as 
Fox's  plan,  kept  the  East  India  Company  in  check  by  pjtt-s  in<iia 
setting  up  a  new  department  of  the  state  called  the  Bill,  1784, 
Board  of  Control,  under  a  president  of  cabinet  rank,  an<1  Warren 
whose  duty  was  to  supervise  all  the  political  acts  of  Hast,n*s' 
the  company,  while  leaving  it  free  to  carry  on  its  commeroe  as  it 
thought  proper.  The  system  was  a  compromise,  but  it  worked 
fairly  well,  and  lasted  until  the  abolition  of  the  company  in  1858. 
Its  success  was  largely  due  to  the  high  character  and  ability  of  the 
men  selected  by  king  and  company  to  carry  out  the  government  of 
India.  A  bad  result  of  British  interference  was  the  enforced 
resignation  of  "Warren  Hastings  in  1784,  as  a  result  of  Whig 
attacks,  weakly  resisted  by  Pitt.  Not  content  with  his  fall,  the 
factious  Whigs  brought  charges  of  oppression  and  extortion  against 
him.  Pitt  was  horrified  at  the  tales  told  against  Hastings,  and  gave 
great  offence  to  the  king  by  supporting  the  impeachment  which 
was  now  brought  against  the  great  governor-general.  The  accusa- 
tions were  urged  with  much  eloquence  by  Fox,  Burke,  Sheridan, 
and  other  Whig  leaders,  but  the  majority  of  them  utterly  broke 
down.  Though  Hastings  had  committed  strong  and  high-handed 
acts,  he  was  in  no  wise  guilty  of  the  foul  offences  which  his  enemies 
laid  to  his  charge.  The  famous  trial  began  in  1788,  and  after 
languishing  for  many  years,  ended  in  the  much- wronged  Hastings' 
acquittal.  During  all  the  proceedings,  George  m.  stoutly  upheld 
Hastings'  innocence. 

37.  Pitt's  foreign  policy  did  much  to  restore  for  England  the 
position  which  she  had  lost  during  the  American  War.     His 
commercial  treaty  with  France  made  our  relations   put's 
much  more  easy  with  our  traditional  enemy.     He  won   forelgrn 
back  Prussia,  which  had  been  opposed  to  England  since   P°,Icy* 
1763,  to  our  alliance,  and  formed  a  close  league  with  Prussia, 
Holland,  and  some  of  the  northern  powers.     He  was  the  first 
English  statesman  to  look  with  jealousy  on  the  rise  of  Russia, 
which,  under  the  great  Empress  Catharine  n.,  formed  designs  to 
destroy  the  power  of  Turkey  and  Sweden,  and  successfully  com- 
pleted the  partition  of  Poland  between  Russia.  Austria  and  Prussia. 

38.  In  1788  Pitt's  position  was  threatened  by  the  serious  illness 
of  the  king,  who  lost  his  reason  so  completely  that  he  could  not 
carry  on  the  government.     Fox  and  the  Whigs  argued  that  their 


592     GEORGE  III.  AND  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE  [1789. 

ally,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  had  a  right  to  become  regent.  Pitt 
maintained  the  sounder  view  that  parliament  had  the  absolute 
_  power  of  appointing  a  regent,  and  proposed  to  make 

regency  the  prince  regent  by  act  of  parliament.     Luckily  the 

question,  king  soon  recovered,  and  his  gratitude  for  Pitt's  action 
made  him  more  closely  attached  to  his  minister  than 
ever.  Secure  of  royal  favour,  master  of  both  houses  of  parliament, 
popular  with  the  best  of  his  countrymen,  opposed  only  by  a  factious 
and  discredited  opposition,  it  looked  as  if  Pitt's  power  might  well 
endure  as  long  as  he  lived.  The  country  was  peaceful,  prosperous, 
and  contented,  and  rapidly  became  the  chief  manufacturing  state 
in  Europe.  All  calculations  as  to  the  future  were,  however,  rudely 
disturbed  by  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  in  1789. 


CHAPTER  IV 

GEORGE  III. :    THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION 
AND  THE  IRISH   UNION  (1789-1802) 

Chief  Dates : 

1789.  Outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution. 

I793-  England  declares  war  against  France. 

1798.  Battle  of  the  Nile  ;  Irish  Rebellion. 

1799.  Napoleon,  First  Consul. 

1800.  Union  with  Ireland. 

1801.  Resignation  of  Pitt. 

1802.  Treaty  of  Amiens. 

1.  No  event  in  history  has  been  more  gradually  prepared  for  than 
the  French  Revolution.  Even  in  the  great  days  of  Louis  xiv., 
there  had  been  much  that  was  evil  in  the  condition  prance 
of  France.  The  government  was  a  despotism,  but,  before  the 
though  the  kings  had  deprived  the  clergy  and  the  Revoluti<>n. 
nobles  of  nearly  all  share  in  ruling  the  state,  they  still  remained 
privileged  orders  whose  immunities  were  very  burdensome  to  the 
mass  of  the  community.  Nobles  and  clergy,  for  example,  paid  few 
direct  taxes,  and  the  result  of  this  was  that  the  mass  of  the  national 
revenue  was  raised  from  those  who  were  least  able  to  contribute  it. 
Besides  this,  many  of  the  peasants  were  still  bound,  as  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  work  on  their  lords'  fields,  grind  their  corn  at 
their  lords'  mills,  and  mend  the  highways  at  their  own  charges. 
Though  most  of  the  peasants  were  free,  and  in  many  cases 
owners  of  the  land  they  tilled,  many  were  still  forced  to  pay  all 
sorts  of  exactions  to  the  nobles.  This  was  all  the  more  felt  as  the 
nobles,  having  no  political  power,  did  nothing  in  return  for  what 
they  took  from  the  people.  The  social  exclusiveness  of  the  nobles 
bore  exceptionally  hardly  on  the  wealthy  and  intelligent  middle 
classes  who  had  acquired  fortunes  by  trade.  There  were  the  same 
inequalities  in  the  Church  as  in  the  state.  A  few  bishops  and 
abbots  derived  great  incomes  from  their  benefices,  while  most  of 
the  work  was  done  by  poverty-stricken  parish  priests,  who  suffered 
almost  as  many  hardships  as  the  peasants  to  whom  they  ministered 

593 


594         GEORGE  III.   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION     [1789- 

2.  Under  Louis  xiv.  the  French  despotism  had  at  least  heen  an 
efficient  one.  Things  were  far  otherwise  during  the  long  reign  of 
Voltaire  Louis  xv.  (1715-1774),  in  which  period  the  French 
and  monarchy  became  hopelessly  corrupt  and  discredited. 
Rousseau.  Louis  xv.'s  grandson  and  successor,  Louis  xvi.,  though 
not  a  had  man,  was  not  intelligent,  hard-working,  or  strong  enough 
to  set  things  right.  The  failures  of  France  during  the  American 
war  showed  that  she  was  no  longer  the  leading  state  in  Europe. 
The  decay  into  which  the  French  state  had  fallen  was  the  more 
remarkable  since  France  and  Frenchmen  exercised  more  influence 
over  the  ideas  and  thought  of  Europe  than  they  had  ever  done 
before.  France  had  long  become  the  centre  for  the  destructive  and 
restless  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century.  All  over  Europe  men 
eagerly  read  the  vigorous  attacks  on  the  existing  order  of  things 
which  were  written  by  famous  French  men  of  letters.  Voltaire 
and  his  school  taught  the  supremacy  of  human  reason,  and 
attacked  all  authority  and  everything  that  could  not  give  some 
plain  reason  for  existing.  In  particular,  they  were  conspicuous  for 
their  hostility  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  their  influence  was  so 
widespread  in  France  that  the  Church  had  lost  almost  all  its  hold 
over  men's  minds,  though  it  was  still  strong  enough  to  persecute 
Protestants.  An  even  more  powerful  influence  than  Voltaire  was 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  a  G-enevese  settled  in  France,  who  preached 
with  religious  fervour  a  new  political  gospel  of  the  rights  of  man, 
and  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity.  He  maintained  that  all 
government  was  unlawful  that  did  not  depend  on  the  sovereign  people. 

3.  So  widespread  was  the  influence  of  the  French  philosophers 
that  intelligent  sovereigns  in  other  lands,  such  as  the  Emperor 

Joseph  11.  and  Catharine  11.  of  Russia,  reformed  their 
of  the6611"8  states  after  French  models:  It  was  only  in  France 
States  that  there  was   no  attempt  to  put   in  practice  the 

^eneral»         teachings  of  the  French  reformers.     All  change  was 

kept  off  so  long  that  when  the  movement  for  reform 
finally  made  itself  felt,  it  swept  everything  before  it.  At  last  the 
government  of  Louis  xvi.  fell  into  such  distress  that  it  could 
only  avoid  bankruptcy  by  compelling  the  privileged  orders  to  bear 
their  share  in  the  national  burdens.  Too  timid  to  do  this  himself, 
Louis  xvi.  was  compelled  to  summon  the  States-General  of  France, 
the  body  which  had  the  same  origin  and  early  history  as  our  parlia- 
ment, but  which  had  never  met  since  1614.  When  the  three 
estates  of  France  assembled  on  May  5, 1789,  the  French  Revolution 
began. 


-I792-]     GEORGE  III.   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION         595 

4.  The  States-General  declared  themselves  a  National  Assembhi. 
and  set  to  work  at  once  to  sweep  away  all  the  old  institutions  of 
France  and  build  up  a  new  constitution.     The  leaders 
of  the  movement  were  men  of  liberal  views  and  much   JJnstUution 
honest  zeal  for  reform,  but  they  had  no  practical   and  its 
knowledge  how  to  govern   a  state,  and  looked  for   J^gJ^g, 
guidance,  not  to  the  lessons  of  history  or  experience, 
but  to  the  fine-sounding  doctrines  of  Rousseau.    They  set  up  a 
new  constitution  which  established  a  limited  monarchy,  and  gave 
all  Frenchmen  equal  rights.     They  established  religious  and  civil 
freedom,   and  separated    the   Church  from  Rome,  making  it  a 
department  of  the  state.     But  the  new  system  worked  badly  from 
the  beginning.    As  Louis  xvi.  was  always  intriguing  against  it, 
it  was  natural  that  the  reformers  should  cut  down  his  power  almost 
to  nothing.     The  result  of  this,  however,  was  to  make  the  govern- 
ment too  weak  to  maintain  order,  and  rule  soon  passed  to  the 
Paris  mob.      Quite  early  in  the  movement  the  people  of  Paris 
had  shown  their  power  by  storming  and  destroying  the  Bastille, 
the  prison  in  which  political  offenders  were  confined.     Later  on 
the  mob  perpetrated  all  sorts  of  atrocities,  and  forced  the  king  and 
assembly,  which  had  hitherto  sat  at  Versailles,  to  go  to  Paris, 
where  they  were  no  longer  free  agents.     By  1793  the   Tne  Reign 
new  constitution  had  broken  down,  and  was  superseded   of  Terror, 
by  a    revolutionary    government    controlled    by  the    1793_1798- 
extreme  faction,  called  the  Jacobins.    The  king  and  queen  were 
now  tried  and  beheaded,  and  a  republic  established.     Priests  and 
aristocrats  were  hunted  down  and  put  to  death.     The  Christian 
faith  was  proscribed  in  favour  of  the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
and  afterwards  of  the  Goddess  of  Reason.     Conspiracies  against 
the  Revolution  were  crushed  with  merciless  severity.     This  was 
the  period  of  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

5.  Even  before  Jacobin  ascendency  and  the  Reign  of  Terror 
had  begun,  the  French  Revolution  had  brought  about  a  general 
war  in  Europe.     The  partisans  of  the  old  order  in   Eur0De  at 
France  had  emigrated  in  large  numbers,  and  besought   war  with 
the  chief  continental  sovereigns  to  fight  against  the   lJ>e  Rey°,9u" 
Revolution,  because  it  threatened  the  whole  existing 
order  of  society,  Church,  and  state.     The  emperor  and  the  king  of 
Prussia,  to  whom  they  chiefly  appealed,  were  slow  to  move,  and  had 
no  wish  for  war.     They  enraged  the  French,  however,  by  issuisg 
a  declaration  that  they  would  use  force  to  restore  Louis  xvi.  to 
power,  provided  that  they  could  obtain  the  help  of  the  chief  states 


596         GEORGE  III.   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION     [1792- 

of  Europe.  The  revolutionary  leaders  in  France  availed  them- 
selves of  the  indiscretions  of  the  powers  to  stir  up  a  warlike  feeling". 
They  had  the  faith  of  zealots  in  the  revolutionary  principles,  and 
believed  that,  if  they  took  up  arms  against  the  despots  of  Europe, 
they  would  be  welcomed  by  the  peoples  whose  kings  they  fought 
against,  and  would  be  able  to  establish  their  doctrines  every- 
where. Early  in  1792  France  declared  war  against  Austria  and 
Prussia.  Thereupon  the  allies  invaded  France,  but  their  progress 
was  soon  checked  by  the  cannonade  of  Valmy.  It  was  now  that 
the  Jacobins  became  supreme,  made  France  a  republic,  and  put 
the  king  to  death.  The  war  soon  became  a  war  of  opinion  and  ideas. 
With  all  their  cruelty  and  fanaticism,  the  Jacobins  were  terribly 
efficient.  They  not  only  saved  the  Revolution  in  France,  but  over- 
whelmed the  Austrian  Netherlands,  Savoy,  and  Germany  as  far 
as  the  Rhine.  Everywhere  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  were 
welcomed  as  liberators,  and  a  few  short  campaigns  extended  the 
limits  of  France  to  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps. 

6.  At  first  England  showed  great  sympathy  with  the  French 
Revolution.  Englishmen  believed  that  the  French  were  going  to 
E  eland  se^    ^   a   constitutional  system  like   that    of   Eng- 

and  the  land,  and  hoped  that  the  similarity  of  government 

French  between  the  two  countries  would  still  further  increase 

the  good  feeling  between  them  which  had  begun 
with  Pitt's  commercial  treaty.  Pitt  himself  was  friendly  to 
the  new  movement,  and  many  of  his  Whig  enemies  regarded  it 
with  unbounded  and  enthusiastic  admiration.  Fox,  when  he  heard 
of  the  capture  of  the  Bastille,  wrote,  "  How  much  the  greatest 
event  it  is  that  has  happened  in  the  world,  and  how  much  the 
best ! "  Clubs  were  formed  in  the  large  towns  to  spread  revo- 
lutionary principles.  A  new  agitation  arose  for  parliamentary 
reform,  and  a  few  extreme  men  wished  to  remodel  the  English 
government  after  the  fashion  of  the  French.  Soon  the  violence 
which  marked  every  stage  of  the  French  movement  began  to 
frighten  the  more  timid.  Thoughtful  observers  perceived  that 
the  spirit  in  which  the  French  worked  was  better  calculated  to 
upset  states  than  to  reform  them.  At  last  Edmund  Burke,  the 
greatest  of  the  Whigs,  gave  the  tone  to  English  public  opinion  by 
his  famous  pamphlet,  called  Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution,, 
which  was  published  in  November,  1790.  In  it  he  showed  the 
great  differences  between  the  spirit  of  the  French  reformers  and 
the  leaders  of  the  English  Revolution  of  1688.  While  the  latter 
had  limited  themselves  to  correcting  abuses  in  the  old  constitution, 


I794-]       GEORGE  III   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION         597 

the  French  had  renounced  all  their  past  history,  and  had  suddenly 
attempted  to  alter  every  institution  of  the  nation.  With  all  his 
wisdom  and  insight,  Burke  was  violent  and  one-sided.  Before  long 
he  broke  utterly  with  Fox,  refusing  even  to  be  the  private  friend 
of  a  man  who  retained  sympathy  with  the  French.  He  declared 
that  his  last  dying  words  would  be,  "  Fly  from  the  French  con- 
stitution !  "  As  the  excesses  of  the  revolutionary  party  developed, 
the  great  majority  of  Englishmen  followed  Burke.  A  large  section 
of  the  Whig  party  deserted  Fox,  and,  in  1794,  Pitt  admitted  some 
of  the  Whigs  of  Burke's  school  into  his  government.  Henceforth 
aristocratic  influence  was  dissociated  from  the  Whig  policy  which 
it  had  so  long  supported.  The  new  Tory  aristocracy  adhered  to 
George  and  Pitt  in  their  resistance  to  revolutionary  ideas.  The 
faithful  few  who  still  adhered  to  Fox  were  powerless  in  parlia- 
ment and  unpopular  in  the  country.  Only  in  some  of  the  great 
towns,  especially  the  new  factory  towns  of  the  north,  was  there 
much  sympathy  with  the  Revolution. 

7.  Pitt  was  not  excitable   and   emotional  like  Burke,  but  he 
gradually  came  quite  round  to  Burke's  way  of  thinking.     Both  at 
home  and  abroad,  fear  of  the  French  Revolution  pro-    jyie  re- 
foundly  modified  his  policy.     A  groundless  fear  that   action  and 
large  numbers  of  Englishmen  wished  to  imitate  the 

French,  drove  him  into  a  policy  of  repression  which  stood  in 
striking  contrast  with  his  old  liberal  leanings.  He  ceased  to 
support  parliamentary  reform,  declaring  that  it  was  not  a  time  to 
make  hazardous  experiments.  He  suspended  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act ;  he  put  down  even  lawful  agitation  with  a  strong  hand ;  he 
passed  an  Alien  Act,  giving  the  government  power  to  watch  or 
remove  suspected  foreigners.  He  put  in  prison  many  of  the  leaders 
of  the  political  clubs  which  wished  to  imitate  the  French,  and 
strove  in  vain  to  get  them  convicted  of  treason.  Finally,  he  passed 
a  law  which  made  uttering  words  against  the  king's  authority  to 
be  treason,  and  exciting  hatred  against  the  government  and  con- 
stitution a  misdemeanour. 

8.  Despite  his  fear  of  the  Revolution,   Pitt  long  strove  to 
maintain  peace.     When   France   went  to  war  with 

Austria  and  Prussia,  Burke  preached  that  England  JjJf^jJ 
also  should  wage  a  sort  of  crusade  against  the  French,    war  against 
as  enemies  of  God  and  man.    Pitt  had  no  wish  to  draw   ^1(^evo" 
the  sword  for  an  idea,  but  resented  the  French  inter-    1793-1797. 
ference  in  English  affairs,  and  finally  declared  himself 
willing  to  fight  the  French  if  they  invaded  the  United  Provinces, 


598  GEORGE  III.    AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION     [1793- 

wliich  were  closely  allied  to  England.  Early  in  1793  the  French 
solved  all  difficulties  for  him  by  declaring  war  against  the  English 
and  Dutch  alike.  Even  now  Pitt  did  not  rightly  estimate  the  gravity 
of  the  situation.  "  It  will  be  a  short  war,"  he  said,  "  and  certainly 
ended  in  one  or  two  campaigns."  "  It  will  be  a  long  and  dangerous 
war,"  was  Burke's  truer  prophecy.  In  carrying  out  the  struggle, 
Pitt  showed  no  very  great  capacity.  He  joined  in  the.  great  coali- 
tion which  was  formed  against  the  French,  and  spent  in  subsidis- 
ing our  allies  vast  sums  which  would  have  been  better  employed 
in  training  British  soldiers.  He  did  not  know  where  to  strike, 
and  the  generals  who  carried  out  his  policy  were  often  dull  and 
incapable.  The  result  was  that  the  addition  of  England  to  the 
enemies  of  France  made  no  difference  to  the  general  fortune  of 
the  war.  Nothing  could  stop  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Jacobin 
armies.  They  defeated  George  iii.'s  second  son,  Frederick,  duke  of 
York,  a  foolish  man,  and  an  incompetent  general.  They  conquered 
all  Holland,  expelled  George's  cousin,  the  Stadtholder,  and  set  up 
a  revolutionary  republic  in  that  country.  It  was  to  no  purpose 
that  Pitt  sent  expeditions  to  help  revolts  that  had  arisen  in  France 
against  the  Jacobin  government.  One  of  these,  sent  to  Toulon  in 
1793,  was  dislodged  from  that  city  by  the  skill  of  a  young  Corsican 
officer  of  artillery,  named  Napoleon  Buonaparte,  who  first  showed 
his  conspicuous  genius  in  the  conduct  of  that  siege.  A  larger 
force,  despatched  to  Quiberon,  in  Brittany,  in  1795,  was  equally 
unsuccessful.  In  1795  Jacobin  supremacy  was  overthrown  in 
France,  and  a  more  moderate  government,  called  the  Directory, 
was  set  up.  Even  before  this,  Prussia,  Spain,  and  other  allies  of 
England  were  frightened  into  peace  with  the  victorious  republic, 
and  Holland  and  Spain,  actually  joined  the  war  against  England 
Affairs  now  became  more  critical  than  ever.  In  1796  Buonaparte 
received  his  first  independent  command  as  general  of  the  army  of 
Italy.  In  a  campaign  of  unexampled  brilliancy  and  success,  he 
drove  the  Austrians  out  of  the  peninsula,  forced  them  to  make  a 
treaty  leaving  Italy  to  the  French,  and  arranged  for  a  conference 
to  settle  the  affairs  of  Germany.  England  was  thus  left  single- 
handed  to  carry  on  the  struggle  against  France  and  her  allies. 

9.  Every  military  enterprise  directed  by  Pitt  had  failed,  and 
England  had  only  her  gold  and  her  ships  to  rely  upon.  Now,  how- 
The  suspen-  ever>  the  vast  sums  lavished  by  Pitt  on  untrustworthy 
sion  of  cash  allies  threw  the  country  into  financial  difficulties.  So 
payments.  j^ck  g0i^  had  j^n  drained  from  England  that  many 
merchants,  though  perfectly  solvent,  could  not  meet  their  debts 


-1798]     GEORGE  III.   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION        599 

because  there  was  not  enough  gold  and  silver  in  the  oountry  to  pay 
them.  This  monetary  crisis,  as  it  was  called,  was  only  set  right  by 
the  Bank  of  England  being  authorized  by  parliament  to  suspend 
cash  payments.  For  more  than  twenty  years  bank-notes  were  circu- 
lated, though  the  bank  would  not  exchange  them  for  gold.  It 
shows  how  little  the  real  credit  of  the  oountry  was  tonched  that 
the  value  of  bank-notes  as  compared  with  gold  declined  very 
slightly. 

10.  In  the  early  years  of  the  war  England  had  been  very 
successful  at  sea ;  but  when  the  French  had  got  the  help  of  the 
Spanish  and  Dutch  fleets,  they  formed  schemes  for  the  j^^  revolu- 
invasion  of  England  and  Ireland.  In  1796  some  tionary  war 
French  managed  to  land  near  Fishguard  in  South  atsea- 
Wales.  Though  they  surrendered  the  next  day  to  the  local  militia, 
they  proved  how  easy  an  invasion  was.  Next  year  the  enemy 
planned  to  unite  the  French  and  Spanish  fleets  in  the  channel, 
with  the  view  to  overthrow  our  naval  supremacy,  and  thus  prepare 
the  way  for  an  invasion  on  a  large  scale.  To  prevent  this,  Admiral 
Jervis  attacked  the  Spaniards  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  on  February 
14,  1797.  The.  English  fleet  was  inferior  in  size,  and  the  battle 
was  long  doubtful.  It  was  at  last  won  by  the  action  of  Commodore 
Nelson,  who,  on  his  own  responsibility,  attacked  the  Spaniards  at 
close  quarters  and  won  a  decisive  victory.  Yet  within  a  few  months 
the  righteous  discontent  of  the  sailors  led  to  formidable  mutinies  of 
the  British  ships  at  Spithead  and  the  Nore.  The  bad  management 
which  had  crippled  our  armies  had  extended  to  the  navy.  Many  of 
the  captains  were  abominable  tyrants ;  the  food  was  unwholesome 
and  bad,  the  discipline  cruel,  and  the  sailors'  pay  had  never  been 
altered  since  the  days  of  Charles  11.  After  a  time,  however,  both 
fleets  went  back  to  their  duty,  and,  under  the  popular  Admiral 
Duncan,  beat  the  Dutch  off  Campei-dovm. 

11.  The  French  navy  was  still  unconquered,  and  fresh  schemes 
of  invasion  were  formed  after  the  peace  between  France  and  Austria. 
One  French  army  was  to  land  in  Ireland,  which  was  on  Buonaparte 
the  verge  of  rebellion,  while  the  victorious  army  of  in  Egypt, 
Buonaparte  was  encamped  along  the  channel  in  the  1788* 
hope  of  invading  England.  This  latter  scheme  was  probably  little 
more  than  a  blind  to  cover  an  attack  on  Egypt,  which  Napoleon 
had  long  been  meditating.  In  1798  the  Egyptian  expedition  took 
place.  On  his  way  Buonaparte  took  Malta  from  the  Knights  of  St. 
John.  He  then  easily  conquered  Egypt,  which  he  saw  to  be  the 
key  to  the  East,  and  the  highway  to  Didia,  where  Tipti  Sultan,  of 


600         GEORGE  III.    AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION     [1798- 

Mysore,  the  old  enemy  of  the  English,  had  made  an  alliance  with 
the  French  republicans  against  British  ascendency. 

12.  Buonaparte's  head  was  filled  with  all  sorts  of  wild  schemes. 
He  dreamed  of  conquering  Turkey,  of  destroying  the  English 
The  battle  power  in  India,  and  finally  of  taking  Europe  in  the 
of  the  Nile,     real*.     Sir  Horatio  Nelson,  the  real  conqueror  at  the 

battle  of  St.  Vincent,  now  sought  to  destroy  the  fleet 
which  had  taken  Buonaparte  to  the  East.  On  August  1, 1798,  he 
found  the  French  anchored  in  Aboukir  Bay,  close  in  shore,  and  pro- 
tected by  strong  batteries.  With  great  daring  he  managed  to 
place  part  of  his  fleet  between  the  French  and  the  coast.  While 
these  vessels  attacked  the  French  from  within,  the  remainder  of  the 
English  fleet  assailed  them  from  seaward.  The  battle,  which 
began  at  sunset,  raged  the  whole  night,  and  ended  in  the  complete 
destruction  of  the  French  fleet.  The  battle  of  the  Nile,  as  it  was 
called,  established  British  supremacy  over  the  Mediterranean,  and 
put  an  end  to  Buonaparte's  visions  of  Eastern  conquest. 

13.  The  same  period  saw  the  destruction  of  the  French  designs 
for  restoring  their  influence  in  India.      In  1799  the  Marquis 

Wellesley,  governor-general  of  India,  sent  a  force 
war  17996     wni°^  besieged  and  stormed  Seringapatam,  and  Tipu 

died  during  the  struggle.  In  the  same  year  Buona- 
parte left  his  troops  in  Egypt  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  escaped 
to  France  in  a  fast  cruiser.  Troops  from  India  and  England  now 
poured  into  Egypt,  and  Buonaparte's  deserted  soldiers  were 
defeated  in  the  battle  of  Aboukir.  Soon  after  Egypt  was 
evacuated  and  restored  to  the  Turks. 

14.  In  1799,  while  Buonparte  was  absent  in  Egypt,  the  general 

war  had  been  renewed  in  Europe.     A  conference  which  met  to 

The  war  of      se^e  German  affairs  could  not  agree,  whereupon  Pitt 

the  Second      formed  the  league  called  the  Second  Coalition,  of  which 

Coalition,        Austria,  Russia,  and  England  were  the  chief  members. 
1799-1801 

In   one    year's  fighting   France  lost  nearly   all  the 

conquests  which  she  had  gained  during  the  revolutionary  wars,  and 

was  threatened  with  invasion.    At  that  moment  Buonaparte  came 

back  on  the  scene.   In  1799  he  put  an  end  to  the  Directory  by  force 

of  arms,  and  drew  up  a  new  constitution,  by  which  he  was  made 

First  Consul  with  almost  unlimited  powers,  and  the  sovereignty  of 

the  people  reduced  to  a  sham.     The  Revolution  thus  culminated 

in  a  military  despotism,  and  the  greatest  of  the  soldiers  of  the 

Revolution,  like  another  Caesar  or  Cromwell,  became  master  of  the 

state.     The  French  were  now  so  tired  of  change  that  they  welcomed 


-i8o2.]     GEORGE  III.   AND  FRENCH  REVOLUTION        601 

the  Corsican's  accession  to  power,  and  Buonaparte's  magnificent 
energy  and  ability  won  for  him  a  remarkable  series  of  successes. 
He  persuaded  the  Tsar  Paul  of  Russia  to  abandon  the 
coalition.      He  crossed    the  Alps,   and    crushed  the   battle  of 
Austrians  at  the  battle  of  Marengo,  June  14, 1800,  a   1800,  and 
victory  which  restored  French  supremacy  in  Italy.   the  treaty 
Despairing-  of  further  resistance,  Austria  made  the  ville^SOl. 
treaty  of  Luneville  with  France,  by  which  it  recognized 
all  French  conquests,  including  the  Netherlands  and  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine. 

15.  England  was  then  again  forced  to  fight    single-handed 
against  France.     Her  danger  became  more  extreme  since  Paul  1., 
the  half -mad  tsar,  manifested  a  great  friendship  for 
Buonaparte,  and  in  1801  stirred  up  against  England   Pe lA™ed 
an  Armed  Neutrality  of  the  northern  powers,  con-   and  the 
spicuous  among  which  were   Sweden,  Denmark,  and   battle  of 
Russia.     As    in    the    days    of   the  previous  Armed   hagen. 
Neutrality    of    1780,  the  northern  powers  did    not 

directly  declare  war  against  England,  but  announced  their  refusal 
to  be  bound  by  the  claims  of  England  to  search  neutral  vessels  with 
the  object  of  finding  French  goods.  To  meet  this  new  foe  a  fleet 
was  sent  to  the  Baltic,  though  pedantic  regard  to  seniority  gave 
the  chief  command  to  a  commonplace  admiral  named  Parker,  under 
whom  Nelson  was  to  act  as  second.  The  English  attacked  the 
Danish  fleet  and  batteries  in  the  battle  of  Copenhagen.  Parker 
grew  alarmed  when  the  Danes  resisted  obstinately,  and  ordered 
Nelson  to  retire.  Nelson  disregarded  his  superior's  commands, 
and  went  on  fighting  until  he  had  won  the  day.  Copenhagen  was 
now  open  to  the  English  attack,  and  the  Danes  were  forced  to 
make  an  armistice.  About  the  same  time  the  Tsar  Paul  was 
murdered,  and  his  successor,  Alexander  L,  dropped  the  principle 
that  the  flag  covers  the  cargo.  Thus  the  Armed  Neutrality  came 
to  an  end,  and  with  it  Buonaparte's  last  hope  of  overthrowing  the 
naval  supremacy  of  England. 

16.  There  was  now  little  left  for  England  and  France  to  fight 
about.    Buonaparte  was  supreme  on  land,  and  could  do   ^g  j^dlne- 
what  he  liked  with  the  European  powers.     England,   ton  minis- 
however,  was  supreme  at  sea,  and  Nelson  had  frustrated   try,  1801, 
all   the   French  attacks  on  our   ships,  colonies,  and   treaty  of 
commerce.     Both  countries  were  exhausted  by  the  long   Amiens, 
struggle,  and  Buonaparte  himself  wished  for  a  short 

period  of  repose  during  which  he  could  build  up  his  despotic  power. 


602  GEORGE  III.   AND  IRISH  UNION  [1782- 

Negotiations  were  accordingly  begun,  and  their  progress  was  made 
easier  by  the  resignation  of  Pitt,  who  had  offended  George  in.,  and 
gave  up  office  in  the  spring  of  1801.  Nearly  all  the  able  ministers 
went  out  with  their  chief,  and  Addington,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  a  dull  and  incapable  man,  made  up  what  sort  of 
government  he  could  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Tory  party. 
Addington,  in  his  anxiety  to  end  the  war,  did  not  trouble  himself 
about  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe.  In  March,  1802,  he  con- 
cluded peace  with  the  French  in  the  treaty  of  Amiens.  By  it 
England  abandoned  most  of  the  conquests  she  had  made  from 
France  and  her  allies  beyond  sea,  though  Spain  gave  up  Trinidad, 
and  Holland,  now  called  the  Batavian  republic,  surrendered  Ceylon. 
Malta,  which  after  Nelson's  victory  had  been  taken  from  the  French, 
was  to  be  restored  to  its  former  owners,  the  Knights  of  St.  John. 

17.  The  wars  against  the  French  Revolution  were  thus,  like 
the  Revolution  itself,  at  an  end,  though  not  before  the  old  state 
The  dH  t  °^  society  had  been  shattered  and  the  old  political 
that  balance  of  Europe  completely  overthrown  by  the  First 
weathered      Consul  of  France.     England  had  struggled  bravely 

and  constantly,  though  with  little  intelligence.  Under 
Pitt  she  had  weathered  the  storm  of  revolutionary  action,  but  had 
paid  a  heavy  price  by  losing  much  of  her  liberty  and  suffering 
much  distress  from  high  prices  and  heavy  war  taxes.  If  she  had 
escaped  revolution  at  home,  the  chief  reason  was  not  to  be  found  in 
Pitt's  repressive  policy,  but  in  the  fact  that  the  people  of  England 
were  after  all  much  better  off  than  the  people  in  France,  and  were 
therefore  much  less  tempted  to  advocate  violent  changes  than  the 
French  had  been. 

18.  During  the  whole  war  against  the  French  Revolution, 
Britain's  position  had  been  further  imperilled  by  the  discontent 

and  distress  of  Ireland.  Since  1782  Ireland  had 
under  possessed    a     parliament     independent    of    imperial 

Grattan's  controL  But  the  Irish  parliament,  though  more 
f-si'^nn1'    Powerful     since     Grattan's    reforms,    remained    an 

exclusively  Protestant  parliament,  and  represented 
only  the  Protestant  minority.  However,  it  did  much  better  than 
before  1782,  and  in  particular  it  repealed  many  of  the  worst  laws 
which  had  oppressed  Roman  Catholics  since  the  Revolution  of 
1688.  Yet  even  the  Protestants  were  not  all  satisfied  with  what 
had  been  done.  Some  of  them,  including  Grattan,  wished  to  see 
the  Catholic  gentry  sitting  in  parliament,  and  in  this  Pitt  agreed 
with   the    Irish    leader.     Others,  however,  refused  to  give  any 


-1 794-1  GEORGE  III.   AND  IRISH  UNION  603 

political  power  to  the  Catholics,  seeing"  that  if  it  were  once 
conceded  Ireland  would  soon  fall  under  their  control.  The 
Catholic  question  soon  broke  up  the  unity  of  the  Irish  Protestants. 
The  eloquence  of  its  orators  gave  distinction  to  the  Dublin 
parliament,  but  its  members  were  factious  and  quarrelsome.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  deal  with  the  real  root  of  Irish  trouble,  the 
miserable  poverty  of  the  mass  of  the  peasantry.  Moreover,  the 
government  of  Ireland  was  still  controlled  by  the  English  ministry, 
and  the  system  of  bribery  and  jobbery  was  still  continued  in  order 
to  keep  a  majority  of  the  Dublin  parliament  supporters  of  the 
king's  representatives. 

19.  The  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  soon  complicated 
the  Irish  situation.  Among  the  Presbyterians  of  Ulster  and  the 
freethinkers  of  the  great  towns  revolutionary  ideas 

won  many  supporters,  and  in  1791  Theobald  Wolfe   JJstameS*1 
Tone,  a  Protestant  lawyer,  set  up  a  society  called  the   and  the 
United  Irishmen.    Its  professed  object  was  to  join   pI*enfl1, 
together  Irishmen  of  all  creeds  and  classes  to  agitate 
for  parliamentary  reform    and  complete  Catholio  emancipation. 
Its  leaders,  however,   soon    looked    beyond    these    aims  towards 
asserting  the  complete  independence  of  Ireland  from  the  English 
connection,  and  their  methods  were  largely  borrowed  from  those 
of  the  French  Revolution,  for  which  they  expressed  the  warmest 
admiration.    In  opposition  to  the  United  Irishmen,  the  extreme  Pro- 
testants formed  clubs,  called  Orange  Lodges,  in  memory  of  William 
of  Orange.     From  this  they  derived  their  name  of  Orangemen. 

20.  Between  the  revolutionaries    and    the    bigots    stood    the 
Catholic  party,  representing  the  mass  of  Irishmen.    The  Catholics' 
position  was  a  strong  one,  since  Pitt  and  Grattan   j^e  Re]jef 
sympathized  with  them,  and  the  United  Irishmen   Act  of  1798, 
bade  heavily  for  their  help.     As  a  rule,  however,  only  and  the 
the  educated  Catholics    looked    to    the    government   0f  pitz- 
for  support,  while  the  ignorant  masses  fell  blindly   wllliam, 
into  the  plans  of  tile  United  Irishmen.     Unluckily,  the 
government  had  no  settled  policy.     Sometimes  the  liberal  instincts 
of  Pitt  prevailed,  as  in  1793,  when  the  great  Catholic  Relief  Act  was 
passed,  which  gave  the  Roman  Catholics  a  vote  at  elections  with- 
out the  right  of  being  returned  members.     In  1794  Pitt  appointed 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  one  of  the  new  Whig  ministers,  lord-lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  and  a  further  attempt  was  made  to  conciliate  the 
Catholics.    But  Fitzwilliam's  eeal  for  purity  and  reform  frightened 
every  place-hunter  in  Ireland,  and  a  loud  outcry  was  raised  against 


604  GEORGE  HI.    AND  IRISH  UNION  [179S- 

him.  Fitzgibbon,  afterwards  Lord  Clare,  the  Irish  chancellor, 
persuaded  George  111.  that  he  would  break  his  coronation  oath 
if  he  permitted  the  Catholics  to  sit  in  Parliament.  Fitzwllliam 
was  recalled ;  Grattan's  Reform  Bill  was  rejected ;  and  the  failure 
of  the  moderates  left  the  way  open  to  the  "United  Irishmen. 

21.  Tone  and  his  associates  now  prepared  for  revolution.     Their 
first  idea  was  to  get  the  French  to  send  a  fleet  and  army  to  Ireland, 

but  the  victories  of  Nelson  and  Jervis  prevented  much 
lion  of  1/798     danger  of  invasion,  and  forced  the  United  Irishmen 

to  fall  back  upon  local  resources.  In  1798  civil  vrar 
broke  out,  but,  despite  the  revolutionary  aims  of  the  leaders,  they 
found  their  following  almost  exclusively  in  the  Catholic  peasantry, 
and  nearly  all  Protestants  united  to  uphold  their  ascendency  and 
the  English  connection.  The  vigour  of  the  Government  prevented 
a  rising  in  Ulster,  and  the  prompt  arrest  of  the  leaders  deprived 
the  rising  of  its  natural  chiefs.  There  was,  however,  a  formidable 
struggle  in  Leinster,  where  a  great  army  of  peasants  took  the  field, 
under  the  leadership  of  some  of  their  priests.  For  some  time  the 
insurgents  held  nearly  all  Wexford,  but  at  last  General  Lake  stormed 
their  camp  at  Vinegar  HiU,  near  Enniscorthy.  After  this  the 
rebel  army  broke  up  into  small  bands,  which  gradually  melted 
away.  The  revolt  was  soon  put  down  so  completely  that  when, 
a  few  months  later,  a  considerable  French  force  managed  to  land 
in  Connaught,  very  few  dared  join  it,  and  it  was  soon  forced 
to  surrender.  Unluckily,  the  triumphant  Protestants  avenged 
themselves  on  the  defeated  Catholics  by  atrocities  equally  cruel 
and  far  more  widely  spread.  The  lack  of  regular  troops  forced 
the  government  to  make  large  use  of  the  Protestant  yeomanry  in 
putting  down  the  rebellion,  and  most  of  the  worst  misdeeds  were 
due  to  their  bigotry  and  spirit  of  revenge. 

22.  Pitt  sent  Lord  Cornwallis,  formerly  general  of  the  English 
army  in  America,  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant.     His  task  was  to 

prevent  the  Irish  of  the  two  factions  from  attacking 
DoHcy  eack  °ther,  and  he  soon  convinced  himself  that  Ireland 

could  only  be  justly  ruled  by  men  free  from  the 
prejudices  of  either  party.  He  held  that  the  rebellion  had  proved 
the  failure  of  the  rule  of  the  Protestant  minority,  and  that  the  true 
solution  of  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  parliamentary  Union  of  Ireland 
with  Great  Britain.  Pitt  cordially  agreed  with  him,  and  sought  to 
make  the  Roman  Catholics  favourable  to  this  scheme  by  proposing 
to  combine  with  the  Union  a  plan  of  complete  Catholic  emancipation, 
by  which  Roman  Catholics  were  to  be  admitted  into  parliament 


-i8oi.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  IRISH  UNION  6o$ 

and  suffered  to  hold  office  under  the  state.  Pitt  so  far  succeeded 
that  the  chief  opposition  to  his  plans  came  from  the  Protestants, 
who  still  controlled  the  parliament  at  Dublin.  To  them  the  Union 
meant  the  loss  of  all  their  privileges,  and,  headed  by  Grattan,  they 
bitterly  opposed  Pitt's  proposals.  The  only  way  to  carry  the  Act  of 
Union  through  the  Irish  parliament  was  by  buying  off  the  owners 
of  rotten  boroughs  by  heavy  compensation,  and  by  lavishing  titles, 
pensions,  and  even  direct  bribes  on  all  members  who  were  willing  to 
sell  their  votes  for  a  consideration.  The  corrupt  Irish  parliament 
was  brought  round  by  this  policy  to  pass  the  measure  in  1800.  It 
had  already  been  easily  got  through  the  parliament  at  Westminster. 

23.  By  the  Act  of  Union  the  separate  Irish  parliament  was 
abolished.  Instead  of  this,  four  Irish  bishops  and  twenty-eight 
temporal  peers  were  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Lords  for 

the  United  Kingdom,  while  one  hundred  members  Tono  n 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  two  for  each  shire,  the 
rest  for  the  boroughs,  were  henceforth  to  represent  Ireland  at 
Westminster.  Absolute  freedom  of  trade  between  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  was  established.  The  Irish  Church  and  army  were 
united  to  those  of  England,  but  the  separate  law  courts,  the  lord- 
lieutenancy,  and  a  distinct  executive  government  were  retained. 

24.  Pitt  now  prepared  to  fulfil  his  promises  to  the  Irish  Catholics 
by  laying    before    the   cabinet   a    plan    for   Catholic  emancipa- 
tion.    One  of  his  colleagues  betrayed  his  intention   Fauureof 
to  the  king,  and  plied  the  monarch  with  arguments    Catholic 
against  it.     George  had  already  been   convinced  by   emanclpa- 
Fitzgibbon  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  accept   resignation 
the  policy,  and  declared,  "  I  shall  reckon  any  man  my   of  Pitt, 
personal  enemy  who  proposes  such  a  measure."   There- 
upon Pitt  brought  his  suggestions  before  George,  declaring  that  he 
must  resign  if  they  were  not  accepted.     George  vainly  endeavoured 
to  persuade  him  to  say  nothing  more  about  them.     Pitt's  answer 
to  this  was  to  offer  to  resign.     This  event  was  delayed  by  George 
being  driven  by  the  excitement  produced  by  the  crisis  into  another 
fit  of  insanity.     On  his  speedy  recovery,  Pitt,  out  of  pure  com- 
passion, informed  the  bewildered  king  that  he  would  not  trouble 
nim  with  further  advice  on  the  Catholic  question.     England  was 
still  engaged  in  her  life-and-death  struggle  against  Napoleon,  and 
Pitt  saw  that  it  was  even  more  important  to  keep  George  in  health 
and  courage  than  to  set  free  the  Catholics.     Then,  in  March,  1801, 
he  laid  down  the  seals  of  office.     His  resignation  was  another 
triumph  of  the  indomitable  will  of  George  m.     It  weakened  the 


6o6 


GEORGE  III.   AND   IRISH  UNION 


[1801. 


administration  at  a  period  of  difficulty,  and  soon  destroyed  the 
hopes  that  had  been  formed  as  to  the  results  of  the  Irish  Union. 
This  measure,  unaccompanied  by  emancipation,  resulted  in  effect 
in  a  prolongation  of  Protestant  ascendency  in  Ireland,  and  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  legitimate  grievances  of  the  Catholics.  Inevitably 
the  Catholics  resented  the  trickery  by  which  their  support  of  the 
measure  had  been  won.  They  grew  more  disgusted  with  the  Union 
than  the  Protestants  had  ever  been,  and  were  henceforward  its 
chief  enemies.  The  result  was  that  the  one-sided  Union  failed 
either  to  conciliate  Ireland  or  promote  its  prosperity.  The  blame 
of  this  was,  however,  due,  not  to  Pitt,  but  to  George  ell 


Africa  ?Q 


yfoNeptuno 
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Orion  ♦ 

Agtmemnon 

*       Prince  10 


Euryalus  0         , 

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Conqueror—  ^^Temerake 
—j^    Neptune 
Leviathan 


y*      ^^Farmidabls 
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^  ^Rayo 

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...  ^Hiros       ^Aguslin 
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.*  RHec'outable 


n 


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alternative  position 


()  Fougueux 
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Q  6        kltonarca 

^  UAIgesiras 

A  Bahama 

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San  lldefanso 


BATTLE  OF  TRAFALGAR 
21  st.  October  1805 

Position  at  Noon  ^f     - 
(From  the  Admiralty  Committee's  Report. 1913)        >          " Achilla 

m- British  Ships  ^Principe  da  Asturiae 
C>  French  Ships  jn  Berwick 
a>Spaaish  Ships                            £?San  Juan  Hepomuceno 


E".c.-yT.;ktr  Ltd.  sc. 


CHAPTER   V 
GEORGE   III.   AND    NAPOLEON  ^1802-1820) 

Chief  Dates : 

1803.  Renewal  of  war  with  France ;  battle  of  Assaye. 

1804.  Pitt's  second  ministry. 

1805.  Battles  of  Trafalgar  and  Austerlitz. 

1806.  Death  of  Pitt  and  Fox. 

1807.  Treaty  of  Tilsit ;  beginning  of  the  long  Tory  rule. 

1808.  Battle  of  Vimiero  ;  beginning  of  the  Peninsular  War. 

1809.  Battles  of  Wagraui  and  Talavera. 

1810.  Battle  of  Busaco. 

1811.  Regency  established ;  battles  of  Fuentes  de  Onoro  and  Albuera. 

1812.  Battle  of  Salamanca ;   failure  of  Napoleon's  Russian  campaign  ; 

war  with  America. 

1813.  Battles  of  Leipzig  and  Vitoria. 

1814.  First  fall  of  Napoleon. 

1815.  Battle  of  Waterloo  and  final  fail  of  Napoleon  ;  Peace  of  Paris  and 

Congress  of  Vienna. 

1819.  The  Manchester  massacre. 

1820.  Death  of  George  in. 

1.  The  treaty  of  Amiens  was  little  more  than  a  truce.     Though 
the  English  looked  forward  to  a  long  period  of  repose,  a  permanent 
peace  was  no  part  of  the  designs  of  the  First  Consul  of 
France.     All  that  Buonaparte  wanted  was  a  short   Qf  trie 
breathing-time  while  he  built  up  his  great  fabric  of   treaty  of 
despotism.    But  he  soon  fancied  himself  so  strong  that   ? £03  ns* 
he  became  indifferent  as  to  England's  action.     He  had 
now  made  his  peace  with  the  pope  by  the  Concordat,  which  restored 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  France,  and  enabled  Buonaparte  to 
pose  as  the  protector  of  religion,  which  had  been  almost  overthrown 
by  the  Jacobins.    Already  he  began  to  make  fresh  aggressions  on 
the  continent.     He  seized  Piedmont  and  Parma,  and  sent  his  troops 
to  occupy  Switzerland.    No  continental  power  ventured  to  oppose 
him,  for  Alexander  of  Russia  was  his  ally,  and  Germany  was 
plunged  into  confusion.     The  treaty  of  Luneville  had  necessitated 
the  reconstitution   of   the  whole  of  Germany,  and  Austria  and 
Prussia  were  angrily  quarrelling  as  to  their  share  of  the  plunder. 

607 


608  GEORGE  III.  AND  NAPOLEON  [1803- 

Secure  on  the  continent,  the  First  Consul  took  np  a  high  line 
with  England.  He  had  not  forgiven  her  for  frustrating  his  plans 
in  Egypt,  and  he  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  his  European 
position  could  not  be  secure  so  long  as  she  retained  the  command 
of  the  sea.  He  was  anxious  to  recover  the  lost  French  colonies,  to 
increase  the  maritime  commerce  of  France,  and  to  make  its  navy 
the  first  in  the  world.  England,  and  England  only,  stood  in  the 
way  of  the  accomplishment  of  these  objects,  and  Buonaparte 
thought  that  his  commanding  position  made  it  desirable  for  him 
to  attack  her  as  soon  as  possible,  since  there  was  little  immediate 
prospect  of  her  winning  any  continental  allies.  Accordingly,  he 
took  every  opportunity  of  picking  a  quarrel  with  England.  He 
complained  that  the  royalist  emigrants  settled  in  England  were 
libelling  him  in  a  newspaper  which  they  published  in  London.  He 
demanded  the  expulsion  of  the  Bourbon  princes,  and  angrily 
resented  the  refusal  of  the  English  to  carry  out  the  treaty  of 
Amiens  by  the  evacuation  of  Malta.  He  took  up  so  offensive  an 
attitude  that  even  the  weak  government  of  Addington  felt  that  it 
had  no  alternative  but  to  renew  hostilities.  In  May,  1803,  Britain 
declared  war  against  France,  less  than  fourteen  months  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace. 

2.  The  war  lasted  without  a  break  from  1803  to  1814.  It  was 
fought  for  very  different  objects  to  those  which  England  had 
The  Napo-  fought  for  from  1793  to  1802.  It  was  waged  to  main- 
leonic  War,  tain  the  balance  of  power  and  the  liberties  of  Europe, 
which  were  threatened  by  the  despot  who  had  already 
put  down  the  freedom  of  his  adopted  country.  During  this  long 
period  there  were  many  changes  on  the  continent.  The  never- 
ceasing  aggressions  of  Napoleon  compelled  the  continental  powers 
on  several  occasions  to  draw  the  sword  against  him.  In  no  case 
could  they  resist  him  for  any  length  of  time.  His  military  genius 
easily  enabled  him  to  overthrow  their  armies,  and  their  subjects  were 
indifferent  to  their  defeat,  even  welcoming  the  French  conquerors 
as  the  apostles  of  the  ideas  of  the  revolution.  With  England, 
however,  Buonaparte  had  to'fight,  not  only  against  the  government, 
but  against  the  whole  people.  It  was  England  which  first  taught 
the  conqueror  of  so  many  governments  how  hard  it  was  to  conquer 
a  nation.  Gradually,  as  his  designs  became  clearer,  England 
succeeded  in  rousing  the  continent  to  defeat  his  designs  of  universal 
monarchy.  It  was  natural  that  Napoleon  should  manifest  an 
extraordinary  hatred  against  the  one  state  which  successfully 
blocked  his  march  towards  the  monarchy  of  the  world. 


-iSos.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  609 

3.  Buonaparte  wished  to  end  the  war  rapidly  by  pouring1  an 
army  of  overwhelming  force  into  England.  He  collected  all 
his  available  troops  along  the  north  coast  of  France,   E 

and  filled  every  harbour  from  Antwerp  to  Le  Havre  rebellion, 
with  a  fleet  of  flat-bottomed  boats,  with  which  he  1803> 
hoped  to  carry  what  he  called  the  army  of  England  over  the 
Channel.  He  took  up  his  headquarters  at  Boulogne,  and  waited 
for  an  opportunity  of  evading  the  English  fleet  and  invading  the 
country.  At  the  same  time  he  sought  to  distract  English  attention 
by  stirring  up  trouble  within  her  own  empire.  The  attack  began 
in  Ireland,  where  in  July,  1803,  Robert  Emmet,  brother  of  one  of 
the  rebel  leaders  of  1798,  was  incited  by  Buonaparte  to  attempt  a 
rising  in  Dublin,  hoping  that  the  disappointment  felt  among  the 
Irish  Catholics  at  the  failure  of  Catholic  emancipation  would 
make  the  disturbances  general.  Emmet's  attempt  failed.  All  that 
he  could  do  was  to  provoke  a  riot  in  Dublin,  during  which  the  mob 
murdered  the  chief  justice  of  Ireland.  The  disturbances  were  put 
down,  and  Emmet  was  taken  and  hanged. 

4.  Buonaparte  was  more  successful  in  India,  where  he  stirred 
up  the  warlike  Marathas  to  resist  the  English  power.  The  Marquis 
Wellesley,  who  had  already  frustrated  a  similar  alliance 

between  revolutionary  France  and  Tipu  of  Mysore,    ^j^shes 
was  still  governor-general,  and  took  prompt  measures   British 
to  defeat  the  Marathas  clans.      He  despatched  two    supremacy 
armies  against  the  chiefs  of  the  Maratha  states.     One    1798-1805. 
of  these,  which  operated  in  the  south,  was  commanded 
by  the  governor-general's  younger  brother,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley, 
who  had  just  shown,  in  a  subordinate  position  during  the  Mysore 
war,  his  great  qualities  as  a  general.     In  1803  Wellesley  won  two 
brilliant  victories,  at  Assaye  and  Argaum,  over  the  southern  army 
of  the  Marathas ;  while  General  Lake,  who  operated  in  the  north, 
conquered  Delhi,  and  released  the  descendant  of  the  Mahommedan 
emperors  from  his  dependence  on  the  Maratha  confederacy.     The 
Maratha  lords  were  forced  to  make  peace,  to  dismiss  the  French 
officers  sent  to  train  their  soldiers,  and  to  surrender  large  portions 
of  their  territory.     The  governor-general  concluded  with  them,  the 
puppet  emperor  of  Delhi,  and  other  Indian  chieftains,  subsidiary 
treaties,  which  bound  them  to  formal  vassalage  to  the   rhe  sub_ 
East  India  Company.     By  his  enormous  annexations    sidiary 
of  territory,  the  Marquis  Wellesley  established  for  the    treat  es- 
first  time  the  direct  rule  of  Britain  over  vast  tracts  of  Didian 
territory.     By  his  system  of  subsidiary  treaties  he  extended  the 


6lO  GEORGE  III.  AND  NAPOLEON  [1804- 

Britisli  power  over  the  most  formidable  of  the  native  states.  After 
Warren  Hastings,  lie  is  the  second  founder  of  our  Indian  empire. 
Like  Hastings,  he  found  his  services  little  appreciated.  The  Whigs 
denounced  his  subsidiary  system,  and  the  directors  of  the  company 
disliked  to  have  so  much  responsibility  and  cost  forced  upon  them. 
He  was  recalled  in  1805,  but  nothing  could  destroy  the  fruits  of 
his  triumphs,  and,  all  against  its  will,  the  company  was  forced  by 
irresistible  facts  to  rule  half  India  and  be  suzerain  of  the  rest. 

5.  In  England  the  Addington  ministry  was  quite  incompetent 
to  meet  the  national  danger  involved  in  Napoleon's  threats  of 
Pitt's  invasion.  A  great  cry  arose  for  the  return  of  Pitt  to 
second  power,  and  not  even  the  king's  friendship  could  keep 
tsSJSgM      Addington  long  in  office.     In  May,  1804,  he  had  to 

give  way  to  Pitt,  who  thought  that,  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  his  duty  was  to  save  the  state  rather  than  bewilder  the  half - 
mad  king  with  advice  on  the  Catholic  question.  Pitt  thought  that 
at  this  period  of  national  peril  a  broad  ministry  should  be  formed, 
in  which  all  parties  could  unite  for  the  defence  of  the  country. 
His  plan  was,  however,  frustrated,  because  the  king  absolutely 
refused  to  give  office  to  Fox,  the  Whig  leader.  Pitt  made  no 
heroic  attempt  to  struggle  against  the  king's  will.  He  gave  up 
Fox  as  he  had  given  up  the  Catholics,  and  built  up  a  ministry  out 
of  his  Tory  followers.  Before  long,  Addington  himself  joined  the 
government,  and  was  made  Lord  Sidmouth.  Pox  almost  justified  the 
king's  action  by  his  factious  opposition  to  the  government,  and  by  his 
fatuous  belief  in  the  benevolence  and  pacific  wishes  of  Buonaparte. 

6.  Pitt  restored  confidence  by  his  zeal  in  meeting  the  threatened 
invasion.  As  soon  as  the  war  began,  a  great  volunteer  movement 
The  volun-  nad  Br°ken  out,  and  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
teer  move-  Englishmen  joined  in  it.  Pitt  now  encouraged  the 
ment.  volunteers,  and  strengthened  the  army  and  navy. 
Nearly  every  step  he  took  was  bitterly  opposed  by  Fox  and  his 
followers. 

7.  In  May,  1804,  Buonaparte  declared  himself  Napoleon  1., 
emperor   of  the  French.     For  more  than  a  year  his  "  army  of 

England  "  had  waited  with  no  results  on  the  coast  of 
of  Eneland  ^e  Channel,  and  the  invasion  seemed  further  off 
and  the  than  ever.     It  became  clear  that  his  original  scheme 

supremacy     0f    evading    the    English    fleet    was    impracticable. 
1804-1805.'     ^b-6  English    command    of    the    seas    was    so   com- 
plete that  there  was  no  chance  of  the  French  slipping 
over  the  Channel.     Gradually  Napoleon  realized  that  the  only  way 


-1805.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  6ll 

of  conquering  England  was  to  defeat  the  English  fleet.  As  the 
French  alone  were  not  strong  enough  to  do  this,  Napoleon  forced  his 
dependent,  Charles  iv.  of  Spain,  to  build  a  great  navy  and  add  it  to 
that  of  Prance.  Pitt  got  early  intelligence  of  the  Spanish  scheme, 
and  declared  war  against  Charles  iv.  in  December,  1804.  Immense 
efforts  were  now  made  to  collect  all  the  Spanish  and  French 
men-of-war  in  the  Channel  in  order  to  overpower  the  English  by 
their  numbers.  It  was,  however,  very  difficult  to  effect  this,  as  the 
chief  French  fleets  were  in  port  at  Brest  and  Toulon,  blockaded  by 
superior  English  squadrons,  and  the  Spaniards  were  mostly  at 
Cadiz.  A  first  step  towards  the  concentration  of  the  enemy's  fleet 
was,  however,  accomplished  when  the  Toulon  fleet,  under  Admiral 
Yilleneuve,  took  advantage  of  a  storm  to  escape  from  that  port, 
joined  the  Spaniards  at  Cadiz,  and  then  sailed  with  them  to  the 
West  Indies.  Nelson,  who  commanded  the  British  Mediterranean 
fleet,  pursued  Villeneuve  to  the  West  Indies.  But  when  he  got 
there,  Villeneuve  had  already  sailed  back  to  Europe,  and  strove  to 
liberate  the  French  squadrons  in  the  Atlantic  ports.  He  was 
frustrated  in  this  by  Admiral  Calder,  who  engaged  with  him  in  a 
hard-fought,  though  indecisive,  battle  off  Cape  Finisterre.  Not 
long  after,  Villeneuve  was  again  at  Cadiz,  and  conscious  that  his 
plans  had  failed. 

8.  In  October,  1805,  Nelson  again  sailed  to  Spain,  and  Napoleon 
ordered  Villeneuve  to  take  the  sea  against  him.     On  October  21 
the  fleets  met  off  Cape  Trafalgar.    Nelson  had  twenty-   Battle  of 
seven  ships  of  the  line  to  meet  the  thirty-three  of  the   Trafalgar, 
French  and  Spaniards.    Villeneuve  arranged  his  ships 

in  a  single  line,  which  gradually  drifted  into  the  form  of  a  crescent. 
Nelson  divided  his  into  two  columns,  one  commanded  by  himself 
and  the  other  by  Collingwood.  He  hoped  to  attack  with  both  at 
once,  and  so  break  the  enemy's  line  in  two  places  (see  chart  on 
page  606).  Both  divisions  succeeded  in  this  manoeuvre,  and  a  deadly 
struggle  between  ships  almost  interlocking  each  other  followed. 
Nelson's  flagship,  the  Victory,  which  led  the  weather  line  of  attack, 
suffered  terribly,  and  the  admiral  himself  was  struck  down  by  a 
musket-ball  from  a  neighbouring  ship.  He  lived  long  enough  to 
know  that  a  decisive  victory  had  been  obtained.  Henceforth  the 
command  of  the  seas  remained  until  the  end  of  the  war  absolutely 
in  English  hands.  For  nine  years  no  enemy's  fleet  ventured  to 
leave  port  against  the  English ;  all  fears  of  invasion  were  at  an 
end,  and  Britain  could  safely  defy  the  master  of  Europe. 

9.  The  battle  of  Trafalgar  was  the  more  remarkable  since  it 


6l2  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  [1S05- 

came  at  the  moment  of  Napoleon's  completest  triumph  on  land. 
Early  in  1805  Pitt's  diplomacy  had  triumphed  over  the  jealousies 

of  the  powers,  and  a  Third  Coalition  of  England, 
Coalition  Russia,  Austria,  Naples,  and  Sweden  was  formed 
and  its  against  France.     The  "army  of  England"  had  now 

iftfflFfflM      something  better  to  do  than  wait  idly  in  its  camp  at 

Boulogne  for  the  success  of  the  French  fleet.  With 
admirable  promptitude  Napoleon  hurried  his  troops  from  the 
Channel  to  southern  Germany,  hoping  to  attack  Austria  before  she 
was  ready.  On  December  2, 1805,  he  won  a  decisive  victory  on  the 
snow- covered  plain  of  Austerlitz,  and  forced  Austria  to  accept  the 
humiliating  peace  of  Pressburg,  which  gave  him  the  supremacy 
over  both  Italy  and  Germany.  Napoleon  then  set  up  a  ring  of 
dependent  kingdoms  round  his  mighty  empire.  He  already  ruled 
northern  and  central  Italy  as  king  of  Italy,  and  he  now  put  his 
brother  Joseph  into  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  from  which  he  expelled 
the  Bourbons.  Other  brothers  of  Napoleon  became  kings  of 
Holland  and  "Westphalia,  the  nucleus  of  the  latter  kingdom  being 
George  m.'s  Hanoverian  dominions.  The  smaller  German  states 
became  Napoleon's  abject  dependents,  and  were  combined  in  the 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  of  which  he  was  the  protector.  It 
was  now  that  the  ruler  of  Austria  gave  up  his  vain  title  of  Roman 
emperor,  and  called  himself  Emperor  of  Austria. 

10.  The   collapse  of  the   coalition  was  a  fatal  blow  to  Pitt. 
Trafalgar  was  very  little  consolation  for  Austerlitz  and  Pressburg. 
Though   England  was   saved,  the   continent  was  at 
Napoleon's  feet,   and  the  balance  of   power  utterly   pitt  ^gQg 
destroyed.     On  January  23,  1806,  the  great  minister 

died,  exclaiming  with  his   dying  breath,  "  Oh,  my  country,  how 
I  leave  my  country ! "      It  was   impossible  to  keep  his   cabinet 
together  without  him,  and  the  plan  of  a  broad  ministry,  which  he 
had  previously  advocated,  was  at  last  realized  after  his  death. 
George  in.  was  forced  to  accept  Fox  as  secretary  of  state,  while 
Pitt's    cousin,  Lord   Grenville,   who  had  long  been   Mlnistpy 
Fox's  ally,  became  first  lord  of  the  treasury.     Whigs,   of  all  the 
Tories,  and  "  king's  friends  "  all  had  their  share  in  the   J|l®n^  sJn7 
new  government,  for,  though  Pitt's  chief  followers 
abandoned  office,  room  was  found  even  for  Lord  Sidmouth.     This 
comprehensive  cabinet  was  called  the  Ministry  of  all  the  Talents. 

11.  Fox  had  professed  as  much  admiration  for  Napoleon  as 
he  had  formerly  showed  for  the  French  Revolution.  He  had 
denounced  the  Avar  as  unnecessary,  and  now  attempted  to  negotiate 


-i8i2.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  613 

for  peace  with  the  French  emperor.    Bitter  experience  soon  taught 

him  that  Pitt  had  been  right  and  he  had  been  wrong.     Napoleon 

refused  to  make  peace  on  reasonable  terms,  and  even 

Fox  saw  that  the  war  must  be  continued.     However,   j?^11)^ 

on   September  13,   Fox   died,  worn    out,  like   Pitt, 

and  humiliated  by  failure.     His  last  measure  was  the  congenial 

task  of  pledging  parliament  to  put  an  end  to  the  brutal  and 

degrading  slave  trade.      The  act  abolishing  the  slave  trade  was 

passed  in  1807,  after  his  death. 

12.  In  1807  the  Grenville  ministry  resigned  on  the  Catholic 
question.  The  Union  had  joined  together  the  English  and  Irish 
armies,  and  in  the  latter  the  Irish  Catholics  could  hold 

rank  up  to  that  of  colonel.     Grenville  now  proposed   nation  of 
that  English  Catholic  officers  should  have  the  same    Grenville, 
rights  which  already  belonged  to  Irish  Catholic  officers. 
This  at  once  aroused  George's  undying  prejudices.     He  accused 
the  ministers  of  indirectly  aiming  at  the  removal  of  the  Catholic 
disabilities,  and  frightened  them  into  dropping  their  scheme.     The 
ministers,  however,  drew  up  a  minute  in  which  they  declared  in 
general  terms  their  right  to  give  the  king  advice  on  any  matter. 
"I  must  be  the  Protestant  king  of  a  Protestant  country,  or  no 
king,"  said  George,  and  demanded  the  withdrawal  of  the  minute. 
On  the  ministers'  refusal,  he  turned  them  out  of  office. 

13.  This  was  the  last  and  the  greatest  of  George's  triumphs. 
Henceforth  he  kept  the  Whigs  out  of  power,  and  to  the  end  of  his 
reign  the  Tories  alone  held  office.  The  divisions  of  jhe  jong 
the  Tories  gave  the  extreme  section  the  preponderance  Tory  rule, 
in  power.  From  1807  to  1809  the  nominal  prime  1807-1830- 
minister  was  the  duke  of  Portland,  who  had  previously  been  prime 
minister  of  the  coalition  ministry  of  1783.  Under  the  duke,  Pitt's 
chief  disciples,  Canning  and  Castlereagh,  held  important  posts. 
In  1809,  however,  Canning  and  Castlereagh  quarrelled  and  Port- 
land died.  A  reactionary  ministry,  in  which  the  Pittites  sat 
without  controlling  it,  was  now  formed  under  Spencer  Perceval. 
He  retained  office  until  1812,  when  he  was  murdered  by  a  madman 
in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Lord  Liverpool,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  affairs  till  1827. 
Before  this  last  change,  George  in.  became  permanently  insane, 
and  the  prince  of  Wales  was  appointed  Prince  Regent  early  in 
1811.  The  regent  had  hitherto  professed  great  friendship  for 
the  Whigs,  and  George  in.  had  raised  the  royal  power  to  such  a 
height  that  the  new  ruler  might  easily  have  recalled  his  allies  to 


614  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  [1806- 

office.  The  regent  was,  however,  a  weak  and  selfish  man,  and  had 
snpported  the  Whigs  to  annoy  his  father  rather  than  because  he 
agreed  with  them.  As  ruler  he  took  up  all  his  father's  prejudices, 
including  even  George  iii.'s  strong  views  about  Catholic  emanci- 
pation. The  result  of  this  was  that  the  insanity  of  the  king-  made 
no  difference  in  the  administration  of  the  kingdom. 

14.  The  war  against  Napoleon  absorbed  the  whole  energy  of 
the  nation.     After  Fox's  abortive  attempt  at  peace,  active  opera- 
tions were  renewed,  but  the  Grrenville  ministry  frittered 

of  the°warCt  away  ^s  resources  in  petty  expeditions,  which,  even 
when  successful,  had  no  effect  on  the  general  course  of 
affairs.  The  Tory  governments  which  succeeded  G-renville  showed 
more  perseverance  but  not  more  intelligence.  They  knew  nothing 
of  continental  feeling,  continued  the  wasteful  policy  of  small  expe- 
ditions, showed  no  insight  in  the  choice  of  generals,  and  manifested 
jealousy  against  the  able  men  who  served  the  country  in  the  field.. 
Their  only  merit  was  that  they  kept  fighting  away  against  Napo- 
leon in  a  sort  of  bull- dog  fashion,  and  triumphed  in  the  end  by 
sheer  pertinacity. 

15.  Napoleon  carried  everything  before  him  on  the  continent. 
After  Austerlitz,  Prussia  went  to  war  against  him,  but  on 
The  treaty  October  14,  1806,  the  Prussian  army  was  crushed  at 
of  Tilsit,  Jena,    and    Napoleon    entered    Berlin    in    triumph. 

Russia  alone  now  remained  in  the  field,  and  a  fierce 
and  bloody  campaign  was  fought  between  Napoleon  and  Russia. 
until  the  genius  of  the  Corsican  once  more  triumphed  in  the  battle 
of  FHedland.  In  1807  the  Tsar  Alexander  abandoned  his  allies 
and  made  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  with  Napoleon,  by  which  they 
divided  Europe  between  them.  Napoleon  strengthened  his  ascend- 
ency over  the  west  by  reducing  Prussia  to  a  petty  state,  and 
Alexander  took  what  lands  he  could  get  from  the  Swedes  and  the 
Turks.  It  was  now  that  Finland  was  filched  from  Sweden  and 
annexed  to  Russia.  From  1807  to  1812  the  alliance  of  Napoleon 
and  Alexander  continued. 

16.  After  these  fresh  triumphs,  Napoleon  renewed  his  attempts 
against  England.  His  plan  was  now  to  ruin  the  English  by 
The  Con-  cutting  off  their  trade  with  the  continent.  With 
tinental  this  object  he  devised  what  was  called  the  Continental 
System.  System,  by  which  he  declared  all  the  British  Islands  in 
a  state  of  blockade,  forbade  any  of  his  dependents  or  allies  to  trade 
with  them,  confiscated  all  British  goods,  and  seized  upon  every 
English  subject  he  could    catch.     Even  neutral  vessels,  which 


-i8o8.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  615 

• 
touched  at  British  ports, were  declared  liable  to  capture.  Hence- 
forth he  made  the  acceptance  of  the  continental  system  the  con- 
dition of  his  friendship.  England  retaliated  with  effect  bj  issuing 
Orders  in  Council,  which  forbade  all  trade  with  France  and  her 
dependencies,  and  still  further  diminished  the  rights  of  neutral 
powers.  So  powerful  was  Britain  now  at  sea  that  she  could  do 
much  more  harm  to  the  trade  of  the  continent  than  it  could  inflict 
on  British  trade.  Before  the  war  was  over,  Britain  had  swept  the 
commercial  navies  of  her  enemies  off  the  sea,  had  seriously  damaged 
the  maritime  position  of  the  neutral  powers,  notably  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  had  secured  for  herself  a  practical  monopoly 
of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world.  In  1807  she  seized  the  Danish 
fleet,  and  kept  it  until  the  peace,  because  she  had  good  reason  for 
knowing  that  Napoleon  was  preparing  to  employ  it  against  her. 
She  captured  at  her  leisure  the  colonies  of  France,  Spain,  and 
Holland,  and  thus  built  up  a  new  colonial  system  for  herself  which 
compensated  for  the  loss  of  America.  She  did  not  even  lose  her 
trade  with  the  continent,  for  colonial  produce  and  many  manu- 
factured articles  could  be  obtained  only  from  the  English.  A  vast 
system  of  smuggling  grew  up,  whereby  British  products  were 
introduced  into  Napoleon's  empire.  Nothing  was  more  fatal  to 
Napoleon  than  this  continental  system.  The  high  prices  of  com- 
modities, and  the  dislocation  of  trade  which  flowed  from  it,  did 
much  to  stir  up  hatred  of  his  rule  among  his  subjects. 

17.  After  Tilsit,  Portugal,  the  old  and  faithful  ally  of  England, 
stood  almost  alone  in  rejecting  the  continental  system.     There- 
upon Napoleon  sent  a  French  army  under   General 
Junot  to-  Portugal.     It  easily  occupied  the  country,   ptsjng 
and  drove  the  Portuguese  government  to  take  refuge   against 
in  Brazil.     In  annexing  Portugal,  Napoleon  had  the    jgg£     "' 
help  of  his  ally,  Charles  rv.  of  Spain.     Charles,  an 
incompetent  and  worthless  king,  was  on  very  bad  terms  with  his 
heir,  the  Infant  Ferdinand.     At  last  father  and  son  both  appealed 
to  Napoleon,  who,  in  1808,  forced  them  both  to  abdicate  their 
rights.     In  their  stead  Napoleon  made  his  brother,  Joseph,  king  of 
Naples,  king  of  Spain.     This  was  perhaps  the  worst  blunder  that 
Napoleon  ever  made.     Hitherto  Spain  had   quietly  followed  his 
lead,  but  the  Spaniards  bitterly  resented  the  emperor's  churn  to 
bestow  their  throne  at  his  will,  and  a  popular  rising  soon  set  the 
whole  peninsula  on  fire.     For  the  first  time   on  the   continent 
Napoleon  had  roused  a  whole  nation   against  him.     Though  the 
Spanish  insurrectionary  government  was  weak    and    turbulent, 


6i6 


GEORGE  III.    AND  NAPOLEON 


[1808- 


though  its  armies  were  mutinous,  ill-provided,  and  miserably 
led,  the  French  could  only  hold  the  ground  on  which  they  were 
encamped.  Every  Spanish  peasant  took  arms,  and  every  French 
straggler  was  mercilessly  cut  off.  In  a  few  months  a  French 
army  nearly  twenty  thousand  strong  was  forced  to  capitulate  to 
the  Spaniards  at  Baylen,  Joseph  Buonaparte  was  driven  from 
Madrid,  and  the  emperor,  who  ruled  Germany  and  Italy  without 
trouble,  found  all  his  plans  frustrated  by  the  heroic  resistance  of 
the  Spanish  people. 

THE  BUONAPARTE  FAMILY 

Charles  Buonaparte,  m.  Letitia  Ramolino, 
d.  1785.  I 


Joseph, 

king 

of 

Spain, 

d.  1844. 


Napoleon  1.,  m.  (1)  Josephine     Lucien. 
1804-1814.  Beanhamais. 

(2)  Maria 
Louisa 
of  Austria. 


(2) 


:  Napoleon  11.,"    Eugene.    Hortense,  m. 

duke  of 

Reichstadt, 

d.  1832. 


Louis,  king 

of  Holland. 

Napoleon  hi., 

1852-1870, 

d.  1873. 

I 

Louis  Napoleon, 

"  Prince 

Imperial," 

d.  1879. 


Jerome, 

king  of 

Westphalia. 

Jerome 

Napoleon, 

m.  Clotilda 

of  Italy. 

Victor. 


Arthur 
Wellesley's 
conquest  of 
Portugal, 
1808. 


18.  Since  Tilsit,  England  had  been  fighting  Napoleon  single- 
handed.  The  resistance  of  the  peninsula  to  Napoleon  now  gave 
us  once  more  continental  allies,  and  an  opportunity  to 
assail  the  enemy  by  land  as  well  as  by  sea.  The 
greatest  enthusiasm  was  expressed  in  England  for  the 
heroic  Spaniards,  but  the  government  was  exceedingly 
slow  in  taking  advantage  of  the  chance  which  it  now 
had.  At  last  a  small  force  was  sent  to  Portugal  under  Sir  Arthur 
"Wellesley,  the  hero  of  the  Maratha  war.  "Wellesley's  operations  at 
once  showed  that  he  was  as  competent  to  deal  with  a  European 
as  with  an  Oriental  enemy.  He  wisely  kept  his  troops  together, 
and  struck  a  decisive  blow  as  soon  as  he  could.  On  August  21 
he  completely  defeated  Junot  at  the  battle  of  Yimiero.  At  the 
moment  of  the  engagement,  however,  Wellesley  was  superseded  in 
his  command  by  the  arrival  of  an  incompetent  senior  officer,  Sir 
Harry  Burrard.  Burrard  stopped  all  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and 
showed  so  little  vigour  that  Junot  recovered  his  strength  and 
began  to  negotiate.     A  few  days  later  the  convention  of  Cintra 


-1809.]  GEORGE   III.    AND   NAPOLEON  617 

was  signed  between  the  two  forces,  by  which  Junot  agreed  to 
evacuate  Portugal  if  his  whole  army  and  his  arms  were  shipped 
over  to  France.  Thus  was  Portugal  cleared  of  the  French,  but 
people  at  home  thought  that  Junot  had  been  let  off  too  easily,  and 
were  very  angry  at  the  favourable  terms  granted  to  him. 

19.  Later  in  1808  Sir  John  Moore  became  commander  in  the 
peninsula.     His  force  was  strengthened,  and  he  was  instructed  to 
march  through  Portugal  to  the  Ebro,  and  unite  with   Jhe  fa„ure 
the  Spanish  armies.      It  was,  however,  too  late  for   of  Sir  John 
Moore  to  act  with  safety.    Alarmed  at  the  disasters  of   Moore. 
Baylen  and  Cintra,  Napoleon  himself  went  to  Spain, 

and  mustered  all  his  available  troops  in  a  desperate  effort  to  crush 
the  national  movement.  The  Spanish  armies  crumbled  away 
before  the  genius  and  the  superior  forces  of  the  emperor.  Early 
in  December  Napoleon  entered  Madrid  in  triumph.  His  victory 
was  fatal  to  the  advance  of  Moore,  who  had  already  reached  Sala- 
manca. On  learning  the  defeat  of  the  Spaniards,  the  English 
general's  only  hope  was  in  a  hasty  retreat  to  the  sea.  Napoleon 
hurried  after  him,  but  Moore  moved  still  faster,  over  bad  mountain 
roads,  amid  the  storms  and  snows  of  winter.  His  troops  became 
demoralized,  disorderly,  and  mutinous.  Though  other  business  now 
took  away  Napoleon  from  Spain,  one  of  the  best  of  his  marshals, 
General  Soult,  continued  to  pursue  the  retreating  British.  Moore 
managed  to  make  his  way  to  Corufia  by  January  10, 1809,  only  to 
find  that  the  fleet,  which  he  expected  would  be  there  to  take  him 
home,  had  not  yet  arrived.  Thus  driven  to  bay,  Moore  was  forced 
to  fight  against  Soult  the  battle  of  Coruiia.  The  English  general 
was  slain  in  the  battle,  but  the  French  were  beaten  off.  But  the 
ships  had  now  come  up,  and  the  only  result  of  the  victory  was  that 
it  gave  a  safe  embarkation  to  Moore's  army. 

20.  Napoleon  had  hurried  away  from   Spain  because  Austria 
had  again  taken  up  arms.     His  tyranny  had  already  begun  to  do 
its  work  in  Germany,  and  there  were  signs  that  the 
Germans,  like  the  Spaniards,  were  eager  to  throw  off   between 
his  yoke.     Even  the  Austrian  court  was  inspired  with    France  and 
some  touch  of  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  Napoleon  found    jong     ' 

a  much  harder  task  before  him  than  in  the  days  of 
Austerlitz  and  Jena. 

21.  The  extension  of  the  war  from  Spain  to  Austria  gave 
Britain  a  unique  opportunity.  Vigorous  efforts  were  made,  and 
an  army  of  over  two  hundred  thousand  regulars  was  enrolled.  Un- 
luckily, the  ministers  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  this  great  force. 


6l8  GEORGE  III.    AND  NAPOLEON  [1809- 

They  chose  to  send  a  large  portion  of  it  to  attack  Antwerp,  whose 
fortifications  were  impregnable,  and  which  lay  in  a  district  well 
Walcheren  affected  *°  &*>  French  emperor.  To  make  matters 
and  Wag-  worse,  the  command  of  this  army  was  given  to  Pitt's 
ram,  1809.  e^er  brother,  the  second  earl  of  Chatham,  who  was  a 
thoroughly  incompetent  commander.  Chatham  got  no  further  than 
the  island  of  Walcheren,  in  Zeeland,  amidst  whose  unhealthy 
swamps  his  troops  soon  lost  their  health  and  vigour.  When  fever 
had  swept  away  thousands  of  soldiers,  the  expedition  was  abandoned 
in  despair.  Nothing  was  done  to  stimulate  the  national  movement 
in  Germany,  which  was  soon  crushed  by  Napoleon.  On  July  6 
the  emperor  won  a  great  victory  over  the  Austrians  at  Wagram, 
and  forced  them  to  make  peace.  He  had  triumphed  at  every 
point,  and  was  now  stronger  than  ever. 

22.  The  only  wise  thing  done  by  the  English  ministers  in  1809 
was  to  appoint  Arthur  Wellesley  to  the  supreme  command  in  the 
The  battle  peninsula.  Wellesley  was  now  master  of  Portugal, 
ofTalavera,  and  was  busily  engaged  in  creating  an  effective 
1809.  Portuguese  army.  Had  the  troops  wasted  at  Wal- 
cheren been  entrusted  to  his  direction,  he  might  easily  have  driven 
the  French  out  of  Spain.  As  it  was,  he  had  less  than  twenty 
thousand  English  under  his  command.  Nevertheless,  he  boldly 
marched  into  the  heart  of  the  peninsula,  hoping  to  maintain  himself 
there  with  the  help  of  the  Spaniards.  He  found  to  his  disgust  that 
the  Spaniards  were  of  little  use  to  him,  and  that  he  had  to  depend 
altogether  upon  his  own  troops.  Soult,  who  was  still  at  the  head 
of  the  French,  formed  a  skilful  plan  of  occupying  the  ground 
between  Wellesley  and  Portugal,  while  King  Joseph  lured  him 
further  into  Spain.  Wellesley  nearly  fell  into  the  trap,  but  was 
saved  by  Joseph  preferring  to  risk  a  battle  rather  than  lose  Madrid. 
On  July  28  Wellesley  defeated  Joseph's  army  at  the  battle  of 
Talavera,  a  victory  towards  which  the  Spaniards  contributed 
nothing.  Wellesley  did  not  venture  to  pursue,  and  only  escaped 
from  Soult  by  a  roundabout  march  over  the  hills,  which  was  as 
fatal  to  the  discipline  of  his  troops  as  the  retreat  of  Moore  to 
Coruna.  Yet  the  brilliance  of  his  victory  broke  the  prestige  of  the 
French  army,  and  gave  Wellesley  so  strong  a  position  that  the 
government  was  afraid  to  supersede  him.  He  was  now  raised  to 
the  peerage  as  Viscount  Wellington  of  Talavera. 

23.  After  the  pacification  of  Germany,  Napoleon  poured  all  his 
available  troops  into  the  peninsula.  The  incapable  ministry  left 
Wellington    to    shift   for   himself,  and   the  factious    opposition 


•i8io.] 


GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON 


619 


620  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  [1810- 

denounced  him  as  incompetent.  He  now  showed  as  mnch  self- 
restraint  and  caution  as  he  had  before  shown  courage  and  vigour. 
Torres  Finding  it  impossible  to  keep  the  field  against  the 

Vedras  and  overwhelming  forces  brought  against  him,  "Wellington 
*Jusac0'  constructed  a  double  chain  of  entrenchments,  called 

the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras,  between  the  sea  and  the 
lower  Tagus,  by  which  he  was  able  to  hold  Lisbon  and  its  neigh- 
bourhood. The  French  were  so  busy  in  Spain  that  they  left 
Portugal  to  itself  until  the  late  summer  of  1810.  At  last,  in  Sep- 
tember, General  Massena  invaded  Portugal.  Wellington  checked 
his  progress  at  the  battle  of  Busaco,  but  once  more  retired  after 
victory  in  the  field.  He  remained  within  the  lines  of  Torres 
Vedras  till  the  spring  of  1811,  when  bad  weather  and  hard  fare 
drove  Massena  out  of  Portugal. 

24.  In  1811  Wellington  ventured  on  a  more  forward  policy. 
In  May  he  won  another  victory  over  Massena  at  Fuentes  de 
Fuente  de  Onoro,  and  a  few  days  later,  Marshal  Beresford,  the 
Onoro  and  English  general  of  the  Portuguese,  gained  a  remark- 
Albuera,         aDje  success  by  sheer  hard  fighting  at  Albuera,  where 

six  thousand  British  soldiers  stubbornly  withstood  the 
attack  of  a  much  more  numerous  French  force.  Yet  the  only 
result  of  these  triumphs  was  that  Wellington  was  able  to  maintain 
himself  in  Portugal. 

25.  In  1812  the  long  alliance  between  Napoleon  and  Russia 
came  to  an  end,  and  the  best  French  troops  were  withdrawn 
The  Rus-  from  the  peninsula  to  form  the  Grand  Army  of  nearly 
sian,  Gep-  half  a  million  men,  which  the  French  emperor  led 
man,  and  -^  -fche  invasion  of  Russia.  Napoleon  penetrated  to 
national  Moscow,  and  occupied  the  ancient  Russian  capital, 
revolts,  But,  as  in  Spain,  he  had  set  a  whole  people  against 

him,  and  the  incessant  attacks  of  the  Russians  and  the 
rigours  of  a  northern  winter  drove  him  back  to  Germany,  after  a 
disastrous  retreat  which  almost  annihilated  the  Grand  Army.  As 
the  consequence  of  the  Russian  expedition,  Wellington  had  an 
easier  task  before  him.  He  resolved  to  invade  Spain,  and  in  the 
spring  prepared  the  way  for  this  step  by  storming  with  terrible 
loss  the  border  fortresses  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo  and  Badajos.  On 
July  22  he  defeated  General  Marmont  in  the  battle  of  Salamanca, 
and  pressed  on  to  Madrid,  which  he  occupied  in  August  amidst 
the  rejoicings  of  the  populace.  At  the  approach  of  winter,  how- 
ever, Wellington  was  once  more  forced  to  retreat  to  the  Portuguese 
frontier.     It  was  the  last  of  his  retreats.     In  1813  all  Germany 


-1814.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  621 

rose  against  Napoleonic  domination,  and,  despite  the  extraordinary 
energy  and  skill  of  the  emperor,  his  troops  were  defeated  at  the 
battle  of  Leipzig,  and  by  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  driven  over 
the  Rhine.  It  was  inevitable  in  such  circumstances  that  the 
Frenoh  armies  in  Spain  should  be  weakened  to  support  Napoleon 
in  his  life-and-death  struggle  in  Germany.  "Wellington  now  over- 
ran Spain  from  end  to  end,  and  on  June  21  defeated  King  Joseph 
in  the  battle  of  Vitoria.  After  this  the  French  were  thrown  back 
on  their  frontier,  where  Soult,  the  best  of  the  French  generals, 
strove  to  rally  them  to  defend  their  own  land. 

26.  In  1814  France  was  invaded  from  the  north,  east,  and  south. 
Napoleon  struggled  gallantly  till  the  last,  but,  late  in  March,  the 
Germans  and  Russians  entered  Paris,  and  on  April  3   Tne  fau  0f 
the  emperor  abdicated  his  throne.    "Wellington,  a  duke   Napoleon, 
after  his  victory  at  Vitoria,  had  already  entered  France    1 8  i  4* 
from  the  Spanish  side,  and  a  week  after  Napoleon's  abdication,  of 
which  he  had  not  yet  heard,  he  won  his  last.triumph  over  Soult  at 
Toulouse.    Napoleon's  fall  had  already  ended  the  war.     The  de- 
throned conqueror  was  sent  to  the  island  of  Elba,  and  Louis  xvm., 
brother  of  Louis  xvi.,  was  made  king  of  France.     The  conditions 
of  peace  were  determined  by  the  first  treaty  of  Paris,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  the  final  settlement  of  Europe  should  be  effected  in 
a  general  congress,  which  soon  met  at  Yienna. 

27.  Before  the  Napoleonic  war  was  over,  Britain  was  engaged 
in  another  struggle  with  the  United  States  of  America.  The 
Orders  in  Council,  provoked  by  the  continental  system, 

had  excited  great  discontent  in  America,  which,  after   wlth  tne 
all  Europe  had  fallen  under  Napoleon's  influence,  was   United 
the  only  neutral  state  of  importance  left.    The  British   ?j^^.Sj814 
carried  out  the  war  in  as  high-handed    a  spirit  as 
that  which  Napoleon  had  himself  showed.      They  seized  many 
American  ships  which  sought  to  escape  the  blockade  and  trade 
with  France.     Others  they  searched  for  enemies'  goods,  or  to  find 
deserters  from  the  British  navy  who  had  taken  service  under  Ameri- 
can colours.    In  disgust  at  this  policy  the  Americans  broke  off  all 
trade  with  England,  and  declared  war  in  1812.     The  English  now 
abolished  the  Orders  in  Council,  a  step  which,  if  taken  earlier, 
might  have  averted  the  war.     The  Americans  invaded  Canada  and 
failed,  but  won  a  good  many  small  victories  at  sea,  especially  with 
their  large  and  heavily  armed  frigates,  which  easily  captured  our 
smaller  frigates  and  worked  havoc  on  our  trade.    The  tide  was 
turned  when  the  British  man-of-war,  the  Shannon,  commanded 


622  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  [1814- 

by  Captain  Broke,  captured  the  American  Chesapeake,  after  a 
short  but  sharp  encounter.  The  American  navy  proved  too  weak 
to  attempt  a  general  action  or  to  protect  the  coast  from  blockade 
or  invasion.  After  the  end  of  the  Peninsular  War.  Wellington's 
veterans  were  shipped  over  the  Atlantic,  where  they  gained  some 
successes,  but  failed  on  other  occasions.  At  last,  in  1814,  the 
mediation  of  the  tsar  led  to  both  parties  making  peace  in  the 
treaty  of  Ghent.  It  was  a  wasteful  and  unnecessary  war,  which 
might  have  been  avoided  had  both  parties  shown  more  tact  and 
good  sense. 

28.  In  March,  1815,  Napoleon,  who  could  not  rest  at  Elba, 
returned  to  Prance,  and  was  welcomed  with  such  enthusiasm  that  he 
The  Hun-  was  a^  once  restored  to  power  and  Louis  xviii.  driven 
qred  Days,      into  exile.  Thereupon  the  Congress  of  Vienna  ceased  its 

work,  while  the  chief  powers  collected  armies  on  every 
side  of  France  to  assail  the  disturber  of  the  peace.  Napoleon  saw 
that  his  best  chance  was  in  promptitude,  and  he  resolved  to  make 
a  rapid  move  against  the  allied  army  which  was  assembling  in  the 
Southern  Netherlands  under  Wellington,  hoping  to  defeat  it  before 
the  Russians  and  Austrians  were  ready  to  invade  France  from  the 
east.  The  allies  lay  extended  to  the  south  of  Brussels,  the  left 
wing  being  held  by  the  Prussians,  under  Marshal  Blucher,  while 
Wellington,  with  a  motley  force  of  English,  Netherlander,  and 
Hanoverians,  held  the  centre  and  right.  On  June  16  Napoleon 
defeated  the  Prussians  at  Ligny,  and  forced  them  to  retire.  His 
attack  on  the  British  outposts  at  Quatre  Bras  was  not  successful, 
but  the  retreat  of  the  Prussians  forced  Wellington  also  to  concen- 
trate nearer  Brussels.  Neither  section  of  the  allies  had  been  much 
weakened,  though  Blucher  was  driven  back  to  some  distance  from 
Wellington's  quarters. 

29.  On  Sunday,  June  18,  Napoleon  delivered  his  chief 
attack  on  Wellington.     The  allies  were  encamped  on  a  low  ridge, 

about  two  miles  south  of  Waterloo,  and  immediately 
Waterloo        before  the  village  of  Mont- Saint- Jean.     The  country 

house  of  Hougoumont  protected  his  right,  a  farm 
called  La  Haye  Sainte  formed  his  centre,  and  another  called  La 
Haye  was  on  his  left.  The  numbers  of  the  two  armies  were  about 
equal,  but  Napoleon's  troops  were  more  homogeneous  and  better 
trained.  The  French  began  the  battle  by  a  desperate  onslaught 
on  Hougoumont,  which  was  gallantly  defended.  Then  the  French 
infantry  and  cavalry  marched  in  close  columns  against  the  English 
centre,  supported  by  a  heavy  artillery  fire.     The  British  formed 


■iSis.) 


GEORGE  III.    AND  NAPOLEON 


623 


squares  to  resist  the  French  cavalry,  and  stood  unflinchingly  a  whole 
series  of  fierce  attacks.  The  battle  raged  all  the  afternoon,  and 
the  English  generally  stood  firm.  But  the  French  took  La  Haye 
Sainte,  and  made  a  serious  gap  in  the  squares  on  our  left.  They 
were,  however,  so  exhausted  by  the  struggle  that  it  is  doubtful 
how  far  they  could  have  maintained  their  advantages.  But  the 
Prussians  were  now  arriving  from  Wavre,  after  a  heavy  march. 
The  last  desperate  charge  of  the  French  guard  failed,  and  there- 
upon "Wellington  ordered  a  general  advance.  The  French  line  was 
now  broken,  and  the  Prussians,  following  up  the  pursuit,  effectually 
scattered  the  remnants  of  Napoleon's  last  army.  The  allies  marched 
to  Paris,  and  Napoleon  took  refuge  on  an  English  man-of-war. 


Emery  Vilkcrac- 


His  restoration  had  only  lasted  a  hundred  days.  The  deposed  em- 
peror was  taken  to  St.  Helena,  a  little  island  in  the  South  Atlantic, 
where  he  lived  in  captivity  until  his  death. 

30.  The  second  peace  of  Paris  now  restored  Louis  xviii.,  and 
somewhat  diminished  the  territories  of  France,  which  had  already, 
in  1814,  been  reduced  to  those  which  it  had  possessed  before 
1792.     England  surrendered  many  of  her  colonial  conquests,  but 
retained  Mauritius  and  some  West  Indian  islands  from  ^   -^ 
France,  and  Ceylon  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  from   gr-ess  of 
the  Dutch.    The  Congress  of  Vienna  now  completed  its   W® "na> 
settlement  of  Europe.     It  restored  most  of  the  petty 
prinoes  of  Italy,  whom  Napoleon  had  driven  out,  including  the 
pope ;  but  it  gave  Milan  and  Venice-  to  Austria,  whose  arms  alone 


624 


GEORGE  III.    AND  NAPOLEON 


[1815- 


-i820.]  GEORGE  III.   AND  NAPOLEON  625 

protected  the  smaller  rulers  from  the  illwill  of  their  subject*. 
Napoleon's  German  settlement  was  practically  continued,  and  his 
allies,  the  lesser  princes,  were  let  off  very  lightly.  Prussia  was 
compensated  for  her  sufferings  by  receiving  most  of  the  German 
lands  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  while  George  iv.  was  re- 
stored to  Hanover  with  the  title  of  king.  The  tsar  received  back 
most  of  Poland,  and  the  old  Dutch  Republic  and  Austrian  Nether- 
lands were  united  in  the  new  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  of 
which  the  prince  of  Orange  was  king.  Everywhere  the  kings 
looked  after  their  own  interests,  and  paid  scanty  attention  to  the 
national  feeling  which  had  done  so  much  to  destroy  the  power 
of  Napoleon.  They  were  equally  hostile  to  the  ideas  of  freedom, 
which  had  survived  as  the  best  side  of  the  work  of  the  French 
Revolution.  For  these  reasons  the  Vienna  settlement,  though  it 
secured  peace  for  a  time,  did  not  prove  permanent,  and  provoked 
bitter  discontent  from  the  beginning. 

31.  England  was  terribly  exhausted  by  the  long  war.     Taxes 
were  high ;  the  national  debt  had  enormously  increased ;  trade  did 
not  improve  after  the  peace,  and  a  new  corn  law,         .• 
which  prevented  the  importation  of  foreign  wheat  till   after  the 
its  price  was  80s.  a  quarter,  made  bread  so  dear  that   peace, 

1815-1820 

many  workmen  could  not  get  enough  to  eat.  Things 
became  worse  through  the  unwisdom  of  the  government,  which  made 
no  attempt  to  grapple  with  the  troubles  that  beset  the  country. 
It  was  still  afraid  of  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
saw  no  means  of  meeting  just  discontent  save  repression.  A 
natural  result  was  that  riots  broke  out  in  many  places.  In  the 
country  the  labourers  burnt  the  farmers'  ricks,  and  in  the  industrial 
towns  the  factory  hands  destroyed  their  masters'  labour-saving 
machines.  Even  to  demand  parliamentary  reform  was  looked 
upon  as  seditious,  and  in  1819  a  mass  meeting  of  Lancashire 
reformers,  who  marched  in  military  order  to  a  small  waste  plot 
in  Manchester,  called  St.  Peter's  Field,  was  dispersed  with  un- 
necessary violence  by  a  cavalry  charge.  The  affair  was  magnified 
and  described  as  the  Manchester  Massacre  or  Peterloo.  It  alarmed 
the  ministers  so  much  that  they  passed  through  parliament  a 
series  of.'  repressive  measures,  known  as  the  Six  Acts,  by  which  the 
right  of  public  meetings  was  severely  restricted.  Next  Death  of 
year  (1820)  the  old  king  died.  Of  late  years  he  had  been  George  III., 
blind  and  deaf  as  well  as  mad,  and  was  utterly  uncon-  820- 
scious  that  the  great  power  which  he  had  handed  on  to  his  wretched 
son  had,  happily  perhaps  for  the  nation,  slipped  unnoticed  away. 


CHAPTER  VI 

GREAT  BRITAIN  DURING  THE  EIGH- 
TEENTH CENTURY:  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
REVOLUTION 

1.  Up  to  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  George  in.  England 
remained  mainly  a  nation  of  farmers  and  merchants.  By  the 
Commercial  accessi°n  °^  George  I.  she  had  won  the  trading 
ascendency  supremacy  over  the  world.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht 
of  Great  an<j  -y^  Asiento  gave  a  fresh  start  to  our  commerce. 

Bristol  merchants  grew  rich  on  the  slave-trade,  which 
was  so  profitable  that  no  one  thought  of  its  wickedness.  The 
growth  of  the  East  India  Company's  territories,  the  conquest  of 
the  French  colonies,  and  the  spread  of  our  own,  all  gave  fresh 
openings  to  British  men  of  business.  London  grew  fast,  Liverpool 
began  to  rival  Bristol  in  the  American  trade,  and,  after  the  Union 
had  made  England  and  Scotland  a  single  country  commercially, 
Glasgow  became  a  formidable  competitor  with  the  great  English 
ports.  It  was  not  by  peace  and  free  trade,  but  by  successful  war 
and  monopoly,  that  Britain  won  its  preponderating  commercial 
position.  Yet  having  got  it,  she  managed  to  beat  all  possible 
competitors.  Even  the  loss  of  the  American  colonies  did  not  stop 
her  progress,  and  the  volume  of  trade  between  Britain  and  the 
United  States  was  soon  greater  than  it  had  ever  been  in  the  days 
when  we  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  traffic  with  them. 

2.  Manufacturing  industry  also  grew  steadily  during  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century ;    but  it  was  on  the  old  lines  and 

with  the  old  tools.  There  was  little  elaborate  machinery, 
inventions      little  concentration  of  labour  into  factories,  limited 

division  of  labour,  and  miserable  means  of  communica- 
tion. Early  in  the  reign  of  George  in.  a  series  of  discoveries 
enormously  multiplied  the  power  of  production.  Pour  great 
inventions  made  the  cotton  trade,  hitherto  one  of  the  smallest  of 
our  industries,  the  rival  of  the  woollen  trade  itself.  These  were 
626 


1820.]  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  627 

Arkwright's  system  of  spinning'  by  rollers  which  led  to  hi*  water* 
frame ;  Hargreaves's  spinning-jenny,  which  enabled  one  person  to 
spin  several  threads  at  once;  Cromptons  mule,  which  combined 
the  principles  of  Arkwright's  and  Hargreavess  devices ;  and  Cart- 
wright's  power-loom,  which  enabled  weaving  operations  to  be 
extended  proportionately  to  the  improvements  in  spinning.  Mean- 
while, the  steam-engine,  known  for  the  best  part  of  a  century  in 
a  clumsy  and  unpractical  shape,  was  so  greatly  improved  by  the 
inventive  skill  of  James  Watt  that  it  became  the  chief  agent  in 
revolutionizing  the  old  state  of  trade  and  labour,  and  ultimately  of 
society.  The  iron  trade  was  immensely  developed  by  the  discovery, 
largely  due  to  John  Roebuck,  that  iron-ore  might  be  smelted  with 
pit-coal,  as  well  as  with  charcoal,  the  supply  of  which  was  limited 
by  the  small  amount  of  timber  available  for  fuel.  One  result  of 
this  was  an  immense  increase  in  the  output  of  our  collieries.  The 
labours  of  Josiah  Wedgwood  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  potteries 
of  North  Staffordshire.  In  almost  every  trade  it  became  possible 
to  produce  goods  more  abundantly  and  at  a  cheaper  rate. 

3.  Better  communications  were  as  much  needed  as  machines  to 
make  English  trade  grow.    As  long  as  goods  could  only  be  carried 
about   by  pack-horses   over   hill-paths,  or  in   heavy 
waggons  along  infamous  roads,  only  places  near  to-   f^npjkes 
gether  could  exchange  their  commodities  with  each 

other.  Great  efforts  were  accordingly  made  to  open  up  communi- 
cations by  hard  roads  between  one  town  and  another,  and  the 
system  grew  up  of  erecting  turnpikes,  at  which  tolls  were  levied, 
on  all  the  main  roads,  and  devoting  these  tolls  to  the  betterment 
of  the  highways.  Very  slowly  the  condition  of  the  main  roads 
were  improved,  and  many  bridges  were  built  at  great  expense  to 
span  over  rivers,  hitherto  only  passable  by  ferry-boats  or  by 
dangerous  fords.  At  the  end  of  the  century  the  chief  roads  were 
so  hard  and  smooth  that  fast  coaches,  conveying  passengers  and 
mails,  could  go  over  them  at  a  rapid  rate.  The  postal  services 
were  correspondingly  improved,  and  most  important  towns  had 
daily  posts,  which  were  often  conveyed  in  a  quarter  of  the  time 
which  was  formerly  taken. 

4.  Road    transport   necessarily  remained    too    costly  for    the 
conveyance  of  heavy  goods  and  pieces  of  machinery.     In  order 
to  enable  horses  to-  drag  heavier  weights  than  they   Tramwty_ 
could  carry  even   over  the   best  of   roads,  recourse 

was  had  to  tramways.  The  earliest  of  these  were  in  the  colliery 
districts,  and  especially  in  Northumberland  and  Durham,  where 


628  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [1714- 

cheap  means  of  conveying  coals  from  the  pits  to  the  ships  were 
indispensable,  if  the  coal  trade  were  to  grow.  The  earlier  tramways 
were  made  by  pieces  of  smooth  timber  being  let  into  the  roads  for 
the  wheels  of  the  waggons  to  ran  on,  bnt  after  1776  cast-iron  rails, 
which  were  smoother  and  more  durable,  superseded  wooden  ones. 

5.  Water-carriage,   however,   was    much    cheaper  than    land- 
traction,  even  along  iron  tramways,  and  the  greatest  improvements 
Navigable       "*•    communications    were    made    by   making    rivers 
rivers  and      navigable,  and  by  the  construction  of  artificial  water- 
courses, or  canals.     In  1720  an  act  was  passed  for 

making  the  river  Irwell  navigable  up  to  Manchester,  while  the 
opening  of  the  Aire  and  Calder  navigation  did  wonders  for  the 
trade  of  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  In  1761  Francis,  duke 
of  Bridgwater,  called  in  the  services  of  a  shrewd  engineer,  named 
Brindley,  to  make  a  canal  to  convey  coal  from  his  collieries  at 
Worsley  to  Manchester.  This  Bridgwater  Canal  was  afterwards 
extended  to  the  Mersey  at  Runcorn,  and  soon  superseded  the 
diflicult  and  uncertain  navigation  of  the  Irwell  as  the  readiest  and 
cheapest  means  of  communication  between  Manchester  and  Liver- 
pool The  wealth  and  fame  thus  acquired  by  the  duke  of  Bridg- 
water directed  general  attention  to  canals.  Between  1758  and 
1803,  165  Canal  Acts  were  passed  and  nearly  3000  miles  of  canals 
were  constructed.  Gradually  the  Thames,  the  Trent,  the  Severn, 
and  the  Mersey  were  all  connected  together.  A  ship  canal  con- 
nected Gloucester  with  the  deep  waters  of  the  Severn  at  Berkeley. 
One  canal  united  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh,  and  the  Caledonian 
Canal  joined  together  Inverness  and  Port  Willianf,  and  enabled 
small  ships  to  avoid  the  diflicult  navigation  round  the  northern 
extremity  of  Scotland.  So  convenient  were  canals  that  they  were 
used  not  only  for  the  haulage  of  goods,  but  also  for  the  transport 
of  passengers,  who  were  conveyed  in  swift  packets  drawn  by  horses 
at  ratos  much  less,  and  with  comfort  much  greater,  than  by  coaches 
along  the  high-roads.  Canals  were  to  this  period  what  railways 
were  to  a  later  age. 

6.  The  new  inventions,  the  widening  of  markets  by  improved 
means  of  communications,  and  the  rapid  increase  of  the  volume  of 

trade,  made  Britain  a  great  manufacturing  country, 
system  and  New  seats  of  industry  grew  up,  especially  in  those 
the  indus-  districts  where  coal  and  iron  were'  abundant,  or  where 
lutfon?eV°"  ^ere  was  cheap  means  of  access  to  the  ports.  Lanca- 
shire became  the  chief  seat  of  the  cotton  trade,  while 
the   old   clothing   towns   in   the  West  Riding  grew  quickly  in 


-I820.J 


THE   EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 


f>  mo)'  Walker  k. 


63O  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [1714- 

wealth  and  population.  Some  of  the  older  industrial  centres  were 
replaced  by  new  ones,  and  in  particular  the  iron  trade  deserted  the 
Weald  of  Sussex  and  Kent  for  districts  such  as  Birmingham, 
Sheffield,  Glamorganshire,  and  the  region  surrounding  Glasgow, 
where  pit-coal  was  procurable  on  the  spot.  Population  increased 
enormously,  and  between  1750  and  1801  (when  the  first  census  was 
taken)  ran  up  from  six  to  nine  millions.  Everywhere  the  old 
domestic  system  of  manufactures  gave  way  to  the  factory  system. 
The  process  by  which  these  changes  were  brought  about  has 
sometimes  been  called  the  industrial  revolution.  Production 
was  now  centred  in  growing  towns.  Instead  of  the  small  master 
working  in  his  own  home  with  a  few  apprentices  and  journeymen, 
the  rich  capitalist  employer  with  his  army  of  factory  hands  came 
in.  A  new  and  keener  spirit  of  competition  arose,  in  which  only 
the  strongest,  wisest,  and  most  cunning  survived.  Many  of  the 
masters  were  rough,  illiterate,  and  hard,  though  shrewd  and  far- 
seeing  in  business.  Their  workmen,  gathered  from  all  the  country 
round  into  new,  badly  built,  unhealthy  cottages,  were  forced  to 
work  for  long  hours  in  dark,  dirty,  and  unwholesome  workshops. 
The  state  did  nothing  to  protect  them ;  the  masters  only  thought 
of  their  profits ;  and  unjust  laws  prevented  the  operatives  combining 
together  in  trades  unions  to  help  themselves.  Women  and  children 
were  forced  to  work  as  long  and  as  hard  as  the  men.  A  regular 
system  grew  up  of  transporting  pauper  and  destitute  children  to 
weary  factory  work.  The  workmen  were  ignorant,  brutal,  poor, 
and  oppressed.  Trade  and  employment  fluctuated  constantly,  and 
in  hard  times  there  was  much  distress.  The  workmen  naturally 
listened  to  agitators  and  fanatics,  or  took  violent  means  of  avenging 
their  wrongs.  They  had  no  constitutional  means  of  redress,  for  even 
the  masters  seldom  had  votes,  since  the  new  towns  sent  no  members 
to  parliament.  The  transfer  of  the  balance  of  population,  wealth, 
and  energy  from  the  south  and  east  to  the  north  and  midlands  made 
parliamentary  reform  necessary.  It  also  produced  a  great  deal  of 
rivalry  between  the  rich  manufacturers  and  the  old  landed  gentry, 
a  struggle  in  which  the  former  were  bound  ultimately  to  win.  As 
the  landlords  became  after  1760  more  and  more  Tory,  so  did  the 
trading  classes  become  more  and  more  Radical 

7.  Side  by  side  with  the  industrial  revolution  went  an  agrarian 
The  agra-  revolution.  In  1760  a  large  proportion  of  arable  land 
rian  pevo-  remained  common-field,  on  which,  after  harvest,  all 
lution.  villagers  had  the  right  to  turn  their  cattle,  and  which 

was  cultivated  on  the  wasteful  old  three  years'  system  of  wheat, 


-i 820.]  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  63 1 

fallow,  and  barley.  Farms  were  generally  small,  and  cultivated  with 
little  skill  or  capital.  Custom  alone  was  the  guide  of  the  ordinary 
farmer.  Yet  the  small  farmer,  whose  home  was  often  the  seat  of  a 
domestic  manufacture,  was  self-supporting,  and  independent  of 
markets.  Gradually  the  increase  of  population  increased  the  de- 
mand for  food.  First  of  all,  England  ceased  to  export  corn,  as  she 
had  done  in  large  quantities  up  to  the  middle  of  the  century.  Then 
great  attention  was  paid  to  agriculture,  with  the  results  that  a 
series  of  improvements  in  cultivation  revolutionized  husbandry, 
and  largely  augmented  the  supply  of  food.  Norfolk  set  the 
example  of  agricultural  reform  to  the  rest  of  England.  There 
Townshend,  after  his  quarrel  with  Walpole,  settled  down  to  farm 
his  estate  at  Baynham,  and  his  example  made  the  cultivation  of 
the  turnip  general,  and  so  made  it  possible  to  get  rid  of  the 
wasteful  systems  of  fallows.  Large  farms  replaced  small  holdings. 
The  capitalist  farmer  now  came  in,  like  the  capitalist  employer. 
His  gangs  of  poor  and  ignorant  agricultural  labourers  were  the 
counterpart  of  the  swarm  of  factory  hands.  The  business  of 
farming  was  worked  more  scientifically,  with  better  tools  and 
greater  success.  The  breeds  of  sheep  and  cattle  were  improved. 
A  long  series  of  Enclosure  Acts  began  in  1760,  by  which  common 
of  pasture  was  greatly  limited,  and  arable  common  lands  were 
almost  got  rid  of.  The  change  was  necessary,  for  without  en- 
closures good  farming  was  impossible. 

8.  The  limiting  of  their  common-rights  bore  hardly  on  the 
rural  poor,  and  nearly  all  the  land  enclosed  became  the  private 
property  of  the  great  landlords.  Moreover,  the  price  Pauperism 
of  corn  fluctuated  violently,  and,  especially  after  the  and  the 
Revolutionary  and  Napoleonic  wars,  was  often  very  Corn  Laws- 
high.  Things  were  made  worse  by  Corn  Laws,  first  passed  in 
1773,  by  which  foreign  corn  was  only  allowed  admission  to  British 
markets  when  the  price  of  wheat  was  high.  The  benefit  of  these 
high  prices  and  of  the  improvements  in  agriculture  went  to  the 
landlords  and  farmers.  The  condition  of  the  agricultural  labourer 
got  no  better,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  rural  population  were  mere 
labourers.  The  small  freeholders  or  yeomen,  so  powerful  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  were  rapidly  disappearing,  except  in  out-of- 
the-way  parts  of  the  country.  The  decline  of  domestic  manu- 
factures and  the  Enclosure  Acts  were  partly  accountable  for  their 
decline,  but  the  main  cause  of  it  was  the  political  importance  attached 
to  land-holding  after  1688,  which  caused  men,  anxious  to  rule  the 
country,  to  buy  them  up  at  high  prices.  It  paid  small  capitalists  better 


632  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [1714- 

to  invest  their  money  in  other  ways.  So  the  power  of  the  territorial 
aristocracy  grew,  and  the  land  passed  into  fewer  and  fewer  hands, 
for  the  small  squire,  rustic  in  garb  and  speech,  who  never  travelled 
further  than  his  county  town,  was  swallowed  up  almost  as  com- 
pletely as  the  yeomanry.  Meanwhile,  pauperism  became  a  more 
pressing  evil,  especially  as  the  custom  grew  up  of  supplementing 
the  inadequate  wages  received  by  the  rural  labourers  by  a  system 
of  doles  from  the  poor-rates.  This  practice  grew  to  such  an 
extent  that,  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  seventh 
of  the  population  was  in  receipt  of  poor-law  relief.  Thus,  despite 
the  increase  of  population,  wealth,  and  trade,  there  was  much 
distress  and  discontent,  which  was  increased  by  the  hardships  and 
high  prices  that  resulted  from  the  great  wars  against  the  French 
Revolution  and  Napoleon. 

9.  The  eighteenth  century  saw  as  complete  a  revolution  in 
men's  thoughts  and  beliefs  as  in  their  relations  to  material  nature. 

The  old  religious  passions  which  had  raged  throughout 
_  ®     *?,e  °     the  seventeenth  century,  and  divided  men  as  fiercely 

as  ever  in  the  days  of  Queen  Anne,  died  down  with 
remarkable  suddenness  under  the  first  Georges.  The  High  Church 
and  Puritan  parties  alike  lost  ground.  The  higher  clergy  were  now 
mostly  Low  Churchmen,  or  Latitudinarians,  or,  as  we  should  call 
them,  Broad  Churchmen.  Laymen  became  careless  and  sceptical. 
Preachers  taught  that  men  should  be  prudent,  tolerant,  moral,  and 
moderate.  A  school  which  disbelieved  in  miracles  and  revelation 
grew  up,  called  the  Deists.  Men  boasted  that  they  lived  in  the 
"  age  of  reason,"  and  looked  upon  all  enthusiasm  or  emotion  with 
suspicion  and  distrust.  Leading  clergymen  were  anxious  to  escape 
signing  the  articles  and  repeating  the  creeds.  English  Presby- 
terians became  Unitarians.  Church-going  ceased  to  be  fashionable, 
and  few  new  churches  were  built. 

10.  The  most  emotional  and  enthusiastic  of  modern  forms  of 
Protestantism  sprang  up  in  strong  reaction  from  the  general  temper 
The  Metho-  °^  ^ne  eighteenth  century.  About  1729  a  few  earnest 
dist  Move-  Oxford  men  formed  a  little  society,  whose  members 
ment.  were  remarkable  for  the  holiness  and  good  order  of 
their  lives.  They  were  laughed  at  by  their  fellow-students,  and 
nicknamed  Methodists.  Their  leader  was  John  Wesley  (1703- 
1791),  a  fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  and  with  him  were  associated 
his  brother,  Charles  Wesley,  afterwards  famous  as  a  hymn-writer, 
and  George  Whitefield,  a  poor  servitor  of  Pembroke  College,  who 
soon  gained  extraordinary  influence  by  his  vivid  and  heart-stirring 


-I820.J  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  633 

sermons.  The  society  was  broken  np  when  John  Wesley  went,  in 
1735,  on  a  mission  to  the  colony  of  Georgia.  In  1738,  however, 
Wesley  returned  to  England,  where  he  fell  under  the  influence  of 
the  Moravians,  a  German  sect  of  gentle  enthusiasts,  and  convinced 
himself  that  he  was  for  the  first  time  converted  to  a  true  sense 
of  religion.  Henceforth  Wesley  and  his  friends  preached  with 
a  stronger  fervour  than  ever.  The  sober  and  decorous  clergy 
thought  the  Methodists  mad,  and  refused  to  let  them  preach  in 
their  churches.  In  1739,  therefore,  the  Methodists  first  built 
chapels  of  their  own,  though  they  declared  that  they  were  not 
dissenters,  but  anxious  only  to  labour  on  the  ground  left  untilled 
by  the  Church.  For  the  rest  of  their  lives  Wesley  and  Whitefield 
wandered  ceaselessly  over  the  land.  Wherever  they  went  they 
produced  a  storm  of  opposition  or  enthusiasm.  They  were  often 
in  danger  of  their  lives,  and  the  wild  excitement  that  followed  their 
preaching  sometimes  led  their  followers  into  mad  extravagancies. 
But  they  roused  many  thousands  to  lead  new  lives,  and  to 
shake  off  sluggish  indifference  and  brutal  vice.  Before  long 
Wesley  saw  that,  to  make  the  effects  of  his  preaching  last,  he  must 
establish  an  organized  society.  A  man  of  forethought,  with  great 
statesmanlike  capacity,  he  soon  raised  the  Methodist  body  into 
a  large  and  well-governed  community,  which,  as  time  went  on, 
gradually  drifted  into  the  position  of  a  new  dissenting  church.  Long 
before  this  Wesley  had  broken  with  his  old  comrade,  Whitefield. 
through  theological  differences.  Whitefield  was  a  Calvinist  like 
the  old  Puritans,  while  Wesley's  High  Church  surroundings  had 
made  him  a  strong  Arminian.  However,  the  great  preacher  lacked 
Wesley's  organizing  power,  and  the  Calvinistic  Methodists,  of 
whom  he  was  the  chief,  gradually  dwindled  away  in  England, 
though  in  Wales  a  parallel  Methodist  movement  fell  ultimately 
almost  entirely  under  Calvinistio  auspices,  and  to  this  day  the 
Calvinistic  Methodists  are  the  most  numerous  religious  body  in  the 
Principality. 

11.  The  most  striking  feature  of  the  religious  life  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  Evangelical  Movement. 
This  was  nearly  akin  to  Methodism,  and  yet  was  not   ^g  Evan- 
simply  a  further  growth  of  it.     Though  some  of  the    gelical 
earliest  Evangelicals  were  also  Methodists,  the  move-    Movement- 
ment  was  more  properly  a  revival  of  seventeenth-century  Puritan- 
ism, which  affected  both  the  Church  and  the  older  Nonconformist 
bodies.     It  was  Calvinistic  in  its  theology,  and  therefore  strongly 
out  of  sympathy  with  much  of  Wesley's  teaching.     It  did  not  lead 


634  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [1714- 

to  the  formation  of  any  new  Church,  hut  influenced  all  the  existing 
ones,  and  produced  as  its  results  a  stronger  sense  of  personal 
religion,  and  a  zeal  for  good  works  and  philanthropic  efforts.  The 
Evangelicals  founded  missionary  societies,  the  Bible  Society,  and 
Sunday  schools,  and  did  much  to  promote  the  movements  for  the 
aholition  of  negro  slavery.  The  leaders  of  the  movement  were  not 
learned,  but  good  and  self-denying,  though  in  some  ways  rather 
narrow  in  their  teaching.  The  two  greatest  Evangelicals  were 
laymen:  William  Cowper,  the  reformer  of  English  poetry,  and 
William  Wilberf orce,  the  Tory  member  for  Yorkshire,  and  friend 
of  the  younger  Pitt.  Fear  of  the  irreligious  character  of  the 
French  Revolution  largely  strengthened  the  Evangelical  ranks,  and 
during  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Evangelical 
revival  exercised  its  widest  influence. 

12.  In  Scotland  there  was  the  same  contrast  as  in  England 
between  the  prevailing  Latitudinarianism  and  the  Puritan  reaction 

from  it.  The  great  question  in  dispute  was  the  lawful- 
Religion  in      ness  0f  private  patronage,  which  had  been  restored  in 

the  Scotch  Church  in  1712.  Twice  at  least  during 
the  eighteenth  century  there  were  secessions  from  the  Established 
Church  on  the  part  of  the  sturdy  Covenanters,  who  would  make  no 
compromise  with  the  state.  Within  the  Church  there  was  a  constant 
conflict  between  the  Moderates,  who  upheld,  and  the  Evangelicals, 
who  opposed,  the  law  of  patronage.  Towards  the  end  of  the  century 
the  Evangelicals,  as  in  England,  grew  much  stronger.  It  was  not 
until  the  reign  of  George  in.  that  much  toleration  was  shown  to 
the  Scotch  Episcopalians,  partly  by  reason  of  Presbyterian  bigotry 
and  partly  because  most  of  them  were  Jacobites.  Thus,  during  the 
century  religious  toleration  was  established  in  England  and  Scot- 
land alike,  for  the  whole  temper  of  the  age  was  averse  to  persecu- 
tion, and  gradually  the  laws  against  disbelievers  in  the  Trinity  and 
the  Roman  Catholics  fell  into  disuse.  The  Evangelical  revival  was 
unfavourable  to  the  Roman  Catholic  claims  to  emancipation,  though 
enlightened  men,  like  Pitt,  saw  that  they  were  just  and  necessary. 

13.  The  changes  of  the  eighteenth  century  brought  with  them 
many  abuses,  but  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  philanthropy  had 
„  .  begun  to  shine  amidst  the  rough  and  brutal  manners 
tarianism  of  the  age.  This  spirit  was  largely  fed  from  the 
and  philan-    Methodist  and  Evangelical  movements,  but  was  also 

largely  due  to  that  wide  sympathy  for  human  suffering 
and  indignation  against  oppression  and  injustice  which  was  among 
the  best  sides  of  the  teaching  of  the  French  freethinkers,  which 


-iS2o.]  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  635 

made  a  cynic  like  Voltaire  enthusiastic,  and  rose  to  a  white  heat  in 
the  fervent  sentimentalism  of  Rousseau.  Conspicuous  among  the 
philanthropic  movements  of  the  time  were  the  self-denying  labours 
of  John  Howard  for  the  reform  of  the  condition  of  the  prisons,  in 
which  offenders  of  all  classes  had  hitherto  been  herded  together  in 
total  disregard  to  their  health  and  moral  welfare.  Even  more 
memorable  was  the  movement  for  the  abolition  of  the  trade  in  negro 
slaves  imported  from  Africa  into  the  American  colonies,  which, 
though  conducted  with  callous  disregard  to  humanity,  had  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century  been  simply  looked  upon  as  an  easy  way 
to  get  rich.  At  last,  in  1787,  there  was  formed  the  Society  for 
the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  of  which  Thomas  Clarkson  and 
William  Wilberforce  were  leading  members.  The  organization 
wisely  avoided  attacking  slavery,  but  Clarkson  collected  evidence 
of  the  horrors  of  the  "  middle  passage  "  across  the  Atlantic  to 
America,  during  which  nearly  half  of  the  negroes  stolen  from 
Africa  died.  Pitt,  under  Wilberforoe's  influence,  showed  an 
interest  in  the  movement,  which  was  on  the  verge  of  triumphing 
when  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  frightened  the  richer 
classes  into  opposing  a  movement  which  now  seemed  to  savour  of 
revolutionary  violence.  It  was  not  until  1807  that  an  act  of 
parliament  abolished  the  slave-trade,  whereupon  a  fresh  movement 
was  started  by  Wilberforce  for  getting  rid  of  slavery  altogether. 
The  same  increasing  regard  to  humanity  produced  the  first  factory 
acts  for  regulating  the  abuses  of  the  factory  system,  and  preventing 
children  being  overworked  in  mills  and  workshops. 

14.  Manners  were  still  very  rough.  Popular  literature  and  the 
stage  were  often  broad  and  vulgar,  and  cruel  amusements  were  still 
widely  popular.  Grambling  and  hard  drinking  were 
very  common,  though  less  so  at  the  end  of  the  century 
than  at  the  beginning.  George  iii.'s  homely  and  decorous  private 
life  had  no  small  influence  for  good,  but  its  dulness  forced  his  own 
sons  into  riotous  disorder,  and  the  "  first  gentleman  of  Europe,"  as 
his  flatterers  called  George  iv.,  set  an  example  of  everything  that 
was  bad.  The  tendency  of  the  age  was  towards  the  breaking  down 
of  class  distinctions.  Increased  facilities  for  travel  and  the  spread  of 
education  produced  more  likeness  in  manners  between  gentry  and 
tradesmen,  and  lessened  the  differences  between  townspeople  and 
country  folk.  Love  of  show  still,  however,  found  plenty  of  ways  of  dis- 
playing itself.  Old-fashioned  people  complained  that  the  rich  trades- 
man ceased  living  over  his  shop,  resided  in  a  suburban  villa,  and 
aped  the  fashions  of  the  landed  gentry  in  Ids  style  of  living,  his 


636  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [1714- 

carriages,his  travels,  and  the  dresses  of  his  wife  and  daughters.  With 
less  vain  pomp,  comfort  and  refinement  grew,  which,  with  high  prices, 
made  living  much  dearer.  Though  the  garb  of  the  upper  classes 
remained  long  very  costly  and  rich,  the  simpler  styles  of  modern 
dress  gradually  set  in  as  a  result  of  the  influence  of  Rousseau,  who 
taught  that  the  equality  of  men  should  even  extend  to  their  clothes. 
Wigs  were  given  up  ;  swords  went  out  of  fashion ;  pantaloons  and 
long  boots  superseded  knee  breeches,  silk  stockings,  and  shoes. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  century  the  habit  of  sea-bathing  set  in, 
and  became  even  more  popular  than  the  earlier  custom  of  "  taking 
the  waters."  George  in.  made  Weymouth  a  popular  watering- 
place,  and  his  eldest  son  did  even  more  for  Brighton,  which  from  a 
fishing  village  became  a  great  town. 

15.  Early  in  the  century  architecture  was  the  most  flourishing 
of  the  arts,  but  later  on  it  declined,  and  the  mass  of  building  of  the 

Georgian  period  aimed  at  solid  comfort  rather  than 
beauty.  Towards  the  end  of  the  century  James  Wyatt 
attempted  to  revive  Gothic  architecture,  which  had  hitherto  been 
looked  upon  with  contempt,  but  he  had  neither  the  knowledge  nor 
the  taste  for  this.  He  nearly  ruined  Salisbury  Cathedral  with  his 
"restorations,"  and,  at  the  command  of  the  prince  regent,  erected 
a  commonplace  though  grandiose  palace  on  the  site  of  the  historical 
castle  of  Windsor.  But  the  height  of  bad  taste  was  found  in  the 
fantastic  Pavilion,  on  which  the  regent  wasted  huge  sums  at 
Brighton.  As  architecture  fell  away,  other  arts  improved.  A 
national  English  school  of  painting,  foreshadowed  by  the  rough 
but  original  genius  of  William  Hogarth,  was  founded  by  the  great 
Sir  Joshua  Beynolds  (1723-1792).  In  1768  the  Royal  Academy 
was  established,  with  Sir  Joshua  for  its  first  president.  Somewhat 
later  John  Flaxman  (1755-1826)  established  a  British  school  of 
sculpture.  There  was  much  excellent  work  done  in  engraving, 
etching,  and  similar  arts.  Music  received  a  new  impetus  when  the 
greatest  musician  of  his  time,  Frederick  Handel,  a  Saxon,  was 
brought  to  England  to  manage  the  Opera  House.  Failing  as  a  man 
of  business,  and  only  moderately  successful  as  a  composer  of  operas, 
Handel  turned  to  the  Oratorio,  producing  his  Messiah  in  1741. 
This  soon  won  a  popularity  which  resulted  in  a  wider  love  of  serious 
music  and  a  higher  sense  of  the  aims  and  dignity  of  the  art.  But 
though  there  was  much  good  work  done  in  nearly  every  branch, 
the  general  level  in  taste  and  feeling  was  not  very  high  in  any  of 
the  arts  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

16.  Literature  and  language  faithfully  mirrored  the  age.     The 


-i82o.]  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  6tf 

poets  of  the  early  eighteenth  century  lacked  passion  and  imagina- 
tion, and  were  fast  bound  by  self-imposed  rules.  Their  favourite 
metre  was  the  heroic  couplet ;  their  favourite  themes 
were  satire,  compliment,  and  criticism.  The  tendencies  fj^  di^ma1 
of  the  time  were  best  expressed  in  the  exquisitely 
finished  and  polished  verse  of  Alexander  Pope  (1688-1744).  How- 
ever, in  Pope's  followers  the  style  which  a  great  artist  could 
ennoble  became  vapid,  commonplace,  and  artificial.  The  drama 
declined  like  poetry.  The  last  great  dramatists  of  the  old  style 
were  the  refined  and  humorous  Oliver  Goldsmith  and  the  brilliant 
and  epigrammatic  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  the  Whig  politician. 
But  though  few  great  plays  were  now  produced,  much  pains  was 
taken  to  edit  and  represent  the  work  of  Shakespeare  and  other 
older  playwrights,  and  the  drama  more  than  held  its  own  as  a 
popular  amusement.  The  age  of  David  Garrick  (1716-1779),  the 
famous  player  and  manager,  marked,  perhaps,  the  most  flourishing 
period  of  English  acting. 

17.  Prose  was  better  than  poetry.  There  was  now  a  standard 
prose-style,  polished,  idiomatic,  forcible,  and  exact.  Even  the 
pamphlets  and  newspapers,  which  reflected  the  political 
and  theological  controversies  of  the  time,  showed 
the  spread  of  a  good  fashion  of  writing.  The  periodical  essay, 
made  popular  by  Steele  and  Addison,  long  retained  its  vogue, 
until,  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  (1709-1784),  it  lost  the 
lightness  of  touch  which  had  been  its  greatest  charm,  and  gave 
place  to  the  novel,  the  magazine,  and  the  political  newspaper.  The 
greatest  men  of  letters  of  the  time  took  an  eager  part  in  the  political 
controversies  which  ushered  in  the  Hanoverian  period.  Jonathan 
Swift,  dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin  (1667-1745),  fiercely  upheld 
the  Tories  and  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  while  against  him  Addison 
wrote  his  way  by  his  Whig  pamphlets  to  the  position  of  a  secre- 
tary of  state.  Swift  was  the  best  prose  writer  of  the  time.  His 
last  great  work,  written  before  his  mind  gave  way  in  his  lonely 
Irish  exile,  was  his  Gulliver's  Travels  (1726).  The  English  philo- 
sophical tradition  which  John  Locke  had  first  firmly  established 
in  the  age  of  the  Revolution,  was  carried  on  still  further  by  George 
Berkeley,  bishop  of  Cloyne,  and  by  David  Hume,  a  Scotch  Tory. 
Both  Berkeley  and  Hume  were  eminent  men  of  letters,  besides  being 
famous  philosophers.  One  of  the  chief  features  of  the  eighteenth 
century  was  the  growth  of  the  novel  out  of  the  old  romance,  turned 
to  describe  real  life.  Daniel  Defoe's  Bobinson  Crusoe  (1719) 
prepared  the  way  for  the  broad  and  genial  works  of  Henry  Fielding, 


638  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  [17^- 

the  sentimental  and  pathetic  writings  of  Samuel  Richardson,  the 
rough  but  vigorous  painting  of  manners  of  Tobias  Smollett, 
the  quaint  humour  of  Lawrence  Sterne,  and  Oliver  Goldsmith's 
charming  idyll,  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield.  Samuel  Johnson,  poet, 
essayist,  moralist,  critic,  and  writer  of  an  English  Dictionary,  was 
the  centre  of  the  literary  life  of  more  than  one  generation  so 
vividly  pictured  for  us  in  Boswell's  matchless  Life  of  Johnson. 
History  lost  in  accuracy  and  depth  what  it  gained  in  art  in  David 
Hume's  History  of  England,  and  combined  a  scholarship  that  has 
seldom  been  overthrown  with  the  stateliest,  most  artificial  of  styles 
in  Edmund  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire 
(1776),  the  one  historical  work  of  the  age  which  retains  permanent 
value.  The  eighteenth  century  took  little  interest  in  history,  and 
alone  of  his  age  Edmund  Burke  knew  how  deep  the  roots  of  the 
present  lie  in  the  past.  Burke  was  not  only  the  wisest  of  the 
political  thinkers  of  the  period,  but  one  of  the  greatest  and  richest 
writers  of  prose  that  English  literature  has  ever  known. 

18.  A    revolution    came    over    English    literature   after    the 
middle  of  the  century.     The  style  and  subject  of  poetry  equally 

changed.  The  way  of  writing  became  more  varied 
tic^eviva?"     an<^  natural,  and  bit  by  bit  the  bondage  of  the  heroic 

couplet  was  shaken  off.  Writers  again  began  to  revel 
in  country  life  and  beautiful  scenery,  and  mountains,  hitherto 
objects  of  horror,  were  described  with  enthusiasm  and  sympathy. 
Their  view  of  man  became  enlarged,  and  they  went  through  the 
conventionalities  of  society  down  to  the  elemental  passions  of  the 
human  heart.  Heralded  by  the  revived  study  of  the  romantic  past, 
through  the  means  of  such  books  as  Bishop  Percy's  Reliques  of 
Ancient  English  Poetry  (1765),  and  by  such  precursors  as  James 
Thomson,  the  poet  of  the  Seasons  (1730),  the  new  spirit  took 
different  shapes  in  the  lyrics  and  satires  of  Robert  Burns,  the 
Ayrshire  farmer  j  the  delicate  humour  of  William  Cowper;  the 
realistic  pictures  of  Suffolk  village  life  of  George  Crabbe ;  the  strange 
prophetic  vision  of  William  Blake,  and  the  stirring  romances 
and  tales  in  verse  of  the  Edinburgh  lawyer,  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  century  it  came  to  a  head  in  the  so- 
called  Lake  School,  headed  by  William  Wordsworth  (1770-1850), 
the  lofty  singer  of  nature,  and  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  a  subtle 
poet  and  a  mystic  thinker.  Fear  of  the  French  Revolution  soon 
turned  these  writers  from  fervid  dreams  of  a  coming  era  of  peace 
and  truth  into  sympathy  with  old  ways.  And  soon  the  very 
bigotry  of  the  reaction  drove  younger  men,  and  notably  George 


-I820.] 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 


639 

Gordon,  Lord  Byron  (1788-1824),  the  greatest  poetical  force  of  his 
day,  into  fierce  denunciations  of  the  tyranny  of  cant  and  custom. 
To  this  day  the  verse  of  the  whole  civilized  world  shows  clearly 
the  effects  of  Byron's  spirit.  Side  by  side  with  him  as  a  bard 
of  revolution  stood  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  (1792-1822),  the  most 
musical  and  imaginative  of  poets.  Alongside  them  wrote  John 
Keats  (1795-1821),  cut  off  before  his  rare  genius  had  wholly 
ripened.  His  career  marks  the  exhaustion  of  the  impulse  which 
began  with  Burns  and  Cowper,  and  which  had  now  filled  all  Britain 
with  singers.  Their  work  showed  that  the  age  of  aristocracy  was 
nearly  over,  and  ushers  in  the  democratic  England,  whose  faint 
beginnings  are  to  be  found  in  the  years  which  follow  "Waterloo. 


Books  recommended  ron  the  Fcrthee  Study  of  the  Period 
1714-1820 
Of  the  larger  works,  Stanhope's  History  of  England,  1716-1783  (7  vols.), 
careful,  but  rather  dull ;  Lecky's  interesting  though  rather  discursive  History 
of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (8  vols.),  which  is  especially  detailed 
when  dealing  with  the  history  of  Ireland  ;  and  Massey's  History  of  England 
in  the  Reign  of  George  III.  (4  vols.).  Suggestive  phases  of  history  are 
illustrated  by  Seeley's  Expansion  of  England,  and  Captain  Mahan's  Influence 
of  Sea  Power  on  History.  Short  books  on  persons  of  importance  include  J. 
Morley's  Walpole ;  F.  Harrison's  Chatham ;  and  Lord  Rosebery's  Pilt  (all  in 
"  Twelve  English  Statesmen  "  series) ;  Macaulav's  Essays  on  Chatham,  Clive, 
and  Warren  Hastings ;  Morley's  Burke  ;  Sir  C.  Wilson's  Clive  ;  Sir  A.  Lyall's 
Warren  Hastings;  Sir  G.  O.  Trevelyan's  Early  L[fe  of  C.  J.  Fox;  G.  Hooper's 
Wellington  ("  Men  of  Action  "  series) ;  and  Mahan's  Life  of  Nelson.  Sir  W. 
Napier's  History  of  the  Peninsular  War  is  elaborate ;  some  of  his  best  battle 
pictures  are  extracted  in  his  one-volume  Battles  and  Sieges  of  the  Peninsula ; 
Longmans'  Political  History  of  England,  vol.  ix.,  1702-1760,  by  I.  S.  Leadam, 
vol.  x.,  1760-1801,  by  W.  Hunt,  and  vol.  xi.,  1801-1837,  by  Brodrick  and 
Fotheringhain,  cover  the  period.  For  the  social  and  economic  aspects  of 
history,  see  A.  Toynbee's  Industrial  Revolution  ;  \V.  Cunningham's  Growth  of 
English  Industry  and  Commerce,  vol.  ii.,  book  xiii. ;  and  Social  England, 
vol.  v.,  by  various  writers. 

GENEALOGY  OF  THE  PITTS  AND  GRENVILLES 
Hester,  Countess  Temple  m.  Richard  Grenville 


William  Pitt,  m.  Hester  Grenville 
Lord  Chatham 


Richard, 

Earl  Temple, 

d.  1779. 


George  Grenville, 

prime  minister 

1763-1765, 

d.  1770. 

I 


John, 
earl  of  Chatham, 

general  at 
Walcheren,  1809. 


William  Pitt, 

prime  minister 

1783-1801, 

1804-1806. 


George,  William,  Lord  Gren- 

Earl  Temple,    ville,  prime  minister 
d.  1813.  1806-1807, 

d.  1834. 


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BOOK  VIII 

NATIONALITY  AND  DEMOCRACY  (1820-1901) 

CHAPTER  I 

GEORGE  IV.  (1820-1830) 

Chief  Dates : 

1820.  Accession  of  George  iv. 

1822.  Canningites  admitted  to  office. 

1827.  Death  of  Canning  and  battle  of  Navarino. 

1828.  Repeal  of  Test  and  Corporation  Acts. 

1829.  Catholic  Emancipation  Act. 

1830.  Death  of  George  iv. 

1.  The  death,  of  George  in.  led  only  to  nominal  changes.  The 
prince  regent  became  George  iv.  He  was  vain,  selfish,  pleasure- 
Accession  of  lovmg">  an^  idte-  ^°  one  liked  or  respected  him  either 
George  IV.,  as  regent  or  king.  After  his  accession  he  made  an 
1 820,  attempt  to  win  popularity  by  visiting  Scotland,  Ireland, 

and  Hanover,  and  was  wonderfully  well  received,  though  his 
behaviour,  "  like  a  popular  candidate  on  an  election  trip,"  disgusted 
right-thinking  men.  His  health  soon  declined,  and  he  soon  shut 
himself  up  at  Windsor  and  Brighton,  a  peevish,  whimsical,  selfish 
recluse,  with  few  friends  and  little  influence. 

2.  In  1795  George  had  married  Caroline  of  Brunswick,  but 
they  soon  quarrelled  and  were  separated,  and  of  late  years  she  had 
lived  abroad.  Their  only  child,  the  Princess  Charlotte,  died  in 
1817,  so  that  the  next  heir  to  the  throne  became  George's  sailor 
brother,  William,  duke  of  Clarence.  After  George's  accession 
Caroline  came  back  to  England,  and  demanded  recognition  as 
queen.  George,  who  hated  his  wife,  wished  to  obtain  a  divorce 
from  her,  and  was  still  strong  enough  to  be  able  to  compel  his 
reluctant  ministers  to  bring  forward  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Lords 
to  dissolve  the  marriage.  The  evidence  was  not  creditable  to 
642 


I820.]  GEORGE  IV.  643 

Caroline,  but  public  feeling  rose  high  that  so  bad  a  husband  as 
George  should  venture  to  complain  of  his  wife's  conduct.     The 
opposition  took  up  her  cause,  and  Caroline  became   «_       . 
very  popular.     So  strong  was  the  sympathy  she  ex-   of  Queen 
cited  that  the  ministers  barely  succeeded  in  carrying   Caroline, 
the  divorce  bill  through  the  Lords,  and  dared  not  intro-    1820' 
duce  it  into  the  House  of  Commons.     Before  long,  however,  the 
queen  lost  her  hold  on  the  people's  goodwill,  and  next  year  she  died. 
The  main  result  of  the  scandal  excited  by  her  trial  was  to  deprive 
the  king  of  his  last  hold  over  his  subjects. 

3.  The  Tory  ministry  continued  as  before.     Soon  after  George's 
accession  a  plot  was  formed  by  Arthur  Thistlewood  to  murder 
the  whole   cabinet.     The  conspiracy  was  called  the   Thecato 
Cato    Street    Conspiracy,    because    Thistlewood    and    Street 

his  friends  held  their  meetings  in  a  loft  in  Cato  Conspiracy. 
Street,  London.  A  comrade  betrayed  their  plans, 
and  Thistlewood  and  others  were  executed.  Public  horror 
at  Thistlewood's  dastardly  attempt  did  something  to  revive  the 
waning  popularity  of  the  government,  but  the  ministers  were 
divided  among  themselves,  and  all  the  tact  of  Liverpool,  the  prime 
minister,  could  not  keep  the  government  together.  It  suffered  a 
great  loss  when  the  brilliant  and  eloquent  George  Canning,  the 
cliief  of  Pitt's  personal  followers,  resigned  office  rather  than  support 
the  bill  against  Queen  Caroline.  It  finally  collapsed  when  Lord 
Londonderry,  the  ablest  of  the  old  Tories,  committed  suicide  in 
1822. 

4.  Londonderry,   formerly  known  as   Lord   Castlereagh,  had 
been  regarded,  not  very  fairly,  as  the  chief  representative  of  the 
reactionary  Toryism  which  had  been  dominant  for   The  0n  ana 
many  years.      This  was  the  party  which  still  lived   the  new 

in  constant  fear  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  T01'*68* 
opposed  all  great  changes  in  the  belief  that  any  real  reform  would 
pave  the  way  for  revolution.  There  was,  however,  a  more  liberal 
section  of  the  Tory  party,  of  whom  Canning  was  the  most  im- 
portant. Like  Pitt,  the  Canningites  were  strongly  in  favour  of 
Catholic  emancipation,  and  thought  that  the  death  of  the  old  king 
made  it  easy  to  raise  the  Catholic  question  once  more.  On  many 
subjects  they  held  more  liberal  views  than  the  Whig  opposition, 
and  they  differed  mainly  from  the  Whigs  because  they  were 
opposed  to  the  reform  of  parliament.  In  this  they  were  leas  wise 
than  Pitt,  who  had  favoured  parliamentary  reform  long  before  the 
Whigs  had  taken  it  up.      The  Whigs,  however,  were  weak  in 


644  GEORGE  IV.  [1822- 

parliament,  and  not  mnch  liked  out-of-doors.  Their  leader  was 
now  Earl  Grey,  a  proud  and  dignified  aristocrat,  whose  chief  merit 
was  that  he  had  first  thoroughly  identified  his  party  with  the 
cause  of  parliamentary  reform.  In  the  House  of  Commons  the 
most  prominent  of  the  Whigs  was  Henry  Brougham,  a  vain, 
versatile,  and  pushing  lawyer,  and  Lord  John  Russell,  a  younger 
son  of  the  duke  of  Bedford.  There  was  no  thought,  however,  of 
admitting  the  Whigs  to  office. 

5.  After   Londonderry's   death,  Liverpool   saw  that  he  must 

either    reorganize    his    government    or  resign;    his   remedy  was 

to  offer  office  to  the  Canningites.     Canning  became 
The  Can- 
ningites  foreign  secretary  and  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

admitted         His  friend  Huskisson  was  president  of  the  Board  of 

182?06'         Trade,  and  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  Wellington's  elder 

brother,   lord-lieutenant   of   Ireland.       At  the    same 

time  Robert  Peel,   the    only  rising   man   of  ability  among  the 

old  Tories,  became  home  secretary.     He  was  the  son  of  a  rich 

Lancashire  baronet,  and  represented  the  new  aristocracy  which 

had  made  fortunes  by  trade.     Under  the  influence  of  these  men 

a  new  spirit  was  given  to  the  government.     Between   1822   and 

1827  a  series  of  great  administrative  and  legislative  changes  showed 

that  the   earlier  and  wiser  policy  of  Pitt  had  once  more  taken 

possession  of  the  Tory  leaders. 

6.  Canning  made  his  personal  influence  felt  mainly  in  foreign 
policy.  Since  1815  the  kings  and  emperors  who  had  controlled 
Canning's  ^e  European  settlement  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
foreign  had  acted  together  in  order  to  put  down  revolutionary 
policy.  or  reforEaing  movements.  Prominent  among  these 
were  the  emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia  and  the  king  of  Prussia. 
Their  league  was  commonly  called  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  they 
sought  to  control  all  Europe  by  means  of  general  congresses.  Their 
policy  was  very  unpopular,  and  revolt  after  revolt  broke  out  against 
their  harsh  and  despotic  rule.  In  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Naples  the 
people  rebelled,  and  set  up  liberal  constitutions.  The  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  colonies  in  South  America  rose  against  the  narrow  and 
oppressive  rule  of  their  mother  countries,  and,  in  the  East,  the  Greeks 
raised  an  insurrection  against  the  hateful  tyranny  of  the  Turks. 

7.  The  despots  of  the  Holy  Alliance  declared  that  reforms  in 

states  ought  to  spring  from  the  kings  alone,  and  they 
Ankme/         sent  Austrian  troops  to  restore  despotism  in  Naples, 

and  a  French  army  to  put  down  the  new  constitution 
in  Spain.     England   at  no  time  approved  of  these  proceedings. 


-1824.]  GEORGE  IV.  645 

Even  Castlereagh  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  Holy 
Alliance,  and  protested  against  foreign  intervention  in  Spain  and 
Naples,  maintaining  that  each  nation  ought  to  manage  its  own 
affairs.  But  Castlereagh  was  anxious  to  be  on  good  terms  with 
the  leading  powers  of  the  alliance,  and  was  known  to  dislike 
revolutions.  He  therefore  contented  himself  with  secret  protests, 
and  was  denounced  in  England  for  sympathizing  with  a  policy 
which  he  was  trying  to  prevent  being  carried  out.  Canning'B 
position  was  not  in  essence  very  different  from  that  of  Castlereagh . 
He  made  it,  however,  his  business  to  emphasize  the  deep  gulf 
that  existed  between  the  attitude  of  England  and  that  of  the  Holy 
Alliance.  Though  he  took  no  steps  to  help  the  constitutionalists 
in  Naples  and  Spain,  he  publicly  emphasized  his  favourite  doctrine 
of  the  non-intervention  of  one  nation  in  the  internal  affairs  of 
another.  He  had  his  revenge  when  he  recognized 
the  freedom  of  the  Spanish  colonies  in  South  America.  of  \™° 
"I  resolved,"  he  declared,  "that  if  France  had  Spain,  Spanish 
it  should  not  be  Spain  with  the  Indies.  I  called  colonies  and 
the  New  World  into  existence  to  redress  the  balance  doctrine, 
of  the  Old."  In  helping  forward  the  independence 
of  the  South  American  states,  Canning  worked  along  with  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  it  was  with  his  approval  that 
the  American  president  Monroe  laid  down  the  famous  Monroe 
doctrine,  that  the  United  States  would  not  allow  either  North  or 
South  America  to  serve  as  fields  for  European  colonization  or  inter- 
vention. When  the  restored  despot  of  Spain  sought  to  put  down 
constitutional  government  in  Portugal,  Canning  resolved  to  inter- 
fere. Afraid  of  provoking  war  with  England,  the  Spaniards 
withdrew  from  Portugal,  and  Canning's  vigour  secured  the  con- 
tinuance of  constitutional  rule  in  that  country. 

8.  Canning  warmly  shared  in  the  widespread  sympathy  for 
the   Greeks,  who  were  waging  an  heroic   struggle  for  freedom 
against  Turkey.     Many  prominent  Englishmen  went   canning 
to  Greece  and  fought  against  the  Turks,  among  them   and  Greek 
being  the  famous  poet,  Lord  Byron,  who  was  carried  insuJ~ 
off  by  fever  in  1824.     The  Russians  were  also  strongly 
in  favour  of  the  Greeks,  and  so,  though  supporting  the  Holy 
Alliance  in  the  West,  they  made  themselves  the  accomplices  of 
rebellion  in  the  East.     Many  in  England  declared  that  Russia's 
interest  in  Greece  was  due  to  her  wish  to  extend  her  power  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Turkish  Empire.      They  therefore  maintained  that 
the  Turks  ought  to  be  supported  as  the  surest  means  of  checking 


646  GEORGE  IV.  [1825- 

Russian  aggrandisement.  Canning,  however,  saw  that  the  best 
way  to  help  the  Greeks  was  to  work  along  with  Russia.  In  1827 
he  made  a  treaty  with  Nicholas  I.,  who  had  succeeded  Alexander 
as  tsar  in  1825.  By  this  treaty  England,  Russia,  and  France 
pledged  themselves  to  mediate  between  the  Turks  and  the  Greeks, 
and  insisted  upon  an  immediate  truce.  The  powers  declared 
that  they  did  not  intend  to  break  off  their  friendship  with  the 
Turks,  but  instructed  their  admirals  in  the  Mediterranean  to 
enforce  the  armistice.  In  October,  1827,  the  Turkish  fleet  lay 
anchored  in  the  Bay  of  Navarino,  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Pelo- 
Battle  of  ponnesus.  English,  French,  and  Russian  squadrons 
Navarino,  took  up  their  station  off  Navarino  and  persuaded  the 
1827.  Turkish  commander  to  accept  a  truce.     Despite  this, 

the  Turks  continued  to  devastate  the  Peloponnesus  with  fire  and 
sword.  Thereupon  the  allied  admirals,  disgusted  at  these  atrocities, 
entered  Navarino  Bay  to  secure  the  enforcement  of  the  truce. 
Almost  by  chance  the  Turks  fired  on  an  English  ship,  and  brought 
about  a  general  action.  In  this  the  Turkish  fleet  was  altogether 
destroyed,  and  the  victory  made  Greek  independence  possible. 
Canning  was,  however,  already  in  his  grave.  He  had  restored 
England's  reputation  abroad  as  the  friend  of  freedom  and  national 
rights,  and  had  maintained  his  policy  of  non-intervention  against 
the  combined  powers  of  the  Holy  Alliance. 

9.  The  changes  in  home  policy  brought  about  by  Canning's 
preponderance  were  even  greater  than  the  alteration  of  English 
p  P  re-  policy  abroad.  Peel,  the  home  secretary,  though  an 
forms  as  enemy  to  all  changes  in  the  constitution,  was  a  first- 
home  rate  man  of  business.  He  had  already  made  his  mark 
secre  ry.  ^  passj11gj  m  1819,  a  law  which  provided  for  the 
resumption  of  cash  payments  by  the  Bank  of  England.  He  now 
took  up  the  reform  of  the  criminal  law  which  had  hitherto  been 
extraordinarily  severe.  Men  could  be  hanged  for  over  two  hundred 
offences,  among  which  were  such  trifling  matters  as  being  found  on 
the  highway  with  a  blackened  face,  injuring  Westminster  bridge, 
or  personating  out-patients  of  Greenwich  Hospital.  The  result  was 
that  juries  refused  to  convict  guilty  persons  when  the  punishment 
of  so  small  a  misdeed  was  so  monstrous.  By  Peel's  efforts  laws  were 
passed  which  abolished  the  death  penalty  for  more  than  a  hundred 
crimes.  Even  more  important  than  Peel's  legislation  was  the 
honesty  and  thoroughness  with  which  he  carried  on  the  everyday 
administration  of  home  affairs.  As  the  result  of  his  wise  rule, 
the  distrust  which  the  poor  had  long  felt  for  the  government 
became  greatly  mitigated. 


-1828.]  GEORGE  JV.  647 

10.  Huskisson,  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  was 
deeply  versed  in  all  matters  of  finance  and  economics.  Under  his 
auspices  the  duties  on  many  articles  were  reduced, 

and  the  acts  making  combination  of  workmen  penal  c^meretal 
were  repealed,  so  that  trades  unions  became  henoe-  and  flnan- 
forth  lawful.  Huskisson  also  brought  about  great  ^lal  r6" 
changes  in  the  navigation  acts,  which,  since  the  days 
of  Charles  11.,  had  insisted  that  goods  imported  into  England 
should  be  brought  in  English  ships  or  in  ships  of  the  country 
to  which  the  goods  belonged.  Our  commercial  supremacy  was 
now  so  assured  that  these  acts  were  no  longer  necessary,  and 
they  had  always  produced  difficulty  in  practice.  Of  late  yean 
some  foreign  countries,  including  the  United  States  and  Prussia, 
had  refused  to  allow  our  ships  to  trade  freely  with  them,  because 
England  would  not  permit  their  ships  freedom  of  commerce  with 
us.  To  avoid  these  troubles,  Huskisson  carried  an  act  which 
allowed  the  government  to  make  treaties  with  foreign  powers  to 
admit  their  ships  to  our  harbours,  in  return  for  equal  privileges 
for  English  traders.     This  was  called  the  policy  of  reciprocity. 

11.  Early  in  1827  Lord  Liverpool  was  smitten  with  apoplexy, 
and  could  no  longer  act  as  chief  minister.     It  was  as  much  as 
his  tact  could  accomplish  to  keep  the  Canningites  and  c       .     , 
the  old  Tories  together.     On  his  retirement  the  king  ministry 
was  forced  to  make  Canning  prime  minister,  where-   »nd  death, 
upon  "Wellington,  Peel,  and  the  old  Tories,  who  had 

long  looked  upon  Canning  with  disfavour,  threw  up  their  offices. 
Canning  managed  to  form  a  government  without  them,  but  died  six 
months  later.  He  was  the  most  brilliant  statesman  of  his  time, 
but  has  been  attacked  for  ambition  and  want  of  seriousness.  His 
flippancy  was,  however,  always  in  his  talk  rather  than  in  his  mind. 
In  his  later  years  he  nobly  redeemed  the  mistakes  of  his  early 
life,  and  his  death  removed  England's  greatest  statesman. 

12.  Canning  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Goderich,  who  was  too 

weak  a  man  for  his  post.    When  news   came  of  the  battle  of 

Navarino,    Goderich    did    not    know    what    to    do.  Gode- 

The  ministers  quarrelled  violently  with    each  other,   rjCh,  1827- 

and,  after  a  short  time.  Goderich  resigned  office,  in    1828,  and 

the  Wei— 

January,  1828.     The  old  Tories  then  came  back  to   linKton 
power.     The    duke    of    Wellington    became    prime   ministries, 
minister,  and  Peel,  who  was  again  home  secretary,  be-   1828-1830. 
came  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.     Most  of  the  Canningites, 
including  Huskisson,  agreed  to  continue  in  office,  but,  after  a  few 


648  GEORGE  IV.  [1823- 

months,  they  resigned,  so  that  the  old  Tories  had  everything  in 
their  own  hands. 

13.  The  Catholic  question  now  came  to  a  crisis.  All  the 
leading  politicians,  except  the  high  Tories,  had  long  been  in  favour 

...  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  and  several  bills  to  give  the 
Association  Catholics  votes  had  passed  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  the  but  had  been  rejected  by  the  Lords.     Since  1823  a 

election  vigorous  movement  in  its  favour  had  been  started  in 

Ireland.  The  leader  of  this  was  Daniel  O'Connell, 
the  greatest  of  Irish  agitators,  a  Catholic  of  good  family,  a  leader 
at  the  Irish  bar,  a  speaker  with  wonderful  power  of  stirring  the 
emotions  and  ruling  the  hearts  of  his  people,  brilliant  and  incisive, 
though  coarse  and  not  over-scrupulous.  O'Connell  soon  became 
complete  master  of  Ireland.  He  formed  a  Catholic  Association, 
which  at  once  became  a  great  power.  He  set  his  face  against  all 
crime  and  outrage,  and  the  agitation  was  the  more  impressive 
from  its  orderly  character.  So  formidable  did  the  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation seem  that  in  1825  it  was  dissolved  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment. But  a  new  society  was  at  once  started  to  do  its  work, 
and  the  movement  went  on  much  as  before.  Under  O'Connell's 
guidance  the  small  Irish  voters,  who  had  hitherto  always  voted  for 
the  candidates  supported  by  the  great  landlords,  began  to  vote 
for  men  of  their  own  way  of  thinking.  In  1828  O'Connell  himself 
became  a  candidate  for  County  Clare  against  Vesey  Fitzgerald, 
a  popular  Irish  landlord,  and  a  friend  of  the  Catholic  claims.  He 
was  returned  with  a  huge  majority,  though,  as  a  Catholic,  he  could 
not  hold  his  seat.  His  election  created  such  excitement  in  Ireland 
that  it  seemed  as  if  civil  war  was  likely  to  break  out  between  the 
Catholics  and  Protestants. 

14.  Since  the  expulsion  of  the  Canningites  the  majority  of  the 
government  belonged  to  that  section  of  the  Tories  which  had 
Catholic  always  resisted  the  Catholic  claims.  Both  Wellington 
emaneipa-  and  Peel  had  been  conspicuous  upholders  of  the 
Hon,  1829.  existing  system.  But,  though  slow  to  see  the  necessity 
of  change,  both  were  open-minded  and  sensible.  The  course  of 
events  in  Ireland  gradually  convinced  them  that  even  Protestant 
ascendency  might  be  upheld  at  too  high  a  cost.  Already,  in  1828, 
they  had  allowed  a  bill  to  pass  for  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and 
Corporation  Acts,  which,  though  for  a  century  never  carried  out, 
still  delighted  the  bigots  by  their  presence  in  the  statute-book. 
In  1829  Peel  and  "Wellington  brought  in  a  bill  to  admit  the 
Catholics  to  parliament,  though  they  proposed  that,  as  a  safeguard. 


-1830.]  GEORGE  IV.  649 

the  franchise  in  Ireland  should  be  raised,  so  as  to  exclude  from 
voting  the  poverty-stricken  small  farmers  who  had  returned 
O'Connell  for  Clare.  The  high  Tories  were  bitterly  disgusted, 
and  complained  that  their  leaders  had  betrayed  them.  Neverthe- 
less, the  bill  easily  got  through  parliament,  and  "  the  only  hope  of 
the  Protestants  lay  with  the  king."  For  a  time  G-eorge  blustered, 
and  declared  that  he  would  rather  lay  his  head  on  the  block  than 
yield.  But  he  had  neither  courage  nor  constancy,  and  quickly 
gave  way.  O'Connell,  not  allowed  to  sit  for  Clare  without  a  fresh 
election,  was  returned  without  opposition,  and  took  his  seat. 
Flushed  with  this  triumph,  he  started  a  new  agitation  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Union. 

15.  Though  forced  against  his  will  to  carry  through  Canning's 
policy  in  the  matter  of  Catholic  emancipation,  Wellington  did  his 
best  to  reverse  Canning's  ideas  with  regard  to  foreign   welllng- 
affairs.     The  king's  speech  lamented  the  battle  of   ton's 

Navarino  as  an   "  untoward    event,"   and    spoke    of  forf ign 

Dolicy 
Turkey  as  an  ancient  ally.     It  was  impossible  now 

to  put  down  the  Greeks  altogether,  but  Wellington  sought  to  limit 
the  Greek  state  to  the  Peloponnesus.  Russia  profited  by  Eng- 
land's weakness  to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  Christian  subjects 
of  the  Turks.  In  1829  she  went  to  war  with  the  Turks,  and 
secured  larger  though  still  scanty  limits  for  Greece  at  the  point 
of  the  sword.  When  Dom  Miguel,  the  absolutist  champion  in 
Portugal,  overthrew  the  constitution  and  made  himself  king, 
Wellington  resolved ."  that  no  revolutionary  action  should  come  from 
England,"  and  took  up  a  neutral  attitude.  He  was  friendly  with 
the  bigoted  Charles  x.,  who,  after  his  brother  Louis  xvm.'s  death, 
became  king  of  France  in  1824.  He  was  looked  upon  as  the  great 
upholder  of  absolutism  throughout  all  Europe.  In  strong  contrast 
to  his  colleague's  action,  Peel  continued  his  useful  Death  of 
reforms  at  home.  In  1829  he  set  up  a  new  police  George  IV., 
system,  which  established  the  trained  and  effective  ' 

police  force  which  we  still  have.  Peel  and  Wellington  were  still 
in  power  when  George  iv.  died  on  June  26, 1830. 


CHAPTER   II 
WILLIAM  IV,   (1830-1837) 

Chief  Dates : 

1830.    Accession  of  William  iv. ;  Grey's  Whig  Ministry. 

1832.  The  Reform  Act. 

1833.  Slavery  abolished. 

1835.     Municipal  Corporations  Reform  Act. 
1837.     Death  of  William  iv. 

1 .  The  two  chief  political  forces  of  the  nineteenth  century  were 
democracy  and  nationality.  The  former  began  with  the  French 
Democracy  Revolution,  and  the  latter  became  strong  when  the 
and  nations  of  Europe  rose  in  revolt  against  Napoleon's 

nationality,  attempt  to  establish  universal  monarchy.  The  reaction 
after  1815  proved  nearly  fatal  to  both,  and  the  despots  of  the  Holy 
Alliance  strove  to  put  down  nationality  and  democracy  as  fatal  to 
order,  property,  monarchy,  and  religion.  England  never  sympathized 
altogether  with  this  reactionary  policy,  though  she  allied  herself 
with  its  exponents,  and  for  long  protested  against  it  with  little 
energy.  It  was  the  work  of  Canning  to  reassert  the  ideal  of 
nationality,  while  even  Tories  like  Peel  and  Wellington  showed 
their  appreciation  of  the  force  of  democracy  by  their  surrender  on 
the  Catholic  question.  Thus  the  reign  of  George  iv.  marked  the 
first  faint  breaking  away  of  Britain  from  the  old  tradition,  and  the 
beginnings  of  the  movements  which  gathered  increasing  force  in 
the  times  that  we  have  still  to  traverse. 

2.  Even  on  the  continent  the  wave  of  reaction  was  coming  to  an 
end.     The  liberals,  as  the  enemies  of  the  system  of  the  restored 
despots  were  called,  were  now  strong  enough  to  make 
tinental  their  influence  felt,  and  the  year  1830  was  a  year  of 

revolutions  revolution  all  over  the  "West.  It  witnessed  the  over- 
of  1830.  throw  of  Charles  x.,  the  bigoted  king  of  France,  and 

the  setting  up  in  his  place  of  a   constitutional  monarch   of  the 
English  pattern  in  Louis  Philippe,  duke  of  Orleans,  and  now  king 
of  the  French.   It  saw  Germany  and  Italy  make  fresh  though  futile 
650 


*830.]  WILLIAM  IV.  6$l 

attempts  to  shake  off  obedience  to  their  petty  monarehs.  It  was 
famous  for  the  revolt  of  the  Catholics  of  the  Southern  Netherlands 
from  the  Protestant  Dutch,  with  whom  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
had  united  them.  Henceforth  the  king  of  the  Netherlands  ruled 
over  the  north  only,  while  the  south,  the  old  Austrian  Netherlands, 
became  the  constitutional  kingdom  of  Belgium,  under  the  rule  of 
Leopold  of  Saxony-Coburg,  the  widower  of  the  Princess  Charlotte. 

3.  In  Britain  the  liberal  movement  on  the  continent  took  the 
form  of  an  agitation  in  favour  of  parliamentary  reform.  Welling- 
ton set  his  face  against  it,  and  declared  that  our  system   _      rft 

of  election  was  so  perfect  that  if  he  had  to  invent  a   tion  for 
new  one  he  could  not  have  devised  a  scheme  better   parlla- 
able  to  fulfil  its  purpose.      Thus  he    irritated    the   J55JJJJ7 
reformers  after  having  already  alienated  the  old  Tories 
by  his  change  of  front  on  the  Catholic  question.   The  completeness 
of  his  isolation  was  seen  when  the  general  election  which  followed 
George  iv.'s  death  destroyed  his  majority  and  compelled  him  to 
send  in  his  resignation. 

4.  William  iv.,  the  new  king,  was  a  very  ordinary  person.  He 
was  eccentric  in  language  and  conduct,  and  was  so  excited  at  being 
a  king  that  he  behaved  in  a  very  strange  fashion.  He  Wj]uam  IV 
was,  however,  good-natured,  kind-hearted,  and  well-  and  the  Grey 
meaning,  and  his  conduct  was  generally  straight-  ministry, 
forward  and  honourable,  if  not  always  discreet  or 
far-seeing.  His  affability  and  simplicity  made  him  popular,  and  he 
was  thought  to  be  a  reformer.  When  the  Wellington-Peel  ministry 
fell,  William  gave  the  office  of  prime  minister  to  Earl  Grey,  the 
Whig  leader,  who  formed  a  strong  reforming  ministry  from  the 
Whigs  and  the  Canningites.  Brougham  became  chancellor  and  a 
baron,  while  Lord  Althorp,  son  of  Lord  Spencer,  led  the  House  of 
Commons  with  great  tact  and  good  sense.  The  Canningites,  who 
had  now  lost  their  master's  dread  of  parliamentary  reform,  mustered 
strongly.  Among  them  were  the  foreign  secretary,  Viscount 
Palmerston,  an  Irish  peer,  and  Lord  Melbourne,  both  of  whom 
afterwards  became  chief  ministers.  Thus  when,  after  twenty-three 
years  of  exclusion  from  power,  the  Whigs  again  entered  office,  they 
absorbed  into  their  body  the  best  element  among  their  Tory  rivals. 
The  new  ministry  at  once  prepared  a  bill  for  reform  of  parliament. 

5.  Since  the  days  of  the  two  Pitts  it  had  been  felt  by  the  wisest 
Englishmen  that  the  traditional  method  of  choosing  members  of 
parliament  was  unsatisfactory.  The  system  of  election  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  members  had  not  been  altered  for  hundreds  of  years, 


652  WILLIAM  IV.  [1830- 

and  the  great  changes  brought  about  by  the  Industrial  Revolution, 
and  the  growth  of  the  factory  districts  in  the  north,  had  shown 

conclusively  the  small  extent  to  which  the  House  of 
for  pap-  Commons  represented  the  people.     Each   county  of 

liamentary     England   and   Ireland   returned    only  two  members. 

The  greatest  and  richest  shires,  like  Yorkshire  or 
Lancashire,  had  no  more  representation  than  Rutland  or  Westmor- 
land. Many  great  towns,  such  as  Manchester,  Sheffield.  Leeds,  and 
Birmingham,  returned  no  members  at  all,  while  in  London  the 
populous  new  suburbs  had  no  voice  in  parliament,  electoral  rights 
being  limited  to  those  dwelling  within  the  narrow  limits  of  the 
cities  of  London  and  Westminster  and  the  borough  of  Southwark. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  were  many  towns,  called  rotten  boroughs, 
which  returned  two  members  apiece,  though  they  had  hardly  any 
inhabitants  or  electors.  Conspicuous  among  these  places  were 
G-atton  in  Surrey,  which  was  a  gentleman's  estate  in  a  park,  and 
Old  Sarum,  in  Wiltshire,  an  ancient  fortress  on  a  hill,  deserted 
since  the  thirteenth  century  for  the  new  Salisbury  which  had 
grown  up  in  the  adjoining  valley  of  the  Avon.  If  things  were 
not  quite  so  bad  in  Ireland,  it  was  because  the  Act  of  Union 
had  given  an  opportunity  of  destroying  many  of  the  smallest  Irish 
boroughs,  while  in  Scotland  the  state  of  affairs  was  far  worse  than  in 
England.  Moreover,  very  few  persons  had  votes  at  elections.  In 
the  counties  only  the  freeholders  could  exercise  the  franchise,  while 
many  borough  members  were  chosen  by  the  town  councils,  which 
were  close  corporations  filled  up  when  vacancies  arose  by  the  voices 
of  the  surviving  members.  In  Scotland  there  was  a  mere  handful 
of  persons  qualified  to  vote  for  any  constituency.  The  result  of  all 
this  was  that  the  House  of  Commons  was  controlled  by  the  great 
landholders.  This  system  not  only  excited  the  indignation  of  the 
poor ;  the  rich  manufacturers  and  merchants  of  the  new  manu- 
facturing districts  were  particularly  badly  represented,  and  were 
indignant  that  their  opinion  should  count  for  so  much  less  than 
that  of  the  landed  classes. 

6.  The  French  Revolution  stayed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  reform 
agitation  for  a  time,  though  the  extreme  party,  called  Radicals, 

never  desisted  in  their  demand  for  a  thorough  change 
movement  in  the  representative  system.  Under  G-eorge  iv.  the 
under  crv  for  reform  was  taken  up  by  the  Whigs  in  parlia- 

George  V.  men^  ^^  a  few  feeble  steps  taken  towards  redressing 
some  of  the  worst  grievances.  Two  small  boroughs  were  dis- 
franchised for  notorious  corruption,  but  an  effort  made  to  transfer 


-1832]  WILLIAM  IV.  653 

their  seats  to  Leeds  and  Birmingham  was  defeated  by  the  Tories 
insisting  that  they  should  go  to  increase  the  number  of  county 
members.  Even  before  the  question  become  important  in  parlia- 
ment, it  excited  much  strong  feeling  in  the  country.  Reformer* 
Unions,  of  which  that  at  Birmingham  was  the  most  famous,  were 
established ;  and  the  agitation  they  stirred  up  affected  even  the 
existing  constituencies,  and  helped  to  create  the  reforming  majority 
which  floated  Grey  into  power. 

7.  In  March,  1831,  Lord  John  Russell,  a  member  of  the  Grey 
ministry,  laid  a  Reform  Bill  before  the  Commons.     It  passed  its 
second  reading  by  only  one  vote,  and  came  to  grief  in   _. 
committee.     Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  returned   struggle 
such  a  strong  majority  of  reformers  that  Russell  had    for  reform, 
no  further  difficulty  in  carrying  his  bill  through  the 

House  of  Commons.  However,  in  October,  1831,  a  second  bill 
was  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords.  Thereupon  riots  broke  out 
all  over  the  country,  which  frightened  the  Lords  into  passing  the 
second  reading  of  a  third  bill  in  May,  1832,  by  a  small  majority. 
This  did  not,  however,  settle  the  matter,  for  the  Lords  in 
committee  passed  a  resolution  postponing  the  consideration  of 
the  disfranchising  clauses.  Regarding  this  as  fatal  to  the  bill, 
Grey  asked  William  iv.  to  create  enough  new  peers  to  secure  its 
passing  unaltered  through  the  Lords,  and,  on  the  king's  refusal, 
the  ministry  resigned  office.  Wellington  boldly  attempted  to  form 
another  government,  though  the  excitement  out-of-doors  was  now 
terrible,  and  there  was  talk  of  stopping  all  supplies  until  the  bill 
was  passed.  Wellington  at  last  saw  that  reform  was  inevitable, 
like  Catholic  emancipation,  and  that  he  could  not  longer  resist  the 
people's  will.  As  a  soldier  he  did  not  care  to  hold  an  untenable 
position.  He  gave  up  his  attempt  to  form  a  ministry,  and  persuaded 
so  many  of  his  followers  to  withdraw  from  the  House  of  Lords  that 
the  bill  went  through  on  June  4,  1832,  by  a  considerable  majority. 

8.  By  the  Reform  Act  of  1832  all  boroughs  containing  less  than 
2000  inhabitants  were  entirely  disfranchised,  while  boroughs  with 
between  2000  and  4000  inhabitants  were  cut  down  to 

one  member.  The  seats  thus  set  free  were  given  to  ™  ^fe ™*2 
the  larger  counties,  which  were  broken  up  into  two  or 
even  three  divisions,  and  to  the  unrepresented  towns,  including 
Manchester,  Birmingham,  Sheffield,  Leeds,  and  several  other  large 
places,  including  new  London  boroughs,  all  of  which  had  hence- 
forth two  members  each.  Other  smaller,  but  still  considerable, 
places  each  returned  one  member.     The  county  franchise  was 


654  WILLIAM  IV.  [1833- 

enlarged  by  adding  copyholders,  leaseholders,  and  £50  tenants  at 
will  to  the  freeholders,  -while  the  borough  franchise  was  made 
uniform  for  the  first  time,  and  votes  given  to  those  occupying 
houses  of  £10  rateable  value.  The  Tories  rightly  described  the 
act  as  a  revolution,  though  it  was  a  long  time  before  its  full 
effects  were  felt.  It  dethroned  the  landed  aristocracy,  which  since 
1688  had  controlled  the  country,  and  transferred  the  balance  of 
power  to  the  middle  classes,  such  as  the  farmers  and  shopkeepers. 
Few  working-men  got  votes,  so  that  the  bill  did  not  bring  in 
democracy,  though  it  prepared  the  way  for  it. 

9.  The  first  reformed  parliament  met  early  in  1833,  and  was 
anxious  to  make  more  changes.  The  Tories  were  few  in  number, 
Irish  Repeal  an^  ^e  e^^s^T  had  an  enormous  majority,  though 
and  the  some    of    its   nominal   supporters  were   discontented 

e  war.  Radicals,  who  disliked  the  narrowness  and  aristocratic 
bias  of  the  Whigs,  and  nearly  half  the  Irish  members  were  Repealers, 
or  followers  of  O'Connell.  They  were,  however,  all  in  agreement 
with  the  ministers  in  supplementing  the  Reform  Act  by  other  new 
laws,  though  there  were  fierce  disputes  as  to  how  far  each  measure 
should  go.  There  was  much  trouble  in  Ireland  where  O'Connell's 
repeal  agitation  was  complicated  by  what  was  called  the  Tithe  War. 
This  was  caused  by  the  refusal  of  the  Catholic  peasants  to  pay  any 
longer  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  Church,  and  filled  all 
Ireland  with  outrages.  The  government .  put  down  disorder  with 
a  strong  hand,  cut  down  some  of  the  worst  abuses  in  the  Irish  Church, 
and  finally,  passed  an  Irish  Tithe  Commutation  Act,  which  turned 
the  tithe  of  a  tenth  of  the  produce  into  a  fixed  rent- charge.  Even 
earlier  than  that,  a  new  law  commuted  English  tithes  also  into 
a  rent- charge  fixed  by  the  price  of  corn. 

10.  The  reforming  parliament  was  strongly  opposed  to  slavery, 
and  in  1833  passed  the  Emancipation  Act,  which  set  free  all  slaves 
Other  ^a  ^ne  British  Empire,  and  awarded  the  planters 
reforms,  £20,000,000  as  compensation.  In  1834  it  passed  the 
1832-1835.  2?ew  Poor  Law,  which  put  an  end  to  the  degrading 
system  of  doles  from  the  parish  in  aid  of  wages,  and  improved  the 
administration  of  the  poor  law  by  establishing  unions  of  several 
parishes,  governed  by  popularly  elected  guardians  of  the  poor.  In 
the  long  run,  this  measure  probably  did  more  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  people  than  any  other  single  law  of  the  time,  but 
at  first  the  change  caused  much  hardship  to  those  who  had  acquired 
the  habit  of  looking  to  the  rates  for  support.  In  1835  a  further 
great  change  was  made  by  the  Municipal  Corporations  Reform  Act, 


^834-1  WILLIAM  IV.  655 

which  did  for  the  local  parliaments  of  the  boroughs  what  the 
Reform  Bill  had  done  for  the  parliament  of  Westminster.  Up  to 
now  corporations  had  been  mostly  self-appointed,  and  were  often 
scandalously  corrupt.  They  were  now  superseded  by  town  councils 
chosen  by  the  people,  except  that  a  third  of  them  consisted  of 
aldermen,  elected,  like  the  mayor,  by  the  councillors  themselves. 

11.  Foreign  policy  during  these  years  was  controlled  by  Palmer- 
ston,  who  would  not  suffer  the  least  interference  from  his  colleagues. 
A  disciple  of  Canning,  Palmerston  broke  with  the   p  . 
traditions  of  "Wellington,  though  in  his  zeal  for  carry-   ton's 

ing  out  his  ends  he  sometimes  lost  sight  of  Canning's  foreign 
doctrine  of  non-intervention.  Whenever  he  interfered, 
however,  it  was  on  the  side  of  nationality  and  liberty.  Thus  he  joined 
with  Louis  Philippe  of  France  in  winning  the  freedom  of  Belgium, 
helped  the  constitutional  queen  of  Portugal  to  win  a  final  triumph 
over  her  uncle,  Dom  Miguel,  and  in  similar  fashion  backed  up 
Queen  Isabella  of  Spain,  the  young  daughter  and  successor  of  King 
Ferdinand,  who  had  to  fight  for  her  throne  against  her  uncle,  Don 
Carlos,  who  claimed  the  inheritance  as  the  nearest  male  heir,  and 
aimed  at  setting  up  a  despotism.  Palmerston  was  less  successful 
in  the  East,  where  the  principles  of  the  Holy  Alliance  were  still  in 
the  ascendency. 

12.  After  a  few  years  the  energy  of  the  reforming  government 
wore  itself  out.     It  was  never  successful  in  administration,  and 
failed  altogether  in  finance.   In  the  cabinet  the  Radicals  ._.     „  , 
quarrelled  with  the  aristocratic  Whigs,  while  some  of   bourne 

the  more  conservative  ministers  resigned  in  disgust,  7J?nistry' 
because  they  thought  that  some  of  Grey's  proposals 
went  too  far.  In  1834  Lord  Grey  left  office,  and  Lord  Melbourne 
became  prime  minister.  He  was  learned,  clever,  and  liberal- 
minded,  but  was  wanting  in  seriousness,  resolution,  and  firmness. 
His  chief  object  was  to  keep  his  party  together,  and  maintain  it  in 
place  against  the  ever-rising  tide  of  opposition. 

13.  As  the  Whigs  lost  ground,  the  Tories  once  more  became 
powerful.     Old  Toryism  of  the  type  of  Castlereagh  and  Wellington 
was  killed  by  the  Reform  Act,  but  Peel  (Sir  Robert   peeJ  &nd 
since  1830)  was  still  to  be  reckoned  with.     Distrusted    tne  con- 
by  his  followers  because  of  the  part  he  took  in  emanci-    servative 
pating  the  Roman  Catholics,  Peel  gradually  won  back   V&T'  y' 
their  allegiance  by  qualities  that  raised  him  head  and  shoulders 
above  every  other  member  of  the  House  of  Commons.    His  cold 
manner,   shyness,   and  want  of  enthusiasm  prevented  him  from 


656  WILLIAM  IV.  [1837. 

being  personally  popular,  but  his  honesty  and  public  spirit,  his  tact, 
promptitude,  and  judgment,  and  his  deep  insight  into  public 
opinion,  won  him  universal  respect.  Sensible  men,  tired  of  the 
weakness  and  narrowness  of  the  Whigs,  looked  up  to  him  with  ever 
increasing  attention.  Peel  knew  that  the  British  middle  classes 
were  no  revolutionists,  and  set  about  forming  a  new  party  adapted 
to  the  new  state  of  things.  He  offered  a  programme  of  good 
government,  sound  finance,  moderate  reform,  and  the  preservation 
of  the  existing  constitution  in  Church  and  state.  Dropping  the 
discredited  name  of  Tory,  his  followers  called  themselves  Conserva- 
tives. An  enemy  bitterly  described  them  as  "  Tory  men  with  Whig 
measures,"  but  their  policy  soon  became  popular  with  the  new 
constituencies.  Moreover,  William  iv.  was  altogether  tired  of 
the  Whigs.  In  November,  1834,  he  suddenly  dismissed  Melbourne 
from  office,  and  called  upon  Peel  to  form  a  new  ministry.  Peel 
boldly  accepted  the  task,  and,  as  he  was  in  a  hopeless  minority  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  he  called  together  a  new  parliament.  The 
Death  of  Conservatives  gained  enormously  at  the  elections,  but 
William  IV.,  not  enough  to  enable  them  to  retain  their  places. 
837.  Accordingly  Peel  was  forced  to  resign  in  April,  1835. 

Melbourne  and  the  Whigs  came  back  to  office,  and  remained  in 
place  rather  than  in  power  till  the  old  king's  death  in  June,  1837. 


CHAPTER   III 

VICTORIA— PEEL  AND    PALMERSTON 
(1837-1865) 

Chief  Dates :  • 

1837.  Accession  of  Victoria. 

1839.  Penny  Postage  introduced. 

1 841.  Peel's  Ministry. 

1846.  Repeal  of  the  Com  Laws  ;  Russell's  Ministry. 

1847.  The  Irish  famine. 

1848.  Revolutions  in  Europe ;  failure  of  the  Chartists. 

1852.  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry. 

1853.  Aberdeen  Coalition  Ministry. 

1854.  Outbreak  of  Crimean  War. 
i855-  Palmerston's  Ministry. 

1856.  Peace  of  Paris. 

1857.  Chinese  War. 

1859.    Palmerston's  second  ministry. 
1861.    American  Civil  War. 
1865.     Death  of  Palmerston. 

1.  As  William  iv.  and  Queen  Adelaide  left  no  children,  the  throne 
devolved  on  their  niece  Victoria,  the  only  child  of  Edward,  dnke  of 
Kent,  and  his  wife,  Victoria  of  Saxony-Coburg,  sister   s        at}0n 
of  Leopold,  king  of  the  Belgians.    An  immediate  result   of  England 
of  the  accession  of  a  queen  to  the  English  throne  was   *n(* 
the  separation  of  the  throne  of  Hanover  from  that 
of  the  United  Kingdom.     As  women  were  not  eligible  to  reign  in 
Hanover,  Ernest,  duke  of   Cumberland,  the   most  unpopular   of 
George  iii.'s  sons,  became  king  of  that  country,  which  henceforth 
pursued  a  separate  course  of  history  until  its  absorption  in  Prussia 
in  1866. 

2.  The  new  queen  was  only  eighteen  years  old,  and  had  been 
brought  up  so  quietly  by  her  mother  that  few  people    Queen 
knew  much  about  her.     She   showed  from  the  first    victoria 
great   calmness   and  self-possession   as  well  as    rare    *"^ Prince 
courage  and  discretion.     At  first  she  depended  very 
much  upon  Lord  Melbourne,  who  took  the  utmost  pains  to  instruct 

657 


658  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1837- 

lier  in  politics.  But  Melbourne  was  .not  a  strong  minister,  and 
there  was  some  danger  lest  his  unpopularity  should  be  extended  to 
the  mistress  who  trusted  him.  Even  if  Melbourne  had  been  better 
fitted  for  this  work,  there  were  grave  inconveniences  in  the  queen 
being  advised  by  the  leader  of  one  of  the  two  rival  parties  in  the 
state.  Luckily  this  was  removed  when  Victoria  married,  in  1840, 
her  first  cousin,  Albert,  duke  of  Saxony-Coburg  G-otha.  Albert  was 
called  the  Prince  Consort,  and  though  even  younger  than  the 
queen,  proved  from  the  first  a  wise,  prudent,  and  unselfish  adviser, 
honestly  and  modestly  striving  to  do  his  duty,  while  keeping  in  the 
background  to  avoid  jealousy.  Stiff  in  his  ways,  and  German 
rather  than  English  in  character,  he  was  not  very  popular  at  first, 
but  the  more  he  was  known  the  better  he  was  liked.  Himself 
learning  much  from  Melbourne,  he  saved  the  queen  from  too  great 
dependence  on  a  falling  ministry. 

3.  Prince  Albert  and  the  queen  worked  in  absolute  agreement 
with  each  other.  He  taught  her  that  "  if  monarchy  was  to  rise  in 
Th  h  *ed  Popularity*  ft  yras  only  D7  the  monarch  living  a  good 
conception  life,  and  keeping  quite  aloof  from  party."  With 
of  the  work  great  tact  he  brought  the  monarchy  into  touch  with 
archy  and  ^e  s^ate  °$  things  brought  about  by  the  Reform  Bill. 
House  of  He  did  for  the  crown  what  Wellington  did  for  the 
Lords.  House  of   Lords.     Just  as  the  duke   saw  that  the 

Lords  must  give  up  setting  themselves  against  the  national  will 
strongly  expressed,  so  did  the  prince  see  that  the  crown  could  no 
longer  exercise  those  legal  rights  for  which  George  DDL  had  fought 
so  manfully.  Like  the  Lords,  the  crown  now  became  a  checking 
and  regulating  rather  than  a  moving  force.  It  remained  as  the 
symbol  of  the  unity  of  the  nation  and  the  empire,  and  did  good 
work  in  tempering  the  evils  of  absolute  party  government.  Though 
most  of  the  royal  prerogatives  which  survived  were  henceforward 
carried  out  by  ministers,  the  royal  influence  continued  considerable 
in  every  department  of  the  state.  At  no  time  during  her  long  reign 
did  Victoria  hesitate  to  take  up  a  strong  line  of  her  own.'  The 
times  were  critical,  and  the  condition  of  politics  changed  rapidly. 
The  tendencies  towards  nationality  and  democracy,  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  exercised  a  steadily  increasing  force.  The  effects 
of  the  Reform  Bill  were  gradually  worked  out,  and  two  other 
reform  acts  made  the  government  more  and  more  dependent  upon 
the  people,  until  at  last  nearly  every  male  had  a  voice  in  the 
government  of  the  country.  It  is  in  no  small  measure  due  to  the 
wisdom  of  Prince  Albert  and  the  devotion  of  the  queen  that 


-1839]         VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  659 

the  monarchy  became  more  popular  and  useful  than  it  had  been  for 
a  long  time. 

4.  In  the  early  years  of  Victoria's  reign  the  state  of  the  country 
was  unsatisfactory.  Ireland  was  still  demanding  the  repeal  of  the 
Union.  The  Whig  government  would  not  agree  to  CQ^oji-n. 
this,  but  was  obliged  to  conciliate  O'Connell  and  his  and 
followers,  since  it  required  their  votes  in  the  Com-  Chartism, 
mons  to  keep  the  ministry  in  office.  Some  substantial  improve- 
ments were  effected  in  the  state  of  Ireland,  notably  by  passing  an 
Irish  poor  law  and  by  the  abandonment  of  the  worst  of  the 
traditions  of  the  old  Protestant  and  landlord  ascendency  party. 
So  far  was  Irish  agitation  stayed  that  the  outlook  in  England 
became  almost  more  alarming  than  in  Ireland.  Working-men 
found  that  they  were  no  better  off  after  the  Reform  Bill  than 
before  it.  Wages  were  low,  and  the  price  of  bread  was  kept  very 
high  by  the  corn  law,  which  prevented  wheat  being  brought  into 
the  country  because  of  the  heavy  duty  imposed  upon  it.  Popular 
discontent  found  its  expression  in  the  plans  of  the  brilliant 
Welshman,  Robert  Owen,  to  reorganize  society  on  the  basis  of 
Socialism,  and  came  to  a  head  in  the  Chartist  Movement.  This 
began  in  1838,  when  William  Lovett,  a  thoughtful  London 
mechanic,  started  an  agitation  for  what  was  called  the  people's 
charter,  which  laid  down  five  points  for  which  the  Chartists  were 
to  agitate.  These  were  universal  suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,  annual 
parliaments,  the  abolition  of  the  property  qualification  for  mem- 
bers of  parliament,  and  the  payment  of  members.  In  1839,  the 
extreme  Chartists,  called  the  Physical  Force  Party,  drilled  their 
followers,  held  great  meetings,  and  organized  riots.  The  most 
formidable  of  these  was  at  Newport,  in  Monmouthshire,  but  it  was 
suppressed  without  great  difficulty.  Before  long  the  alarm  which 
such  acts  of  violence  caused,  and  the  divisions  among  the  Chartists 
themselves,  stayed  the  progress  of  the  movement.  For  many  years 
the  Chartists  were  looked  upon  'with  great  alarm,  though  most  of 
the  things  they  asked  for  have  since  been  quietly  granted. 

5.  In  distant  parts  of  the  empire  there  were  almost  as  many 
troubles  as  at  home.     There  was  a  dangerous  war  in  India  with 
the   amir  of    Afghanistan.      In   Canada   there    was    Melbourne's 
civil  war  between  the  English  and  French  settlers,    ministry, 
Melbourne  had  a  difficult  task  in  dealing  with  so 

much  discontent.  Weak  as  his  government  was,  it  effected  some 
important  reforms.  Conspicuous  among  these  was  the  introduction 
of  Penny  Postage  within  the  British  islands,  a  measure  adopted  in 


660  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1839- 

1839  at  the  suggestion  of  Rowland  Hill.  In  the  same  year,  how- 
ever, Melbourne's  majority  was  reduced  to  five  votes,  and  he  gave 
up  office.  Peel  refused  to  form  a  ministry  unless  the  Whig  ladies 
in  the  queen's  household  went  out  along  with  their  husbands.  The 
queen  was  very  indignant  at  this,  and  restored  the  Whigs  to  power. 
For  two  more  years  her  favour  alone  kept  Melbourne 
servative  in  place.  In  1841  there  was  a  general  election,  which 
I84tti0n  °^  g"ave  the  Conservatives  a  majority  of  ninety.  After 
this,  royal  favour  was  useless  to  Melbourne,  and  Peel 
became  prime  minister.  He  formed  a  strong  government,  which 
remained  in  office  until  1846.  Though  the  queen  received  him 
very  unwillingly,  she  soon  reconciled  herself  to  her  new  advisers. 
It  was  the  first  sign  that  the  monarchy  was  rising  above  party. 

6.  Peel's  cabinet  aimed  at  peace  and  conciliation,  both  at  home 
and  abroad.     Palmerston,  Melbourne's  foreign  secretary,  had  gene- 
rally managed  to  get  his  own  way  in  foreign  affairs, 
policy  of         but  he  had  taken  up  such  a  high  line  that  he  had  more 
the  Peel  than  once  brought  England  to  the  verge  of  war.     In 

?84 1-1^46  particular,  Palmerston  had  quarrelled  with  France  in 
1840,  because  he  had  resented  the  efforts  of  Louis 
Philippe  to  establish  French  influence  in  Egypt,  and  to  encourage 
the  warlike  pasha  of  Egypt  to  conquer  Syria  from  the  Turks. 
Not  only  England,  but  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia  were  alarmed 
at  this  aggression  of  the  French.  Accordingly,  the  four  powers 
formed,  in  1840,  a  Quadruple  Alliance,  which  checkmated  the  plans 
of  the  French,  and  restored  Syria  to  the  Turks.  Palmerston 
believed  that  the  Turks  were  capable  of  reforming  their  govern- 
ment and  making  Turkey  a  civilized  state.  His  triumph  gave  the 
Turks  time  to  show  what  they  could  do,  but  left  France  irritated 
and  hostile  to  England.  Lord  Aberdeen,  Peel's  foreign  minister, 
was  much  more  anxious  for  peace  than  Palmerston.  He  restored 
friendly  relations  with  France,  and  the  good  understanding  between 
the  two  powers  was  increased  by  Victoria  and  Louis  Philippe 
paying  visits  to  each  other.  The  friendship  of  the  two  countries 
was  not,  however,  very  deep,  and  Palmerston's  suspicions  of 
Louis  Philippe  were  justified  when  fresh  disputes  arose  on  two 
occasions,  in  1844  and  1846.  Thus  within  six  years  England  and 
France  were  thrice  brought  to  the  verge  of  war.  Aberdeen's 
pacific  policy  was  even  more  successful  in  determining  our  relations 
with  the  United  States.  In  1842  he  made  a  treaty  which  settled 
the  boundary  between  Canada  and  the  state  of  Maine.  A  new 
boundary  question,  however,  rose  at  once  in  the  extreme  north- 


-1846.]  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  66 1 

west.  For  a  time  the  uncompromising'  attitude  of  the  Americans 
threatened  war,  but  Aberdeen  managed  to  renew  negotiations,  and 
the  li*e  between  the  American  and  British  territories  on  the 
Pacific  was  settled  by  treaty  in  1846. 

7.  After  the  fall  of  the  Whigs,  O'Connell  revived  the  repeal 
agitation.  His  efforts  were  strengthened  by  a  new  party  which 
arose  in  Ireland  in  1842.     It  was  called  the  Young 

Ireland  party,  and  was  headed  by  a  band  of  youthful  ^"£*d 
enthusiasts  who  sought  to  revive  the  memories  of 
1798  and  obtain  repeal  by  force.  Though  wanting  in  balance  and 
sound  sense,  the  eloquence  and  passion  of  the  Young  Ireland 
leaders  set  all  Ireland  aglow.  Though  O'Connell  was  alarmed  at 
their  rashness,  and  discouraged  their  talk  about  rebellion,  their 
influence  revived  the  somewhat  languishing  agitation  for  repeal. 
Monster  meetings  were  held  all  over  Ireland,  of  which  the  most 
famous  was  at  Tara,  the  old  home  of  the  Irish  kings,  where 
O'Connell  prophesied  to  a  vast  throng  that  a  year  would  see  the 
Irish  parliament  restored  to  Dublin.  At  last  the  government  took 
the  alarm,  stopped  the  meetings,  and  arrested  O'Connell.  In  1844 
the  Liberator,  as  O'Connell  was  called,  was  condemned  for  con- 
spiracy. Though  the  Lords  reversed  the  sentence,  O'Connell 
never  recovered  the  blow  inflicted  on  his  prestige.  Three  years 
later  he  died  on  his  way  to  Home  on  a  pilgrimage. 

8.  Peel  saw  that  the  constant  disturbances  in  Ireland  shewed 
that  something  was  radically  wrong.     He  appointed  a  commission 

of  inquiry,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Lord  Devon.    _.    _  __,  . 

.  Peels  Irish 

The  report  of  this  Devon  Commission  showed  that  the   policy. 

land  question  was  at  the  bottom  of  Irish  grievances, 

and,  by  laying  bare  the  condition  of  the  peasants,  and  the  scandals 

of  the  land  system,  marked  the  first  effort  of  England  to  probe 

the  sources  of   Irish  discontent.     Peel  also  sought  to  lessen  the 

grievances   of    the   Catholics  by  increasing    the    state  grant   to 

Maynooth    College,  where    the    Catholic    clergy  were    educated, 

and    by    establishing    Queen's    Colleges    at    Belfast,    Cork,    and 

Gabvay,  where  the   Catholic  and  Protestant  youth   of    Ireland 

might  receive,  side  by  side,  a  secular  education.     The  Maynooth 

grant  lost  Peel  the  support  of  the  more  bigoted  Protestants,  and 

Catholics    and    Protestants    joined    in    denouncing    the    queen's 

colleges  as  godless.     With   all  his   wish  to  do  right,  Peel  was 

too  stiff  and  too  English  to  understand  the  real  needs  of  Ireland. 

9.  Britain  was  still  unrestful.  In  1843  the  Scottish  Church 
was  burst  asunder  by  the  secession  of  the  Free  Church,  and  in 


662  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1839- 

1845  came  the  crisis  of  the  new  High  Church  movement  in 
England,  when  John  Henry  Newman,  its  leader,  became  a  Roman 
The  corn  Catholic.  The  Chartists  again  became  active,  and 
laws  and  there  was  still  so  nrach  distress  and  discontent  in 
popumr  t-  the  country  that  they  had  a  large  following.  One 
of  the  great  sources  of  distress  was  the  high 
price  of  bread  which  followed  from  the  corn  laws.  Every 
year  the  population  of  England  increased,  owing  to  the  growth 
of  manufactures.  It  became  yearly  more  impossible  to  feed  the 
people  with  English  corn  alone,  but  the  heavy  duties  imposed  on 
foreign  corn  only  allowed  it  to  be  brought  into  England  when  the 
price  of  wheat  was  very  high.  The  consequence  was  that,  whether 
the  harvest  was  good  or  bad,  the  poor  man  had  to  pay  heavily  for 
the  bread  that  he  ate.  This  state  of  things  was  kept  up  in  the 
interest  of  the  landlords  and  farmers,  who  reaped  a  rich  harvest  at 
the  price  of  the  nation  at  large.  So  strong  was  the  landed  interest 
in  parliament  that  neither  Whigs  nor  Tories  were  willing  to 
repeal  the  corn  laws.  Melbourne  had  done  nothing  to  alter  the 
bread  tax  while  he  was  in  power,  but,  on  going  out  of  office,  had 
pledged  his  party  to  the  policy  of,  superseding  the  law  by  a 
moderate  fixed  duty  on  corn.  Even  this  had  alarmed  the  land- 
lords, and  one  element  in  giving  Peel  his  great  majority  in  1841 
had  been  the  conviction  of  the  landed  interests,  that,  if  the  corn 
laws  were  reduced  or  repealed,  they  would  be  ruined.  Thus  the 
Tory  party  was  even  more  pledged  to  a  policy  of  protection  than 
the  Whigs  had  been. 

10.  In  1839,  some  north-country  manufacturers  had  met  in 
Manchester,  and  started  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  which 
The  Anti-  demanded  the  total  and  immediate  repeal  of  all 
Corn-Law  taxes  on  corn.  Its  leaders  were  Richard  Cobden, 
i'«QQUe'  a    Manchester    calico-printer,   of    great    earnestness, 

attractiveness,  and  power  of  persuasion,  and  John 
Bright,  an  eloquent  Quaker  manufacturer  from  Rochdale.  The 
league  at  once  began  a  new  agitation.  Meetings  were  held, 
pamphlets  circulated,  and  large  sums  of  money  raised  to  carry 
on  the  propaganda.  Gradually  the  league  convinced  many  people 
that  it  was  more  important  to  give  many  men  cheap  bread  than  to 
keep  up  the  artificial  prosperity  of  a  single  class  of  the  nation. 

11.  The  greatest  work  of  the  league  was  the  conversion  of  Peel 
himself.  He  was,  above  all  things,  a  practical  man,  an  administrator, 
and  a  financier.  In  the  earlier  years  of  his  government  he  had 
been  especially  successful  in  improving  the  state  of  trade,  and  putting 


-1846.]  VICTORIA— PEEL  AKD  PALMERSTOX  663 

the  national  credit  and  finances  into  a  creditable  condition.  Almost 
without  knowing  it,  Peel  was,  like  Huskisson,  led  by  his  finan- 
cial reforms  in  the  direction  of  free  trade.  He 
had  strong  sympathies  with  the  manufacturing  ££!l1fn(!ie 
class,  from  which  he  had  sprung,  and  which  was 
now  decidedly  against  the  corn  laws.  But  his  party  was  not 
with  him.  The  landed  interests  thought  their  prosperity  bound 
up  with  protection,  and  wished  to  keep  up  the  taxes  which  made 
it  hard  for  foreigners  to  compete  with  them.  They  soon  began 
to  murmur  against  Peel's  free-trade  budgets,  and  at  last  found  a 
spokesman  in  Benjamin  Disraeli,  a  brilliant  and  eccentric  novelist 
of  Jewish  origin,  who  had  made  himself  conspicuous  as  the  leader 
of  the  fantastic  Young  England  party,  which  had  sought  for  some 
years  to  revive  old-fashioned  and  romantic  notions.  Disraeli  was 
not  taken  seriously,  and  Peel  thoroughly  distrusted  and  offended 
him.  As  a  result,  Disraeli  declared  in  parliament  "  that  protection 
was  in  the  same  condition  as  Protestantism  in  1828,"  and  held  Peel 
to  scorn  for  "  catching  the  Whigs  bathing  and  running  away  with 
their  clothes." 

12.  In  1845  the  partial  failure  of  the  Irish  potato  crop  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis.     Since  the  Union  the  population  of  Ireland 
had  grown  enormously,  though  there  was  no  corre-    _.    *anupe 
sponding  expansion  in  her  industries.    There  were  now   0f  the  Irish 
more  inhabitants  of  Ireland  than  the  country  would   potato  crop, 
feed,  and  the  land  laws  made  the  people  at  the  mercy 

of  their  landlords.  In  a  large  part  of  Ireland  the  soil  was  tilled 
by  small  farmers,  who  paid  such  high  rents  that  they  had  very 
little  left  to  live  upon.  They  were,  therefore,  compelled  to  eat  the 
cheapest  possible  food,  and  for  this  reason  the  greater  part  of  the 
Irish  peasantry  subsisted  almost  entirely  upon  potatoes.  A  disease 
now  broke  out  which  made  potatoes  unfit  for  human  consumption. 
The  poor  were  plunged  into  great  distress,  and  could  only  be  kept 
from  starvation  by  a  large  importation  of  corn. 

13.  To  bring  in  foreign  grain  was  impossible  so  long  as  the 

corn    law    remained    in    operation.  •  Accordingly   Peel  took    the 

decisive  step  of  telling  his  cabinet  that  the  corn  law  The  repeal 

must  be  relaxed  forthwith  to  feed  the  starving  Irish,  of  the  corn 
,,  .  ,  .    .  ,  ,j    laws,  184©. 

and  that  when  once  this  was  done,  no  minister  could 

ever  venture  to  bring  it  back  again.    After  some  hesitation,  a  large 

section  of  the  cabinet  refused  to  support  his  proposal  to  abolish  the 

bread  tax,   whereupon  Peel    resigned.     Lord  John   Kussell.   the 

"Whig    leader,   who  had    recently  abandoned    the  doctrine  of  a 


664  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1S46- 

moderate  fixed  duty,  and  now  advocated  total  repeal,  failed  to 
form  a  ministry,  and  then  Peel  resumed  office.  In  January, 
1846,  he  proposed  to  reduce  the  duty  on  corn  to  a  nominal  amount. 
The  result  was  a  break-up  of  the  Conservative  party.  The  greater 
part  of  it,  henceforth  known  as  the  Protectionists,  rose  in  open 
revolt  against  Peel,  under  Lord  George  Bentinck,  a  shrewd,  hard, 
racing  man,  who  hated  Peel,  and  Benjamin  Disraeli,  who  denounced 
Peel's  change  of  front  with  pitiless  cruelty.  Peel  could  only  carry 
the  repeal  of  the  bread  tax  with  the  help  of  the  votes 

?846°f  Pee1'  of  the  W11^8-  A  Httle  Mer  the  Protectionists  had 
their  revenge.  Peel  brought  in  a  Coercion  Bill  to 
put  down  disorder  in  Ireland,  and  the  Protectionists  joined  with 
the  Whigs  in  defeating  it.  Peel  at  once  resigned.  His  great 
merits  were  his  honesty  and  straightforwardness.  Though  he 
seldom  took  a  broad  and  far-seeing  view  of  a  question,  he  always 
kept  his  mind  open  to  facts,  and  whenever  he  saw  that  a  thing 
was  right,  he  declared  for  it.  The  reason  which  made  him  a  bad 
party  man  made  him  a  good  practical  statesman. 

14.  For  the  next  twenty  years  there  were  three  parties  in 
English  politics.     The  smallest  and  least  popular,  but  the  ablest 
of    these,   was    the    little    band    of    Peel's    personal 
Peehtes,  followers,  who  followed  him  in  his  change  of  front 

tectionists,  in  1846.  They  were  called  the  Peelites,  and  were 
Liberals,  ied,  after  Peel's  sudden  death  in  1850,  by  Lord 
Radicals.  Aberdeen.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  party  was, 
however,  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  the  son  of  a 
Liverpool  merchant,  whose  ability,  eloquence,  and  high  character 
had  already  marked  him  out  for  a  great  career.  Next  came  the 
Protectionists,  under  Bentinck  and  Disraeli,  who  were  joined  by 
the  vigorous  and  energetic  Lord  Stanley,  who  deserted  Peel  in 
1845.  The  disunion  of  the  Conservatives  gave  their  opponents  a 
stronger  position  in  the  House  of  Commons  than  the  two  parties 
combined.  They  were  now  more  often  called  Liberals,  from  a 
word  borrowed  from  continental  politics,  which  suggested  a 
broader  and  more  democratic  policy  than  the  name  Whig.  But 
the  Liberals  were  almost  as  much  divided  as  the  Conservatives. 
The  ties  of  party  sat  very  loosely  on  the  Radicals  and  the  Irish 
members.  Among  the  former  must  be  included  the  Manchester 
school,  under  Bright  and  Cobden,  who,  with  much  zeal  for  reform, 
honest  indifference  to  clique,  and  special  knowledge  of  trading 
questions,  were  ignorant  and  careless  of  foreign  policy,  and  tied 
down  by  narrow  notions   of  the  business   of  the   state,  and  by 


-1847.]         VICTORIA— PEEL   AND  PALMERSTON  665 

middle-class  prejudices,  that  made  them  oppose  many  measures  for 
the  welfare  of  the  people.  Despite  all  them*  drawbacks,  the 
Liberals  were  nearly  always  in  power,  and  only  yielded  up  office 
by  reason  of  their  own  divisions. 

15.  After  Peel's  fall,  the  prime  ministership  passed  to  Lord  John 
Russell,  a  dexterous  tactician  and  a  consistent  Wliig,  who  had  no 
great  claim  to  the  higher  merits  of  statesmanship.    His    j^  RUSseu 
influence  was  overshadowed  by  the  dominating  person-    ministry, 
ality  of  Palmerston,   who  resumed  his   post  at  the    1846-1862« 
foreign  office,  where  he  gained  for  the  government  most  of  the 
credit  which  it  won.     The  bad  feeling  between  these  two  weakened 
the  ministry,  which,  however,  remained  in  place  until  1852. 

16.  The  first  concern  of  the  new  government  was  Ireland, 
where  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  had  done  little  to  remedy  the 
distress  produced  by  the  failure  of  the  potato  crop. 

In  1846  the  potato  disease  was  much  worse  than  in  faminVand 
1845,  and  a  terrible  famine  fell  upon  the  country,  its  con- 
Soon  the  people  were  dying  wholesale  from  want  of  fl^^gf-' 
food  and  from  fevers  caused  by  bad  and  insufficient 
nourishment.  England  was  deeply  moved  by  the  tale  of  Irish 
suffering,  but  the  government  was  ignorant  and  timid,  and  was 
afraid  of  the  cry  of  the  Radicals  that  state  interference  with  the 
food  supply  was  an  intrusion  upon  the  work  of  the  traders  and 
against  the  doctrines  of  political  economy.  They  therefore  started 
relief  works  and  paid  the  workers,  but  they  left  the  food  supply  to 
the  ordinary  traders,  who  made  disgraceful  fortunes  by  speculating 
in  Indian  meal  and  flour.  It  was  not  until  1847  that  the  ministers 
were  taught  by  experience  that  the  only  way  to  keep  the  Irish  alive 
was  to  distribute  food  to  them.  Gradually  the  harvests  improved, 
but  the  condition  of  Ireland  still  remained  very  bad.  Many  land- 
lords were  almost  as  unprosperous  as  their  dependants.  In  their 
eagerness  to  make  all  they  could  out  of  their  estates,  they  saw 
clearly  that  the  system  of  small  farms  no  longer  paid  them.  They 
therefore  turned  out  the  poor  tenants,  and  combined  several  little 
holdings  into  one  large  farm.  The  result  of  these  clearances  and 
evictions  was  an  enormous  and  continued  emigration,  which  in  fifty 
years  cut  down  the  population  of  Ireland  from  eight  millions  to 
five.  The  emigrants  to  America  and  the  large  towns  of  Britain 
could  not  but  hand  down  to  their  children  the  fiercest  hatred  of  the 
English  name.  This  much  good  flowed  from  the  Irish  famine,  that 
it  put  an  end  to  the  cottier  system,  which  stood  in  the  way  of  all  real 
improvements.     Save  in  the  extreme  west,  where  small  holdings 


666  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  [1848- 

lingered  on,  those  who  were  left  in  Ireland  slowly  became  somewhat 
more  prosperous.  Yet  the  bringing  in  of  English  ways  and  English 
capital  made  them  as  bitter  as  ever  against  the  political  system  of 
the  dominant  country. 

17.  In  1848  a  general  revolutionary  movement  upset  half  the 
thrones  of  Europe.  Louis  Philippe  was  driven  from  France  and  a 
The  year  of  republic  set  up.  There  were  revolutions  in  nearly 
revolutions,    every  state  of  Germany  and  Italy,  in  which  countries 

the  national  movement  for  winning  unity  under  a 
single  popular  government  took  a  strengthened  hold  upon  the 
people.  The  Italians  and  Hungarians  revolted  against  Austria ; 
the  Germans  assembled  a  national  parliament  at  Frankfort. 

18.  The  revolutionary  wave  extended  even  to  the  United 
Kingdom.     In  England  Chartism  revived,  while  in  Ireland  the 

Young  Ireland  party  sought  to  raise  a  rebellion.    In 

and  Young      1848  the   Chartists   summoned  a  great  meeting  on 

Ireland,  Kennington  Common,  in  the  south  of  London,  and 

1848 

the    government    feared    a    riot.     Very  few  people 

appeared,  and  the  Chartist  leader,  Feargus  O'Connor,  lost  heart 

and  did  nothing.     A  little  later  an  enormous  petition  was  sent  in 

by  the  Chartists  to  parliament,  but  on  examination  the  signatures 

proved  largely  fictitious.  This  double  failure  overwhelmed  them  with 

ridicule,  and  the  movement  soon  collapsed  altogether,  for  improved 

work  and  higher  wages  took  the  worst  sting  from  the  discontent 

which  animated  them.    Equally  complete  was  the  failure  of  Young 

Ireland.     Smith  O'Brien,  their  chief,  made  a  feeble  attempt  at  a 

rising,  but  was  taken  prisoner  in  a  cabbage  garden,  whereupon  the 

movement  died  out.      Thus  Britain  weathered  the  storm  which 

threatened  so  many  foreign  states.    In  1851  it  celebrated  the  return 

of  peace  and  prosperity  by  holding  in  Hyde  Park  the  first  Great 

Exhibition  of  the  industrial  products  of  all  nations.     This  was 

largely  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  prince  consort. 

19.  When  the  troubles  of  1848  broke  out  abroad,  Palmerston 

looked  upon  the  constitutional  and  national  movements  with  such 

„  ,  favour  that  men  of  the  old  school  condemned  him 

Palmer- 

ston's  as  a  firebrand  and  a  revolutionary.     As  time  went 

foreign  on>   however,  the   liberal    agitation    became   a  revo- 

lutionary one.  There  was  street  fighting  in  half  the 
capitals  of  Europe.  Fraction  followed  revolution,  and  in  the  result 
the  constitutional  movement  seemed  undone.  This  was  notably  the 
case  in  France,  where  Louis  Napoleon,  a  nephew  of  Napoleon  the 
Great,  became  elected  president  of  the  French  Republic  only  to 


1852.]  VICTORIA— PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  667 

overthrow  it.  In  its  stead  he  made  himself  Napoleon  in.,  Emperor 
of  the  French,  and  sought  with  indifferent  success  to  copy  th* 
methods  of  his  uncle.  Henceforth  France  was  ruled  by  a  military 
despotism,  controlled  by  fortune-hunters  and  adventurers. 

20.  Palmerston  was  so  disgusted  with  revolutions  ending  in 
anarchy  that  he  privately  expressed  the  fullest  approval  of  Louis 
Napoleon's  high-handed    subversion  of    the   French 
Republic.     He  had  not  consulted  either  the  queen  or   palmerston! 
the  cabinet,  and  both  were  annoyed  at  the  easy  way    1 86 1 ,  and 
in  which  he  pledged  them  to  approve  of  perjury  and   1^852?  * 
violence.    Already  he  had  given  much  offence  to  crown 

and  colleagues,  and  the  queen  had  previously  drawn  up  a  memoran- 
dum insisting  that  he  should  always  state  what  he  proposed  to  do. 
and  not  alter  measures  after  she  had  given  them  her  sanction.  After 
this  fresh  indiscretion  he  was  dismissed  from  office.  He  bitterly 
complained  that  Russell  had  given  way  to  the  queen  and  the  prince, 
and  eagerly  sought  for  an  opportunity  of  being  revenged  upon  him. 
His  chance  came  in  February,  1852,  when  Russell  sought  to  allay 
the  fear  of  invasion  which  had  followed  from  the  establishment  of 
another  Napoleon  in  France  by  bringing  in  a  bill  to  strengthen  the 
militia.  Many  details  of  the  proposal  aroused  dislike,  and  Palmer- 
ston, seeing  in  the  ill  will  these  excited  a  chance  for  revenge,  carried 
an  amendment  against  the  ministers,  and  forced  them  to  resign. 

21.  Palmerston  was  not  strong  enough  to  form  a  government 
himself.  His  triumph  brought  into  power  the  Protectionists,  and 
Stanley,  now  by  his  father's  death  earl  of  Derby,  became 

prime  minister,  with  Disraeli  as  chancellor  of  the  ex-    Derby- 
chequer  and  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.   But  the    Disraeli 
new  ministers  were  in  a  minority,  and  held  office  through   ^gi511^* 
the  favour  of  Palmerston  and  the  divisions  of  their 
opponents.    At  first  it  was  feared  they  would  revive  the  corn 
laws,  but  Disraeli,  who  was  rapidly  showing  that  he  was  to  be 
taken  seriously,  was  too  wise  to  go  back  on  what  had  been  done. 
He  dropped  both  the  name  and  the  policy  of  protection,  and  his 
followers  soon  included  the  whole  Conservative  party,  since  the 
Peelites    remained    completely    estranged,    and    generally    voted 
against  them.     Before  the  end  of  the  year  the  Whigs  and  Peelites 
put  the  government  in  a  minority,  and  on  December  16  it  resigned. 

22.  It  was  time  to  have  done  with  governments  on  sufferance, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  a  coalition  mini$try  should  be  formed  of 
Peelites  and  Whigs.  Aberdeen,  the  Peelite  leader,  became  first 
lord  of  the  treasury  and  prime  minister.     He  was  an  accomplished 


668  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1852^ 

and  able  man,  but  lacking  in  firmness,  resource,  and  knowledge  of 

character.     Lord  John  Russell,  the  Whig  leader,  became  leader  of 

the  House  of  Commons,  and  Palmerston  accepted  the 
The 
Aberdeen        home  secretaryship,  an  office  he  cared  little  for,  but 

coalition  took  because  he  thought  England  wanted  a  strong 
Ts'SMSSS  government.  Gladstone  became  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, and  showed  himself  a  worthy  disciple  of 
Peel  by  his  brilliant  budgets  and  masterly  budget  speeches.  He 
carried  through  financial  reforms  which  made  further  strides  in  the 
direction  of  free  trade  ;  but  before  long  the  outlook  abroad  turned 
men's  minds  from  reform  at  home. 

23.  The  Eastern  question  was  revived  through  the  action  of 
Nicholas  1.,  the  able  and  masterful  tsar  of  Russia.     Nicholas  had 
long  been  seeking  to  persuade  the  powers  to  agree  to 
and  the    '       some  sort  of  partition  of  the  Turkish  empire.     "  We 
Eastern  have  on  our  hands,"  said  he,  "  a  sick  man ;  it  will  be  a 

great  misfortune  if  he  slip  away  from  us  before  all 
necessary  arrangements  have  been  made."  Nicholas  showed  fore- 
sight in  anticipating  the  dissolution  of  Turkey,  but  he  naturally 
wished  to  make  Russia  gain  as  much  as  he  could  from  the 
collapse  of  the  Turks.  His  policy  excited  great  alarm  in  the 
West,  and  led  many  statesmen  to  make  efforts  to  uphold  the  Turks 
so  as  to  keep  up  the  balance  of  power,  and  prevent  Russia  from 
becoming  too  strong  in  the  south-east  of  Europe.  This  policy, 
of  which  Palmerston  was  the  chief  exponent  in  England,  was 
quite  wrong ;  for  the  Turks,  though  admirable  soldiers,  were 
quite  unteachable  as  rulers,  and  so  habitually  neglected  and 
maltreated  their  Christian  subjects  that  the  latter  were  perpetu- 
ally rising  in  revolt  against  them.  Encouraged  by  the  example 
of  the  Greeks,  other  Christian  subjects  of  the  Turks  were  seeking 
to  win  their  liberty,  and  looked  up  to  Russia  for  help.  The  right 
policy  for  Europe  would  have  been  to  join  with  Russia  in  getting 
rid  of  Turkish  rule.  It  would  not  have  been  impossible,  if  the 
powers  had  worked  together,  to  prevent  Russia  obtaining  undue 
power  at  the  expense  of  the  Turks.  However,  the  jealousies  of 
the  powers  prevented  combined  action,  and  petty  disputes  between 
the  Greek  and  Latin  clergy  in  Jerusalem  began  a  conflict  which 
ultimately  ripened  into  war.  Nicholas  supported  the  Greek 
monks,  while  the  Latin  clergy  were  supported  by  the  French.  In 
their  alarm  of  Russia  the  Turks  leant  to  the  Latin  side,  and 
Nicholas  made  their  action  an  excuse  for  taking  up  a  strong  line 
against  them.     In  1853  he  occupied  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  the 


•i8S5]        VICTORIA— PEEL  AND  PALMERSTOX  669 

present  kingdom  of  Roumania,  but  then  vassal  states  of  Turkey. 
He  gave  out  that  he  intended  to  hold  them  until  the  Turks  restored 
the  Greek  clergy  to  their  accustomed  position  as  custodians  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre. 

24.  Napoleon  in.  saw  in  the  dispute  between  Russia  and  the 
Turks  a  chance  of  establishing  his  throne  and  winning  glory  for 
himself,  and  Palmerston,  always  mistrustful  of  Russia,    0plein  of 
largely  sympathized  with  him.   He  was  still  the  strong   the  Crimean 
man  of  the  ministry,  and  his  influence  prevailed  over   War. 

that  of  Aberdeen  and  the  Peelites,  who  were  eager  for  peace,  but 
did  not  know  how  to  get  it.  A  close  alliance  was  formed  between 
England  and  France,  and  England  gradually  drifted  towards  war. 
On  Russia  refusing  to  evacuate  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  the 
English  and  French  fleets  entered  the  Dardanelles.  Thereupon 
the  Russians  fell  upon  a  Turkish  squadron  at  Sinope,  and  destroyed 
it  utterly.  In  January,  1854,  the  allied  fleets  entered  the  Black 
Sea,  and  war  thus  broke  out.  For  the  first  time,  after  many 
generations,  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  fought  side  by  side. 

25.  The  first  hostilities  by  land  were  on  the  Danube,  where  the 
Turks  checked  the  advance  of  the  Russians  by  their  stubborn 
defence  of  the  fortresses  which  commanded  the  course   ,_. 

of  the  great  river.  English  and  French  troops  were  Crimean 
now  sent  in  large  numbers  to  Varna,  the  English  ^*^'  ,854" 
being  commanded  by  Lord  Raglan,  and  the  French  by 
Marshal  Saint- Arnaud.  Thereupon  the  Russians  withdrew  from 
the  Danube,  and  abandoning  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  returned  to 
their  own  territory.  The  chief  object  of  the  war  was  gained, 
but  the  cabinet  thoughtlessly  ordered  the  troops  at  Varna  to 
invade  the  peninsula  of  the  Crimea,  where  the  Russians  had 
recently  erected  the  new  fortress  and  military  station  of  Sebastopol, 
from  which  it  sought  to  command  the  whole  of  the  Black  Sea 
lands.  In  September,  1854,  the  troops  at  Varna,  already  weakened 
by  disease,  were  carried  over  the  Black  Sea,  and  landed  in  the 
west  of  the  Crimea  and  the  north  of  Sebastopol.  Their  equipment 
and  supplies  were  adequate  for  an  expedition  rather  than  a  pro- 
longed campaign,  and  an  immediate  advance  towards  Sebastopol 
was  made.  A  Russian  army  blocked  the  allies'  line  of  advance,  but 
on  September  20  its  strong  position  was  captured  in  the  battle  of 
the  Alma.  After  this  victory  the  allies  abandoned  the  bold  but 
wisje  plan  of  a  sudden  attack  on  Sebastopol,  and  resolved  to  conquer 
it  by  a  regular  siege.  The  siege  of  Sebastopol  lasted  from  October, 
1854,  to  September,  1855.     The  allies  did  not  possess  resources  or 


670 


VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON 


[1854- 


skill  enough,  to  carry  out  siege  operations  properly,  and  were 
hampered  by  constant  attacks  from  the  large  Russian  armies  that 
held  the  country  within  a  few  miles  of  the  fortress.  It  was  against 
these  that,  on  October  25,  the  allies  fought  the  battle  of  Balaclava, 
where  the  incompetence  of  the  generals  was  redeemed  by  the  valour 
of  the  soldiers,  and  notably  by  the  two  charges  of  the  heavy  and 
light  brigades  of  British  cavalry.  On  November  5  the  battle  of 
Inkerman  was  fought,  when  the  Russians  in  Sebastopol  made  a 
general  assault  on  the  besieging  lines.     Again  victory  was  won  by 


wBJ/fThG  Neighbourhood  cf 

WA      SEBASTOPOL 


Erary^VJctr  &c. 


the  valour  of  the  soldiers  rather  than  the  skill  of  the  generals. 
After  these  rude  checks,  the  Russians  showed  greater  caution  in 
attacking  the  allies,  but  winter  soon  came  on  with  its  terrible  cold, 
and  the  shameful  incompetence  of  the  home  authorities  left  the 
troops  utterly  unprepared  to  face  its  severity.  It  was  found 
impossible  to  shut  off:  Sebastopol  from  communication  with  the 
Russian  army  outside,  which  pressed  so  hardly  on  the  allies  that 
they  were  almost  as  much  on  the  defensive  as  the  garrison.  The 
land  transport  broke  down  so  badly  that  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  convey  stores  from  Balaclava  on  the  sea-coast  to  the  trenches 
that  surrounded  the  south  side  of  Sebastopol.  Sickness  worked 
more  havoc  than  the  Russian  bullets,  and  nothing  but  the  patient 


-i 859.]        VICTORIA— PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  6jl 

endurance  of  the  troops  enabled  the  siege  to  be  maintained. 
Matters  grew  brighter  with  the  return  of  fine  weather,  and  at  last, 
in  September,  1855,  the  French  captured  the  Malakov  redoubt,  the 
key  of  the  defences.  Thereupon  the  Russians  evacuated  the 
doomed  fortress,  and  on  September  8  the  allies  took  possession  of 
it.  Every  party  to  the  war  had  lost  so  severely  that  all  were  glad 
to  negotiate  for  peace,  and  in  March,  1856,  the  treaty  of  Pari* 
ended  the  Crimean  War.  One  of  its  clauses  forbade  Russia  main' 
taining  a  war  fleet  in  the  Black  Sea. 

26.  The  mismanagement  of  the  war  had  already  brought 
about  the  fall  of  the  coalition.  A  storm  of  indignation  rose  in 
England  when  the   sufferings  of  the   army   became 

known,  and  in  January,  1855,  a  motion  for  the  ap-  st0n's  first 
pointment  of  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  ministry, 
the  army  was  carried  against  the  government  by  an  1865_,858« 
enormous  majority.  Aberdeen  was  driven  from  ofiice,  and  the 
Peelites  soon  followed  him.  Palmerston  became  prime  minister, 
and  his  former  chief,  Russell,  consented  to  serve  under  him. 
Palmerston's  energy  soon  put  a  new  spirit  into  the  conduct  of  the 
war.  The  skill  and  cheerfulness  with  which  he  retrieved  disaster, 
and  carried  matters  through  to  the  peace,  made  him  by  far 
the  strongest  force  in  English  politics  for  the  rest  of  his  life, 
though  his  restlessness  and  love  of  strong  courses  brought  him 
more  than  once  into  trouble.  He  soon  quarrelled  with  Russell, 
who  was  forced  to  leave  the  ministry.  In  1857  he  went  to  war 
against  China,  and  when  the  House  of  Commons  accepted  a  motion 
of  Cobden  that  there  was  no  justification  for  his  violent  action  against 
the  Chinese,  he  appealed  to  the  country,  which  showed  its  confi- 
dence in  him  by  returning  a  large  majority  of  his  followers.  Next 
year  he  was  again  in  difficulties,  because  he  brought  in  a  Con- 
spiracy to  Murder  Bill,  in  order  to  please  his  ally,  Napoleon  m., 
who  had  complained  that  a  plot  to  murder  him  had  been  devised  in 
England,  and  demanded  an  alteration  of  the  law  to  prevent  such 
conspiracies  in  future.  A  combination  of  Conservatives,  Peelites, 
and  Radicals  again  defeated  Palmerston,  and  this  time  he  was 
forced  to  resign. 

27.  Derby  and  Disraeli  now  formed  their  second  ministry,  but 
they  were  in  a  minority  in  parliament,  and  were  driven 

from  power  in  June,  1859.  Palmerston  was  then  restored  Derby- 

to  office.   His  second  ministry  lasted  until  his  death  in  Disrael 

1865.    It  included  both  Whigs  and  Peelites,  who  were  JsmSsm. 
now  almost  welded  together   into  a  single  Liberal 


672  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON         [1859- 

party,    of  which  the  Peelites   were  in   some  ways  the  advanced 

half. 
Palmers-  „ 

ton's  second  28.  During-  Palmerston  s  last  ministry  great 
ministry,        changes  took  i)lace  on  the  continent.     The  movement 

towards  Italian  and  German  unity,  which  had  been 
rudely  checked  after  the  failure  of  the  revolution  of  1848,  now 
Italian  and  resumed  its  course.  Victor  Emanuel,  king  of  Sar- 
German  dinia  since  1849,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Italian 

unity.  national  party,  and  was  made  king  of  Italy.     A  great 

step  towards  G-erman  unity  was  taken  in  1864,  when  Austria  and 
Prussia  united  and  expelled  the  Danes  from  the  duchies  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein,  which  were  largely  German.  But  they 
quarrelled  over  the  distribution  of  the  spoils,  and  engaged,  in  1866, 
in  a  short  but  decisive  struggle  for  supremacy.  The  Austrians 
were  beaten,  and  expelled  from  the  German  confederation. 
Prussia,  now  ruled  by  King  "William  1.  and  his  minister,  Bismarck, 
became  the  leading  power  in  Germany.  A  North  German  con- 
federation was  formed,  which  secured  Prussian  supremacy  over  all 
Germany  north  of  the  Main. 

29.  A  fresh  trouble  arose  in  1861,  when  a  great  civil  war  rent 
asunder  the  United  States  of  America.  The  Southern  states 
_.  .  .  seceded,  and  formed  a  new  confederation  to  uphold 
can  Civil  slavery.  England  professed  strict  neutrality  in  this 
War,  1861-     conflict,  but  public  opinion  was  largely  in  favour  of 

the  South,  which  was  believed  to  be  anxious  to  make 
itself  an  independent  nation  as  the  Italians  and  Germans  were 
doing.  This  led  to  somewhat  strained  relations  between  England 
and  the  Northern  states.  The  Americans  particularly  complained 
of  the  slackness  of  the  English  government  which  allowed  priva- 
teering cruisers,  such  as  the  Alabama,  to  be  built  in  English  dock- 
yards, to  prey  on  their  commerce.  When,  in  1865,  the  persistent 
efforts  of  the  North  had  restored  the  imperilled  union,  there  was 
still  much  bad  blood  between  the  Americans  and  the  English. 
Another  result  of  the  war  was  the  cotton  famine  in  Lancashire, 
which  was  a  time  of  great  distress  for  the  factory  hands,  whose 
supply  of  raw  cotton  had  been  cut  off  by  the  Northerners'  blockade 
of  the  Southern  ports. 

30.  During  all  these  troubles  Palmerston  guided  the  fortunes  of 
England  with  fair,  but  not  distinguished,  success.  He  had  the  good 
sense  not  to  interfere  with  movements  with  which  he  had  little  sym- 
pathy. He  did  something  to  help  the  Italians,  but  court  influence 
prevented  him  assisting  the  Danes  in  their  plucky  but  unavailing 


-i86s.]  VICTORIA — PEEL  AND  PALMERSTON  673 

struggle  to  retain  the  duchies.     Amidst  great  difficulties  he  kept 
up  our  good  understanding  with  France,  though  the  restless  policy 
of  Napoleon   in.  made  the  outlook  very   uncertain, 
and  a  renewed  fear  of  invasion  in  1859  led  to  a  great   %\o™T~ 
volunteer    movement,    which    has   since  largely    in-    foreign 
creased  the  defensive  forces  of  the  crown.     Dread  of    voliey' 
Napoleon,  however,  soon  wore  away,  and,  in  1860,  Cobden  negotiated 
a  commercial  treaty  with   France,  which  led  to  the  restoration 
of  friendly  relations. 

31.  All  through  these  years  foreign  affairs  called  away  English 
attention  from  domestic  politics.  Palmerston,  now  a  very  old 
man,  cared  nothing  for  reforms  at  home,  and  very 
little  for  the  party  game.  His  strong  desire  to  do  palmerston 
nothing  provoked  much  resentment  among  the  more  and  Its 
ardent  spirits  in  his  cabinet.  Chief  among  these  were  ^gg'13' 
the  Peelites,  who  were  more  eager  for  change  than 
the  old-fashioned  Whigs.  Palmerston  allowed  Gladstone,  the 
Peelite  chief,  to  be  his  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  In  a  series 
of  brilliant  budgets  Gladstone  removed  the  chief  obstacles  to 
free  trade,  an  end  which  Cobden's  commercial  treaty  furthered. 
The  times  were  very  prosperous,  and  the  revenue  increased 
rapidly,  though  tax  after  tax  was  given  up.  But  Palmerston 
looked  with  great  distrust  on  Gladstone.  He  was  shrewd  enough 
to  see  that  after  his  retirement  the  reformers  would  have  the 
upper  hand.  "  Gladstone,"  he  said,  "  will  soon  have  his  way ; 
whenever  he  gets  my  place,  we  shall  have  strange  doings."  So 
long,  however,  as  the  old  minister  lived,  he  clung  to  power,  and 
kept  back  his  eager  followers.  He  died  on  October  18,  1865,  when 
over  eighty  years  of  age.  His  best  points  were  his  strong  will, 
courage,  energy,  cheerfulness,  kindliness,  but  he  was  lacking  in 
seriousness  and  high  principle,  very  self-confident,  and  too  much 
given  to  flippancy  and  bluster.  But  he  honestly  strove,  sometimes 
perhaps  not  very  discreetly,  to  uphold  the  honour  and  interests  of 
England,  and  his  death  removed  the  most  interesting  and  popular 
personality  in  English  politics.  With  him  ends  the  period  which 
began  with  the  F«eform  Bill  of  1832.  It  was  a  time  of  middle- 
class  ascendency,  and  the  strong  and  weak  points  of  the  English 
middle  class  are  strongly  brought  out  in  the  history  of  the  period. 
Four  years  before  this  the  sudden  death  of  the  Prince  Consort 
removed  another  great  moderating  influence. 


CHAPTER  IV 

VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI 
(1865-1886) 

Chief  Dates : 

1866.  The  third  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry. 

1867.  The  second  Reform  Act ;  Fenian  risings. 

1868.  The  first  Gladstone  Ministry. 

1869.  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church. 

1870.  The  Franco-German  War. 
1874.  The  Disraeli  Ministry. 

1878.  Treaty  of  Berlin  ;  Afghan  War. 

1880.  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

1882.  British  occupation  of  Egypt. 

1884.  Third  Reform  Act. 

1885.  Death  of  Gordon  ;  short  Salisbury  Ministry. 

1886.  Gladstone's  defeat  on  Home  Rule. 

1.  On  Palmerston's  death  Russell,  who  since  1861  had  sat  in  the 
Lords  as  Earl  Russell,  became  prime  minister.     Palmerston's  place 

as  leader  of  the  Commons  was  given  to  Gladstone. 
Beginning  jj-g  appointment  showed  that  the  reforming  section  of 
transition  the  cabinet,  which  Palmerston  had  so  long  kept  under, 
to  de-  had  now  taken  the  lead.      Its  immediate  result  was 

n^Cgacy'        the  beginning   of    a    new   period   of    change  which 

soon  began  to  undermine  the  middle-class  ascendency 
established  in  1832.  A  transition  to  democracy  began,  which  all 
parties  helped  on,  though  none  with  full  knowledge  of  what  they 
were  doing.  The  twenty  years  which  follow  are  occupied  in  the 
working  out  of  this  movement. 

2.  Parliamentary  reform   became  a  burning   question.      The 
Radicals  had  long  been  dissatisfied  with  the  act  of  1832.      For 

many  years  the  old  Whigs  had  declared  it  to  be  a  final 
ministry  settlement  of  the  question,  but  the  cry  for  thorough 
and  the  reform  became  so  loud  that  Russell  himself  brought 

isIfr-TftflflL     *n  several  reform,  bills,  and  Disraeli  proposed  another 

in  1859.     None  of  these  measures  were  either  popular 
or  successful,  and  for  the  last  few  years  Palmerston  had  prevented 
674 


1867.]        VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI         675 

the  question  being  renewed.  Now  that  his  influence  was  removed, 
Gladstone  introduced,  in  1866,  a  new  Reform  BilL  Palmer- 
ston's  followers,  who  shared  their  old  chiefs  hatred  of  reform, 
retired,  as  Bright  said,  into  a  new  Cave  of  AduMam,  into  which, 
like  David,  they  invited  all  the  discontented  to  join  them.  The 
Conservatives  and  Adullamites  joined  together,  and,  in  June,  1866, 
drove  the  government  out  of  office. 

3.  For  the    third  time  the  uneasy  task   fell  to   Derby  and 
Disraeli  of  forming  a  stop-gap  ministry  from  a  minority  of  the 
House  of   Commons.     Disraeli    had    been   for   more 
than  twenty  years  the  leader  of  a  minority,  and  had    Derby- 
failed  to  win  either  parliament  or  the  middle-class    Disraeli 
constituencies  to  his  ideas.     A  great  reform  agitation   "j'g^/ges 
broke  out,  which  convinced  him  that  the  working- 
men  were  resolved  to  have  a  democratic  parliament.     Undeterred 
by  his  failure  in  1859,  he  brought  forward  a  new  Reform  Bill 
in  1867.     Some  of  his  followers  were  alarmed  at  its    xhe  second 
boldness,  and  left  the  ministry  in  disgust.     The  most    Reform  Act, 
important  of  these  was  Lord  Cranborne,  afterwards    1867, 
Marquis  of   Salisbury.     Despite   this,   the   measure   was  carried 
through.     Before  it  became  law,  it  was  made  even  more  popular 
through  the  action   of   the    Liberal  majority  in  the  House    of 
Commons.      By  it  all  householders,  rated   to  pay  poor-rate,  in 
English  and  Scotch  boroughs,  obtained  votes,  though  in  Ireland 
a  £4  rating  qualification  was  fixed.     Lodgers  were  also  allowed  to 
vote  if  they  paid  £10  a  year  in  rent  and  lived  in  the  same  rooms 
for  a  year.    In  the  counties  the  franchise  was  extended  to  occupiers 
paying  a  rent  of  £12  a  year.    A  redistribution  of  seats  was  also 
effected.     Some  small  boroughs  were  disfranchised,  and  those  having 
less  than  10,000  inhabitants  lost  one  member.     The  vacant  seats 
were  mostly  given  to  the  greater  counties,  but  some  of  them  went 
to  new  boroughs,  while  the  greater  centres  received  increase  of 
representation.      Five  very  large  cities,  Leeds,  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, Birmingham,  and  Glasgow,  got  a  third  member.     House- 
hold suffrage  was  thus  introduced  in  the  towns,  and  a  great  step 
was  made  towards  democracy,  for  it  was  plain  that  the  middle- 
class  county  constituencies  could  not  last  much  longer,  now  that 
all  workmen  who  happened  to  live  in  boroughs  possessed  votes. 

4.  Grave  trouble  soon  arose  in  Ireland.  About  1863  a  party 
of  Irish  and  Irish- Americans  started  a  secret  society,  whose 
members  were  known  as  the  Fenians.  Its  object  was  to  set  up  an 
Irish  republic,  and  it  gained  increased  strength  when,  after  the 


676  VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI       [1867- 

end  of  the  American  civil  war,  many  Irish,  who  had  learnt  mili- 
tary discipline  in  America,  returned  to  their  native  country.     In 

1867  a  general  revolt  was  attempted  in  Ireland. 
Fenians  Though  little  came  of  this,  the  Fenian  sympathizers 

succeeded  in  carrying  out  a  series  of  daring  acts  in 
England.  An  attempt  was  made  to  rescue  some  Irish  prisoners 
from  a  police-van  in  Manchester,  and  the  police-serjeant  in  charge 
was  shot.  In  London  the  wall  of  Clerkenwell  prison,  where  several 
Fenian  leaders  were  confined,  was  blown  down  with  gunpowder, 
and  many  innocent  persons  were  injured  and  slain.  The  crimes  of 
the  Fenians  called  attention  to  the  undoubted  grievances  of  the 
Irish.  Gladstone  and  the  Liberals  started  a  new  agitation  for 
Irish  reform,  and  carried  through  the  House  of  Commons  a  resolu- 
tion in  favour  of  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church. 
Disraeli  had  just  become  prime  minister,  on  Derby's  retirement 
from  ill  health.  He  soon  dissolved  parliament,  but  the  new  con- 
stituencies showed  themselves  unfavourable  to  the  author  of  the 
second  Reform  Act.  The  Liberals  obtained  a  majority  of  over 
a  hundred,  and  Disraeli  resigned. 

5.  A  strong  Liberal  ministry  was  formed  with  Gladstone  as 
prime  minister.  For  the  first  time  the  decided  reformers  were 
Th  _  .  stronger  than  the  aristocratic  Whigs,  and  a  place 
Gladstone  was  found  for  John  Bright,  who,  since  Cobden's  death, 
ministry,        ivas  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  Radical  chiefs.     For 

A  QOQ_,j   Q74, 

°'**      the  next  six  years  a  series  of  changes  was  carried  out 

greater  than  any  that  had  ever  been  previously  attempted.     The 

first  of  these  was  the  disestablishment  and  disendowment  of  the 

Irish    Church   in  1869.      The    Protestant    episcopal 
DisGstib- 
lishment  of     Church  of  Ireland  was  now  doing  its  spiritual  work 

the  Irish  far  better  than  in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  it  was 
?8fiq  ^e  Church  of  a  minority,  and  the  Catholic  majority 

looked  upon  it  as  the  representative  of  foreign  con- 
quest, while  nearly  half  the  Irish  Protestants  were  Presbyterians. 
When  once  attacked,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  defend  it,  and  its 
fall  was  made  easier  by  the  liberal  terms  granted  to  it. 

6.  The  deepest  grievance  of  the  Irish  was  not  the  Church,  but 
the  land.     Nearly  thirty  years  before  the  weak  points  of  the  Irish 

land  system  had  been  revealed  by  the  Devon  com- 
systern.n         mission,  but  nothing  had  been  done  to  redress  them. 

Speaking  roughly,  the  land  laws  in  England  and 
Ireland  were  the  same,  but  the  practical  difference  was  enormous 
owing  to  the  great  differences  between  the  two  peoples.     In  both 


-1870.]       VICTORIA-— GLADSTONE  AXD  DISRAELI        677 

countries  rent  was  supposed  to  be  settled  by  competition.  In 
England  this  competition  was  to  some  extent  real,  but  in  Ireland 
the  needy  peasant  farmers  were  quite  unable  to  bargain  on  equal 
terms  with  their  landlords,  and  cheerfully  promised  to  pay  impos- 
sible rents,  since  getting  a  farm  was  their  only  remedy  against 
starvation.  Moreover,  while  in  England  most  improvements  were 
made  and  buildings  set  up  by  the  owner,  in  Ireland  these  improve- 
ments were  made  by  the  tenant,  though  as  soon  as  they  were  made 
they  became  the  property  of  the  landlord. 

7.  In  the  old  times,  custom  had  kept  the  tenant  on  his  holding 
for  generations  together,  but  after  the  famine  grasping  agents 
and  improving  landlords  neglected  these  traditions,  The  first 
and  rack-rented  and  evicted  the  tenants  just  as  Irish  Land 
they  thought  fit.  Thus  the  very  improvements  Act* ,870" 
in  Irish  agriculture  since  the  famine  only  added  to  Irish 
discontent,  and  deepened  the  deep  gulf  between  tenant  and 
owner.  In  1870  Gladstone's  first  Irish  Land  Act  attempted  to 
remedy  these  grievances.  It  forced  landlords  to  compensate  their 
tenants  for  improvements  effected  by  them,  and  allowed  tenants, 
evicted  for  other  causes  than  non-payment  of  rent,  compensation 
for  being  disturbed  in  their  holdings.  Its  effect  was  to  recognize 
a  dual  ownership  of  the  land  between  landlord  and  tenant,  but  it 
was  not  thorough  enough,  and  therefore  not  a  great  success.  It 
left  landlords  as  free  to  evict  as  ever,  if  they  chose  to  pay  com- 
pensation ;  and  it  was  not  rigorous  enough  to  prevent  landlords 
who  wished  to  evade  the  act  from  doing  so. 

8.  Besides  the  changes  in  Ireland,  the  ministers  introduced 
many  other  plans  of  reform.     In   1870  W.  E.  Forster  carried 
through  an  Elementary  Education  Act  which  allowed   The  Educa- 
districts  to  elect  a  School  Board,  levy  an  education   tion  Act, 
rate,  and  compel  children  to  go  to  school.    Before  that    187°* 

the  education  of  the  people  had  depended  upon  the  voluntary  action 
of  individuals  or  of  private  societies.  For  more  than  thirty  years 
the  government  had  made  grants  to  schools  thus  established,  but 
it  was  only  now  that  a  national  system  of  education  was  set 
on  foot. 

9.  In  1871  Cardwell,  the  war  minister,  began  a  series  of  army 
reforms  by  which  short  service  was  introduced,  and  the  germs  of 
a  new  army  system  laid,  which  included  militia  and 
volunteers  as  well  as  the  regular  forces.      Cardwell   JJ2JJL- 
also  proposed  to  abolish  the  custom  by  which  officers 

bought  their  commissions  in  the  army.     The  Lords  put  aside 


67 S  VICTORIA — GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI       [1870- 

tliis  scheme,  whereupon  Gladstone  took  the  high-handed  course  of 
abolishing  purchase  by  royal  warrant.  In  1872  a  Ballot  Act  was 
passed  to  establish  secret  voting  at  elections  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  In  1873  Lord  Selborne,  the  chancellor,  passed  his 
Judicature  Act,  which  united  the  different  law  courts  into  a  single 
high  court  of  justice,  and  aimed  at  making  law  simpler,  cheaper, 
and  more  certain. 

10.  During  these  years  stirring  events  abroad  made  British 
foreign  policy  very  important.     In  1870  war  broke  out  between 

the  French  Empire  and  Prussia,  in  which  every 
German  German  state  except  Austria  took  the  Prussian  *ide. 

War  and  its  Victory  at  once  fell  to  the  Germans,  who  invaded 
1  «7n-iSR7i       France,  took  the  emperor  prisoner,  and  dictated  peace 

after  the  capitulation  of  Paris.  By  this  peace  France 
surrendered  Alsace  and  part  of  Lorraine  to  the  Germans.  This 
triumph  completed  the  unity  of  Germany.  During  its  course  the 
southern  states  joined  with  the  north  to  form  a  new  German 
Empire,  and  King  William  of  Prussia  accepted  the  imperial  crown 
at  Versailles.  Italian  unity  was  also  completed  at  the  same  time 
by  Victor  Emanuel  destroying  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope, 
and  making  Rome  the  capital  of  his  kingdom.  During  the  struggle 
France  rejected  the  authority  of  the  captive  emperor,  and  set  up 
the  Third  Republic,  which  has  lasted  ever  since.  For  long  there 
was  great  ill-feeling  between  France  and  Germany,  while  united 
Germany  and  united  Italy  were  drawn  very  close  together. 
Abandoning  its  old  policy,  Austria  also  joined  the  Germans  and 
Italians.  Ultimately  Russia  and  France  established  a  close  friend- 
ship to  meet  the  triple  alliance  of  the  powers  of  central  Europe. 

11.  During  the  Franco- German  war,  England  took  up  an 
attitude  of  neutrality.  Russia  took  the  opportunity  to  announce 
Gladstone's  ^na^  s^e  no  longer  considered  herself  bound  by  the 
foreign  treaty  of  1856,  and  again  intended  to  keep  warships  in 
po  cy*  the  Black  Sea.  As  the  government  was  not  prepared 
to  fight  to  uphold  the  treaty,  it  was  forced  to  acquiesce  in  Russia's 
action.  The  ministry  also  agreed  to  submit  to  arbitration  the 
claims  brought  against  it  by  the  United  States  for  compensation 
for  the  loss  of  their  commerce  due  to  the  action  of  the  Alabama 
during  the  c^vil  war.  In  1872  the  arbitrators  decided  that 
England  was  to  pay  three  million  pounds  for  her  remissness.  It 
was  a  heavy,  and  possibly  excessive,  sum,  and  the  ministers  were 
severely  blamed,  as  they  were  also  for  their  yielding  to  Russia. 

12.  The   energy  of    Gladstone's    government  had   been   only 


-1876.]        VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI       679 

matched  by  that  of  Lord  Grey  in  the  years  after  the  first  Reform 
Act.  After  six  years  of  vigorous  policy,  a  reaction  came 
similar  to  that  which  had  weakened  the  Whigs  under  pan  0f 
Grey's  successor,  Melbourne.  Every  one  was  tired  of  Gladstone, 
reform,  and  Disraeli  laughed  at  the  ministers  sitting  1874- 
opposite  to  him  as  a  range  of  exhausted  volcanoes.  The  govern- 
ment became  unpopular  through  its  weak  foreign  policy,  the  want 
of  tact  or  firmness  of  some  of  its  members,  and  the  scandalous 
character  of  some  of  its  appointments.  Some  of  its  later  measures 
were  extremely  ill-advised.  Conspicuous  among  these  was  the 
proposal  to  set  up  a  new  university  in  Ireland,  in  which  neither 
theology,  philosophy,  nor  history  were  to  be  taught.  The  revolt 
of  its  own  supporters  forced  the  government  to  give  up  this  absurd 
proposal,  and  Gladstone  resigned.  However,  Disraeli  refused  to 
form  a  fourth  stop-gap  ministry,  and  Gladstone  resumed  oifioe. 
His  position  was,  however,  fatally  weakened,  and  in  January,  1874, 
he  suddenly  dissolved  parliament.  A  majority  of  more  than  fifty 
Conservatives  was  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons,  whereupon 
the  ministers  tendered  their  final  resignation.  They  had  done 
great  things,  yet  few  cabinets  had  failed  more  signally. 

13.  Up  to  now  Disraeli  had  always  been  in  a  minority,  and 

whether  in  opposition,  or  as  minister  on  suffrance,  had  had  little 

chance  of  showing   his   statesmanship.      His  success   The  Disraeli 

showed  that  he  had  made  his  popular  national  Toryism    ministry, 

4  ft"  a.  1  ftsn 
attractive  to  the    lower  middle    classes,  which  had 

hitherto  voted  Liberal,  and  to  the  workmen  of  the  towns  to  whom  he 

had  first  given  votes.     A  Conservative  reaction,  as  decided  as  that 

of  1841,  proved  him  a  party  leader  of  great  insight  and  shrewdness, 

and  enabled  him  to  form  a  strong  government,  which  kept  in  power 

for  over  six  years.      He  offered  a  policy  of  no  violent  changes, 

steady  practical   improvements,  good  administration,  and  careful 

regard  to  the  interests  of  the  Empire.     He  passed  many  useful 

measures,  which,  not  having  much  party  bearing,  hardly  brought 

him  as  much  credit  as  they  deserved.     Moreover,  many  of  his 

reforms  were  permissive  and  not  compulsory,  so  that  they  were  not 

wholly  satisfactory,  though  they  sometimes  prepared  public  opinion 

for  stronger  measures  in  the  same  direction. 

14.  In  1876  Disraeli  became  earl  of  Beaconsfield,  whereupon 
Sir  Stafford  Northcote  became  leader  of  the  House  of   The  Home 
Commons.      His   gentle   methods  soon  proved  inade-    Rulemove- 
quate  to  deal  with  a  new  Irish  difliculty  which  now   men  ' 
disturbed  the  popular  chamber.     For  some  years  an  agitation  it 


680  VICTORIA — GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI       [1877- 

favour  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland  had  been  raised.  It  became 
important  when  an  Irish  Nationalist  party  was  organized  under  the 
strong  and  astute  guidance  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  a  Protestant 
country  gentleman  from  "Wicklow.  The  Nationalists  took  up  the 
Home  Rule  agitation,  and  sought  to  press  their  views  on  the  House 
of  Commons  by  organizing  the  systematic  obstruction  of  all 
business.  A  small  knot  of  members,  regardless  of  the  orderly 
traditions  of  the  house,  was  able  to  keep  parliament  sitting  all 
night,  and  almost  prevent  any  business  being  done.  The  objects  of 
the  Nationalists  were  even  more  agrarian  than  political.  The  land 
act  had  not  fully  dealt  with  the  evils  it  sought  to  remedy,  and  bad 
harvests  intensified  the  chronic  distress  of  Ireland.  Accordingly 
Parnell  started  the  Land  League,  with  the  object  of  obtaining  for 
the  occupier  of  Irish  land  complete  property  in  his  holding.  Violent 
speeches  were  made  to  ignorant,  excitable,  and  suffering  audiences, 
and  outrages  became  common  in  southern  and  western  Ireland.  The 
agitation  weakened  the  government,  and  ministers  made  no  attempt  to 
grapple  with  the  source  of  discontent  by  further  agrarian  legislation. 
15.  The  Eastern  question  now  again  came  to  a  head.  The 
national  movement,  which  had  united  Germany  and  Italy,  was  felt 
The  Russo-  ^*  ^e  -Balkan  Peninsula,  where  a  minority  of  Moham- 
Turkish  medan   Turks    still   misgoverned   a  population    that 

War,  1877-  was  mainly  Christian.  The  special  difficulty  in  the 
situation  was  that  the  Balkan  lands  did  not  contain 
one  nation,  but  many.  Serbians,  Roumanians,  Bulgarians,  Greeks, 
and  others  were  scattered  about  the  peninsula,  and,  though  united 
against  the  misrule  of  the  Turks,  were  bitterly  opposed  to  each 
other.  The  majority  of  the  people  were  Slavs,  and  the  Slavs 
turned,  as  usual,  to  Russia  for  help.  A  revolt  of  the  Bulgarians 
was  put  down  by  the  Turks  with  fearful  cruelty.  Thereupon 
Serbia  and  Montenegro  took  up  arms  against  the  Porte,  but  could 
not  effect  much.  These  proceedings  showed  that  the  attempts  to 
reform  Turkey  after  the  Crimean  War  had  utterly  failed,  and  that 
it  was  useless  to  prop  up  so  miserable  a  power  any  longer.  The 
best  way  now,  as  in  the  days  of  Canning,  would  probably  have  been 
for  Europe  to  combine  to  force  the  Turks  to  give  some  kind  of 
self-government  to  their  subjects.  But  the  jealousies  and  in- 
difference of  the  European  powers,  and  the  stolid  obstinacy  of  the 
sultan,  made  this  policy  impracticable.  As  in  1829,  Russia  took  up 
arms  on  behalf  of  the  revolted  Christians,  and,  after  fierce  fighting 
in  Bulgaria,  the  beginning  of  1878  saw  the  Russians  marching  in 
triumph  on  Constantinople. 


-1879.]        VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AXD  DISRAELI        68 1 

16.  The  plain  danger  of  a  Russian  occupation  of  Constantinople 
brought  about  a  loud  cry  for  war  in  England.  Beaconsfield  fostered 
the  agitation,  sent  a  fleet  to  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  called 

out  volunteers  from  England,  and  hurried  Indian  SsanSi-* 
troops  to  Malta.  English  feeling  was,  however,  divided,  fano  and 
since  there  was  a  strong  dislike  to  help  the  Turks,  and  f5Tl,n' 
a  widespread  sympathy  with  the  suffering  Christians. 
However,  the  warlike  preparations  of  England  induced  Russia  to 
give  moderate  terms  to  the  Turks  in  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano. 
Lord  Salisbury,  now  foreign  minister,  objected  to  some  of  these, 
and  demanded  that  the  conditions  of  peace  should  be  examined  by 
a  European  congress.  Accordingly,  in  June,  1878,  a  congress  of 
the  great  powers  met  at  Berlin,  in  which  Beaconsfield  and  Salisbury 
represented  the  United  Kingdom.  Here  was  drawn  up  the  treaty 
of  Berlin,  which  settled  the  Eastern  question  for  a  few  years.  By 
it  Bulgaria  north  of  the  Balkans  was  made  a  self-governing  state, 
paying  tribute  to  the  sultan,  while  Bulgaria  south  of  the  Balkans, 
called  Eastern  Roumelia,  was  allowed  a  certain  amount  of  local 
self-government  under  a  Christian  pasha.  Montenegro,  Serbia, 
and  Roumania  were  declared  independent,  and  received  additions 
to  their  territory.  Russia  and  Greece  acquired  fresh  lands  at  the 
expense  of  the  sultan,  and  Austria  was  allowed  to  take  possession 
of  Bosnia.  Cyprus  was  handed  over  to  the  English  on  condition 
of  their  protecting  Asia  Minor.  The  chief  difference  between  this 
treaty  and  that  of  San  Stefano  was  in  the  division  of  Bulgaria 
into  two  parts.  The  division  was,  however,  unpopular  with  the 
Bulgarians,  and  seven  years  later  the  two  Bulgarias  were  united. 
The  main  importance  of  the  treaty  lies  in  the  triumph  of  the  policy 
of  replacing  the  dying  Turkish  Empire  by  national  self-governing 
states.  Beaconsfield  had  been  accused  of  wishing  to  back  up 
Turkey,  but,  if  he  ever  held  this  policy,  he  seems  to  have  given  it 
up.  He  now  boasted  that  he  had  won  "  peace  with  honour,"  and 
had  protected  British  interests  in  the  East  from  Russian  aggression. 

17.  In  1879  Beaconsfield  joined  with  France  in  setting  up  a 
dvuil  control  in  Egypt,  which  practically  put  the  government  of 
the  country  into  the  hands  of  the  two  Western  powers.    The  duaI 
Their  intervention  was  necessary  because  the  khedive,   control  in 
or  viceroy,  of  Egypt  had  made  the  country  bankrupt   ^^^P1' 
through  his  extravagance,  and  was  no  longer  able  to 
maintain  order.     Four  years  before  this,  Beaconsfield  bought  the 
khedive's  share,  amounting  to  nearly  half  the  capital,  in  the  Suez 
Canal,  which,  built  by  French  engineers,  had,  since  1869,  immensely 


682  VICTORIA  — GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI       [1880- 

shortened  the  sea  journey  between  Europe  and  India,  by  opening 
up  a  navigable  way  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Red  Sea. 

18.  Absorbed  in  foreign  affairs,  the  government  had  not  dealt 
very  vigorously  with  rising  difficulties  at  home,  or  ruled  very 
Fall  of  sternly  the  disorderly  House  of  Commons.  Its  foreign 
Beacons-  policy,  though  much  praised  by  some,  was  violently 
field,  1880.  attacked  by  others.  Gladstone  denounced  with  fervid 
eloquence  the  threatened  alliance  with  the  Turks,  and  his  zeal  stirred 
up  a  deep  response.  Early  in  1880  a  general  election  destroyed 
Beaconsfield's  majority,  and  brought  back  the  Liberals  to  power. 
A  year  after  his  resignation  Beaconsfield  died. 

19.  In  the  new  Liberal  ministry,  Gladstone  was  first  lord  of  the 
treasury  and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  His  first  concern  was 
The  second  once  more  Ireland,  and  in  1881  he  passed,  the  second 
Gladstone       Irish   Land  Act,   which    carried    much   further  the 

mI8iSt 88  doctrmes  of  the  act  of  187°-  Xt  allowed  tenants  to 
sell  their  interest  in  their  holdings  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  set  up  land  courts  to  fix  rents  by  judicial  process.  It 
therefore  frankly  accepted  the  dual  proprietorship  between  landlord 
and  tenant  implicitly  recognized  in  1870.  For  the 
policy.  moment  it  brought  no  peace  to  Ireland,  where  out- 

rages became  general,  and  the  Land  League  started 
a  new  agitation  to  induce  tenants  to  withhold  altogether  the 
payment  of  rent.  At  the  same  time  the  Home  Rule  members  of 
parliament  continued  to  embarrass  the  conduct  of  business  by  their 
persistent  obstruction  in  the  House  of  Commons.  At  first  the 
government  answered  this  agitation  by  dissolving  the  Land  League, 
and  putting  Parnell  and  other  Irish  leaders  in  prison.  In  1882, 
however,  it  somewhat  changed  its  policy,  released  the  Irish  leaders, 
and  seemed  disposed  to  consider  their  wishes.  Almost  immediately 
after,  however,  the  Irish  secretary,  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  and 
T.  H.  Burke,  the  permanent  under-secretary,  were  murdered  by  a 
gang  of  Irish  conspirators  in  Dublin.  On  this,  a  Prevention  of 
Crimes  Bill  was  quickly  passed,  and,  to  stop  further  obstruction, 
new  rules  for  conducting  business  through  parliament  were  enforced 
which  gave  a  decided  majority  the  power  to  compel  the  closing  of 
a  debate.  This  policy  made  the  Irish  fiercely  hostile  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  they  now  sought  for  any  occasion  to  turn  it  out  of 
office. 

20.  Foreign  complications  soon  began  to  overwhelm  the  ministry. 
India  was  disturbed  by  a  war  with  Afghanistan,  which  was  only 
ended  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  .English  from  that  country.    A 


-i88s.]        VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI        683 

series  of  disasters  in  South  Africa  led  to  the  restoration  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Transvaal.  But  the  greatest  difficulty  was  in 
Egypt,  where  Arabi  Pasha  headed  a  rising  against 
European  supremacy.  Moreover,  the  Sudan,  or  region  tne  Sudan, 
of  the  Upper  Nile,  which  the  Egyptians  had  conquered, 
rose  in  revolt  under  a  Mohammedan  prophet,  called  the  Mahdi.  The 
dual  control  broke  down  before  the  double  crisis,  and  Prance  left 
England  to  deal  single-handed  with  these  troubles.  Accordingly, 
troops  were  sent  to  Egypt,  and,  in  1882,  General  Wolseley  completely 
defeated  Arabi  at  Tel-el-Kebir.  This  led  to  the  nominal  restoration 
of  the  khedive's  power  in  Egypt,  but  henceforth  the  country  was 
practically  ruled  by  England.  During  these  transactions,  however, 
the  Mahdi  had  conquered  the  whole  Sudan,  save  a  few  posts  where 
loyal  Egyptian  garrisons  still  held  out  against  him.  Early  in  1884 
the  government  sent  G-eneral  Gordon  to  Khartum,  the  capital  of 
the  Sudan,  to  arrange  the  withdrawal  of  the  garrisons. 

21.  Charles  George  Gordon  was  an  engineer  officer,  who,  ten 
years  before,  had  won  great  fame  by  putting  down  for  the  Chinese 
government  a  formidable  revolt,  showing  in  his  difficult  The  death 
task  a  wonderful  courage  and  simple  faith,  a  shrewd  of  Gordon, 
insight  into  savage  nature,  and  a  remarkable  power  of 
governing  men  and  inspiring  them  with  confidence  in  him.  After- 
wards he  became  ruler  of  the  Sudan  on  behalf  of  the  khedive,  and 
obtained  great  influence  over  the  people  of  that  wild  region. 
He  now  made  his  way,  unarmed  and  almost  unattended,  to  Khartum. 
But  he  soon  saw  that  he  could  not  save  the  garrisons  as  circum- 
stances then  were.  He,  therefore,  asked  the  government  to  give 
him  troops,  or  a  free  hand  to  choose  his  own  agents  for  reducing 
the  disturbed  province  to  some  sort  of  order.  The  government 
refused  both  requests,  and  left  him  to  deal  as  best  he  could  with  the 
Mahdi.  Soon  the  Mahdi's  troops  besieged  Khartum,  and  a  loud 
cry  rose  in  England  to  save  the  hero  that  defended  it.  After  much 
hesitation,  the  irresolute  government  resolved  to  send  an  army  to 
effect  his  release.  In  the  summer  of  1884  a  British  force  moved 
painfully  up  the  Nile,  but  the  water  was  exceptionally  low,  and  it 
made  but  slow  progress.  Before  Khartum  could  be  reached  the 
city  had  been  betrayed  to  the  Mahdi,  whereupon,  in  January,  1885, 
Gordon  was  slain.  Soon  after  this  the  Sudan  was  abandoned 
Luckily,  the  influence  of  the  Mahdi  now  declined,  and  Egypt  had 
comparative  rest  for  several  years.  While  the  Egyptian  troubles 
were  acute,  Russia  pressed  on  her  forces  in  Afghanistan,  and 
threatened  the  Indian  frontier.     As  in  1878,  war  with  Russia 


684  VICTORIA— GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI      [1884- 

seemed  almost  inevitable,  but  the  question  was  referred  to  arbi- 
tration, and  some  sort  of  agreement  arrived  at. 

22.  In  1884  the  government  brought  forward  a  new  bill  for 
the  extension  of  the  franchise,  which  was  rejected  by  the  Lords  on 
The  third  ^e  fiT*01111^  that  no  scheme  for  the  redistribution  of 
Reform  seats  accompanied  it.  Later  in  the  year  the  bill  was 
Acts,  1884-     again  brought  forward.     This  time  a  plan  for  the 

redistribution  of  seats  was  arranged  between  the 
Liberals  and  Conservatives,  so  that  the  third  Reform,  Act  became 
law  with  little  difficulty.  By  it  the  franchise  in  the  counties  was 
made  the  same  as  in  the  boroughs,  and  several  new  methods  of 
obtaining  a  vote  were  allowed.  It  disfranchised  all  boroughs  with 
under  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and  reduced  all  with  under 
fifty  thousand  to  one  member.  It  cut  up  the  country  into  single 
member  districts,  the  only  exception  to  this  being  old  boroughs 
returning  two  representatives,  which  remained  undivided.  A  rough 
regard  was  given  to  population  in  determining  the  limits  of  these 
divisions,  so  that  the  great  towns  and  the  mining  and  manufactur- 
ing districts  obtained  much  more  adequate  representation  than 
before.  Thus  the  number  of  London  representatives  was  raised 
from  twenty-two  to  sixty-two.  Liverpool  and  Manchester  (with 
Salford)  got  nine  each,  Glasgow  and  Birmingham  seven  each,  and 
so  on  in  proportion.  The  result  was  that  England  was  made  a 
thorough  democracy,  dependent  on  household  suffrage  with  a 
comparative  approach  to  equal  electoral  districts. 

23.  The  credit  it  obtained  from  the  Reform  Bill  did  not  com- 
pensate the  government  for  its  failures  in  foreign  policy,  and  its 

vacillation  in  dealing  with  the  situation  in  Ireland. 
Salisbury  Beaten  by  a  combination  of  Conservatives  and  Irish 
ministry,        Nationalists,  Gladstone   resigned  in  June,  1885,  and 

was  replaced  by  a  Conservative  government  under  the 
marquis  of  Salisbury.  A  general  election  followed  in  November, 
the  result  of  which  was  that  the  Irish  held  the  balance  between 
the  two  English  parties.  When  Parliament  met  the  Irish  voted 
with  the  Liberals  and  restored  them  to  power.    In  February,  1886, 

a  third  Gladstone  ministry  was  accordingly  established. 
Gladstone  Some  of  the  moderate  Liberals,  including  the  marquis 
ministry,        of  Hartington,  son  of  the  duke  of  Devonshire,  and 

brother  of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  had  refused  to 
take  part  in  it.  A  few  weeks  later  some  of  those  who  had  taken 
office  abandoned  the  government.  The  chief  of  these  was  Joseph 
Chamberlain,   a   Birmingham   manufacturer,  who    had   taken    a 


-1886.]       VICTORIA — GLADSTONE  AND  DISRAELI         685 

conspicuous  part  in  the  second  Gladstone  ministry,  and  was  the 
chief  spokesman  of  a  new  school  of  Radicals,  which,  unlike  the 
Manchester  school  of  Bright  and  Cobden,  believed  that  vigorous 
state  interference  would  do  more  good  than  the  policy  of  letting 
things  alone,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  the  apathy  with  which 
the  older  school  regarded  our  foreign  and  colonial  interests.  Thus 
the  Liberal  ministry  was  hardly  formed  when  the  party  began 
to  break  up. 

24.  The  causes  of  this  split  had  long  been  working,  but  the 
crisis  was  brought  about  by  the  knowledge  that  the  prime  minister 
was  prepared  to  meet  the  requirements  of  his  Irish  Home  Rule 
allies  by  introducing  a  bill  giving  Home  Rule  to  and  the 
Ireland.  In  April,  1886,  Gladstone  brought  forward  JftSe  old 
a  measure  giving  the  Irish  a  local  parliament  and  a  parties, 
local  executive,  and  shutting  their  representatives  out  1886. 
of  the  imperial  parliament,  which  was  still  to  carry  on  affairs 
of  general  imperial  interest,  while  Irish  landlords  were  to  be 
bought  out  by  a  general  scheme  of  land  purchase.  Ninety-three 
Liberals,  henceforward  called  Liberal-Unionists,  joined  with  the 
Conservatives  in  upholding  the  Union,  and  the  second  reading  was 
lost  by  thirty  votes.  An  appeal  to  the  new  democracy  confirmed 
their  action,  for  a  general  election  held  in  July  gave  the  allied 
Liberal-Unionist  and  Conservative  parties  a  huge  majority  over 
the  followers  of  Gladstone  and  Parnell.  Thereupon  Gladstone 
resigned,  and  Lord  Salisbury  was  called  upon  to  form  a  government 
pledged  to  the  defence  of  the  Union.  Henceforth  the  new  issue 
raised  by  Gladstone  divided  British  parties  into  Unionists  and 
Home  Rulers.  The  elections  of  July,  1886,  bring  to  an  end  the 
well-marked  period  which  began  with  the  death  of  Palmerston. 
For  over  twenty  years  the  new  liberalism  had  set  forth  its  plans 
of  large  reforms,  and  for  twenty  years  the  new  conservatism  had 
maintained  its  spirited  foreign  policy  and  care  for  imperial  interests. 
These  forces  were  now  turned  into  fresh  channels.  In  the  next 
generation  the  old  party  names  and  watchwords  ceased  to  have 
much  of  their  old  meaning.  New  party  names  were  formed,  and 
new  questions  sprang  up  with  the  solution  of  which  we  are  still 
busy.  The  transition  to  democracy  was  completed.  Social  and 
economic  problems,  such  as  previously  had  been  thought  almost 
outside  the  province  of  the  legislator,  sprang  up,  while  questions 
of  colonial  and  foreign  policy  became  increasingly  important. 


CHAPTER  V 

VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE 
(1886-1901) 

Chief  Dates  1 

1886.  Salisbury  Unionist  Ministry  formed, 

1887.  The  Queen's  Jubilee. 

1888.  Paraell  Commission  appointed. 
1892.     Fourth  Gladstone  Ministry. 

1894.  Resignation  of  Gladstone  ;  Lord  Rosebery  prime  minister. 

1895.  Third  Salisbury  Ministry  established. 

1898.  Battle  of  Omdurman. 

1899.  Beginning  of  the  Boer  War, 
1901.    Death  of  Victoria. 

1.  During  the  last  fifteen  years  of  the   reign  of  Victoria  the 
Unionist  party  remained  in  office,  save  for  a  brief  interval  between 

1892  and  1895.  In  the  earlier  years,  between  1886 
bury  and  1892,  the  government  was  chosen  almost  exclu- 

Unionist  sively  from  the  Conservative  wing  of  the   Unionist 

lSSB-VsM      majority,  thongh  Hartington  and   Chamberlain,  the 

Liberal- Unionist  leaders,  gave  the  government  their 
general  support.  Lord  Salisbury,  the  prime  minister,  also  acted 
as  foreign  secretary,  and  the  ofiice  of  leader  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons went  to  W.  H.  Smith,  a  plain  man  of  business.  The  other 
chief  members  of  the  cabinet  were  G-.  J.  G-oschen,  chancellor  of 
exchequer,  and  the  only  Liberal-Unionist  who  held  ofiice,  and 
Arthur  J.  Balfour,  Lord  Salisbury's  nephew,  who  was  Irish 
secretary. 

2.  Ireland  was  still  restless.     Parnell  declared  that,  despite  the 
Land  Acts,  rents  were  still  too  high,  and  some  of  his  followers 

started  an  organization  called  the  Plan  of  Campaign, 
Campaign       ^y  which  the  occupiers  on  certain  estates  withheld  all 

rent  from  their  landlords  until  they  were  willing  to 
accept  the  tenants'  terms.  The  landlords  answered  the  Plan  of 
Campaign  with  evictions,  and  these  excited  serious  riots,  which 
menaced  the  public  peace.  Balfour  showed  much  tact  and  coolness 
in  dealing  both  with  the  Irish  party  in  parliament  and  with  the 
686 


i8oi.]      VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE     687 

aggrieved  tenants.  Before  long  the  Plan  of  Campaign  agitation 
died  away,  and  Ireland  became  leas  disturbed. 

3.  A  new  phase  of  the  Irish  question  was  soon  started.     The 
Times  newspaper  accused  Parnell  of  direct  complicity  with  the 
worst  outrages  in  Ireland,  and  published  a  facsimile  of   _     _ 
what  professed  to  be  a  letter  from  him,  in  which  he    Commls- 
declared  that,  though  he  regretted  the  death  of  Lord   slon.  1 888- 
Frederick  Cavendish,  "he  could  not  refuse  to  admit    1889' 

that  Burke  got  no  more  than  his  deserts."  Parnell  solemnly 
protested  that  he  had  never  written  the  letter,  and,  in  1888,  parlia- 
ment appointed  a  special  commission  of  three  judges  to  examine  the 
charges  brought  by  the  Times  against  Parnell.  In  their  report  the 
commissioners  acquitted  Parnell  of  the  specific  offence  of  approving 
of  the  Dublin  murders,  it  being  proved  that  the  letter  on  which 
the  accusation  was  based  was  a  forgery.  It  found,  however,  that 
Parnell  and  his  associates  had  incited  to  intimidate,  and  "  did  not 
denounce  the  system  of  intimidation  which  led  to  crime  and  outrage, 
but  persisted  in  it  with  knowledge  of  its  effect."  The  general 
indignation  felt  at  the  blundering  of  the  Times  destroyed  much  of 
the  effect  of  this  judicial  condemnation  of  the  Irish  leaders'  political 
methods.  The  alliance  between  the  Parnellites  and  the  followers 
of  Gladstone  became  closer  than  ever,  and  Parnell  showed  studied 
moderation  in  order  to  win  over  English  public  opinion. 

4.  A  few  months  later,  charges  gravely  affecting  Parnell's  private 
character  were  brought  against  him  in  the  Divorce  Court,  and  left 
unanswered.    Notwithstanding  this,  his  Irish  followers    p        ... 

in  parliament  re-elected  him  their  leader  for  the  new   and  Anti- 
session,  which  began  in  November,  1890.     However,    Parnellites, 

1 390—  f  891 

Parnell's  British  allies  were  much  shocked  at  the 
conduct  of  the  man  in  whose  character  they  had  so  loudly  expressed 
confidence.  In  effect,  the  Irish  party  in  parliament  had  to  choose 
between  fidelity  to  its  old  leader  and  breaking  with  the  English 
Liberals.  However,  the  majority  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  Ireland 
declared  against  Parnell,  and  his  stern  discipline  was  so  much 
resented  by  many  of  his  subordinates  that  they  gladly  took  this 
pretext  for  overthrowing  him.  But  Parnell  refused  to  bow  before 
the  storm.  A  few  faitlif ul  allies  still  clave  to  him  in  his  misfortune, 
and  the  Irish  party  was  rent  asunder.  Though  his  health  was 
breaking  up,  he  showed  extraordinary  persistence  in  fighting  to  the 
last,  but  his  candidates  were  defeated  at  nearly  every  election  by 
the  party  of  the  priests  and  the  English  alliance,  and,  in  1891, 
Parnell  died,  worn  out  by  the  struggle.     The  split  between  the 


688       VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE      [1886- 

Pamellites  and  the  Anti-Parnellites,  as  the  two  sections  of  the 
Irish  party  were  called,  had  now  become  so  deep  that  it  long 
survived  his  death.  When  at  length  a  formal  reunion  between 
them  was  patched  up,  a  disciple  of  Parnell's,  John  Redmond,  became 
the  Irish  leader.  Meanwhile  the  effect  of  the  schism  was  greatly 
to  weaken  the  Home  Rule  agitation. 

5.  Foreign  affairs    occupied   much    of    Salisbury's  attention. 

During  all  these  years  the  relations  between  England  and  France 

Foreign  were    unfriendly,   especially  on    account    of    Egypt, 

policy,  where  the  British  were  successfully  carrying  out  the 

1886-1892  jo 

work  of    reorganization  in  which    the   French   had 

declined  to  take  part.  Distrust  of  England,  and  a  feeling  that  the 
Triple  Alliance  of  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy  was  directed  against 
them,  caused  the  French  to  look  for  support  to  Russia,  which  had 
been  alienated  from  Germany  since  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
"William  1.,  in  1888,  and  the  dismissal  of  his  minister,  Bismarck,  by 
his  grandson,  the  energetic  William  11.  The  result  was  the  con- 
clusion of  a  Dual  Alliance  between  the  radical  democracy  of  the 
West  and  the  reactionary  despotism  of  the  East.  Between  the 
dual  and  the  triple  alliance,  the  great  powers  on  the 
and  the  continent  were  divided  into   two   hostile   camps.     It 

Dual  required  no  little  tact  for  England  to  steer  a  clear 

lances.  course  between  them.  The  ever-open  Eastern  question, 
and  the  movement  of  Russia  towards  India,  made  difficult  our 
dealings  with  that  power,  while  the  Egyptian  problem,  and  colonial 
differences  all  over  the  globe,  involved  us  in  disputes  with  France. 
Moreover,  many  points  of  colonial  and  commercial  interest  made 
our  attitude  to  Germany  somewhat  uneasy.  Salisbury  did  his 
best  to  smooth  matters  over,  and  in  1890  he  made  a  treaty  which 
limited  the  English  and  German  spheres  in  Africa.  In  return  for 
various  concessions,  of  which  the  chief  was  the  abandonment  to 
England  of  all  claims  to  Zanzibar,  Salisbury  conceded  the  little 
island  of  Heligoland,  one  of  our  spoils  of  the  Napoleonic  period,  to 
Germany.  The  result  was  that  our  relations  to  the  German 
Empire  became  a  little  less  strained. 

6.  At  home  Salisbury's  government  effected  much  good  work. 
In  1887  it  celebrated  the  Jubilee,  or  fiftieth  year  of  Victoria's  reign. 
The  Queen's  Among  its  new  laws  was  the  act  of  1888,  which  set  up 
Jubilee,  elective    county   councils,   and   transferred  the   local 

government  of  the  various  shires  from  the  magistrates 
in  quarter  sessions  to  these  popular  bodies.  In  the  same  year 
Goschen  reduced  the  interest  on  the  national  debt  from  three  to 


-1893.]     VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE     689 

two  and  three-quarters,  and  finally  to  two  and  a  half  per  cent.  In 
1889  a  scheme  for  adding  to  the  numbers  and  efficiency  of  the  royal 
uavy  was  successfully  set  to  work. 

7.  The   opposition    to    the    Salisbury  government    gradually 
increased  in  strength.     It  was  fiercely  assailed  by  Gladstone,  now 
over  eighty  years  of  age,  and  resolutely  bent  on  carry-   ,_     f0urtn 
ing  through  his  Home  Rule  scheme  before  he  abandoned    Gladstone 
public  life.     Accordingly,  the  next  general  election,    ministry, 
which  took  place  in  July,  1892,  was  fought  keenly,    lgB2"1894- 
and  with  very  even  results.    A  small  Gladstonian  majority  of  forty 
resulted  from  the  polls,  though  this  was  only  on  the  understand- 
ing that  the  Irish  Home  Rule  vote  was  entirely  cast  on  its  side. 
This  proving  to  be  the  case,  the  Salisbury  government  was  defeated, 
and   Gladstone  formed  his  fourth   cabinet.      Small  as  was  his 
majority,  his  government  showed  remarkable  discipline  and  cohe- 
sion, and  remained  in  power  for  over  three  years.     In  1893  he  laid 
before  parliament  a  new  Home  Hule  Bill  which  differed  widely 
from  the  bill  of  1886.     The  Irish  parliament  was  now  to  include 
an  upper  house,  elected  by  ratepayers  with  a  rome-   _.     ,      . 
what  high  property  qualification ;  and  besides  her  local   reject  the 

parliament,  Ireland  was  to  send   eierhty  members  to   Home  Rule 
1  Bill    18°3 

Westminster  with  votes  on  all  questions  of  general        ' 

imperial  policy.     This  measure  was  carried  through  the  House  of 

Commons,  but  decisively  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords. 

8.  A  great  outcry  was  raised  against  the  House  of  Lords,  which 
was  denounced  for  standing  in  the  way  of  the  wishes  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people,  though,  in  truth,  public  opinion 

was  so  evenly  divided  that  an  authority,  which  pre-  tne  c1l^,up 
vented  the  carrying  into  effect  the  will  of  a  bare 
majority  of  the  Commons,  discharged  a  useful  function.  By 
declining  to  dissolve  parliament,  and  thus  to  appeal  to  the  people 
against  the  Lords,  the  ministry  showed  that  M  had  no  great  con- 
fidence of  obtaining  a  majority  in  the  elections,  though  it  was  clear 
that  the  Lords'  veto  could  not  be  maintained  if,  as  on  other  occasions, 
a  decided  vote  of  the  people  had  been  given  in  favour  of  the  measure 
they  had  rejected.  Instead  of  this,  the  government  remained  in 
office,  though  it  was  more  than  likely  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, the  Lords  would  throw  out  all  their  measures  which  it 
disliked.  It  was  hoped  that  this  action  of  the  Lords  would  "  fill 
up  the  cup "  of  grievances,  and  would  make  it  possible  to  go  to 
the  country  later  with  a  demand  for  the  reform  or  abolition  of 
the  upper  house. 


69O      VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE      [1894- 

9.  Before  this  policy  could  be  worked  out,  grave  changes  took 

place  in  the  ministry.     Early  in  1894  the  aged  prime  minister 

The  Rose-       resigned  office,  bitterly  disappointed  at  the  fate  of  his 

bery  cherished  measure,  but  unable  to  contend  any  longer 

ministry,  asrainst  the  infirmities  of  years.  He  died  three  years 
1894-1895 

later.     With  all  his  limitations,  Gladstone  stood  head 

and  shoulders  above  his  rivals,  and  none  of  his  successors  could  hope 
to  possess  either  his  wonderful  hold  over  the  House  of  Commons 
or  his  unique  powers  of  appealing  to  the  emotions  and  imaginations 
of  the  electorate.  The  queen  chose  as  his  successor  Lord  Rosebery, 
who  was  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  the  more  radical  elements 
in  the  party,  and  remained  little  more  than  a  year  in  office.  During 
this  period,  a  great  number  of  bills  were  laid  before  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  few  of  them  were  carried.  The  most  solid  achieve- 
ments of  the  government  were  therefore  in  administration  and 
finance.  Conspicuous  among  these  were  the  successful  foreign 
policy  of  Rosebery  himself,  and  the  popular  budgets  of  the  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  Sir  "William  Harcourt,  who,  by  raising 
the  death  duties,  and  extending  .the  principle  of  graduated  taxation, 
sought  to  make  the  rich  contribute  a  larger  share  to  the  national 
revenue  than  had  previously  been  the  case.  Sir  William  Harcourt, 
who  became  Gladstone's  successor  as  leader  of  the  Commons,  re- 
presented that  section  of  the  party  which  was  discontented  with 
Lord  Rosebery.  These  personal  divisions  reduced  the  energy  of 
the  government,  and  the  Irish  lost  interest  in  it  when  it  showed 
no  eagerness  to  revive  Home  Rule.  At  last,  in  June,  1895,  the 
government  was  beaten  in  the  Commons  in  an  unimportant  division, 
and,  welcoming  this  defeat  as  an  opportunity  for  escaping  from  an 
intolerable  position,  at  once  resigned.  Lord  Salisbury  then  became 
premier  for  the  third  time.  His  ministry  mainly  differed  from  that 
of  1886  by  including  in  it  a  large  number  of  the  Liberals  who  had 
opposed  Home  Rule. 

10.  Conservatives  and   Liberal-Unionists  were  now  becoming 

bound  together  into  a  single  party.     Of  the  Conservative  chiefs, 

The  third        Lord  Salisbury  again  combined  the  duties  of  foreign 

Salisbury        secretary  and  prime   minister,  while  A.   J.   Balfour 

ministry,  was  leader  of  the  Commons.  The  Liberal-Unionists 
1895-1901 

were  represented  by  Lord  Hartington,  who  had  recently 

become   duke  of    Devonshire,   and   Chamberlain,  who  was  made 

colonial   secretary.      Parliament  was   at  once  dissolved,  and  the 

elections  in  July  gave  the  Unionist  government  a  majority  of 

more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty.     The  ministry  remained  in  office 


-1895.]     VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE     $91 

for  the  rest  of  the  queen's  reign.  With  so  large  a  majority,  it 
held  an  unassailable  position  in  parliament,  and  was  further  helped 
by  the  dissensions  whioh  broke  out  within  the  opposition.  Home 
Rule  policy  became  discredited  by  the  factions  of  the  Irish  party 
and  their  avowed  sympathy  with  our  foreign  enemies.  Moreover, 
the  Liberals  were  rent  by  grave  schisms,  which  resulted  in  the 
withdrawal  of  Lord  Rosebery  and  his  chief  opponent  Sir  William 
Harcourt  from  active  political  life.  Ultimately  the  party  found  a 
leader  in  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman. 

11.  Foreign  policy  largely  absorbed  the  new  ministry,  and 
fiercely  divided  English  public  opinion.  The  atrocities  worked  by 
the  Turks  in  Armenia  revived  the  Eastern  question 
in  a  new  and  acute  form.  Great  indignation  was  A""®"'* 
felt  in  England  at  the  systematic  massacres  of  the 
Armenians  by  the  Turks,  and  the  government  was  strongly 
urged  to  interfere.  But  no  other  power  would  give  England  any 
help,  and  it  was  thought  likely  that  isolated  action  on  her  part 
would  have  brought  about  general  European  war,  especially  since 
Russia,  entirely  deserting  her  former  policy,  showed  extreme 
friendliness  to  Turkey,  and  no  help  was  to  be  expected  by  us  from 
Germany.  A  further  complication  arose  when  Crete,  an  island 
inhabited  by  Greeks,  rose  in  revolt  against  the  sultan,  and  obtained 
much  sympathy,  especially  from  the  Greek  kingdom.  In  1897 
Greece  indiscreetly  went  to  war  against  the  Turks,  but  her  badly 
led  armies  were  easily  beaten,  and  she  was  soon  forced  to  sue  for 
peace.  The  chief  European  powers  forced  the  Turks  to  give  easy 
terms  to  the  Greeks,  and  at  last  took  the  Cretan  question  into 
their  own  hands.  After  much  delay  they  obtained  the  withdrawal 
of  Turkish  troops,  and  garrisoned  the  island  with  English,  French, 
Russian,  and  Italian  soldiers.  The  Cretans  wished  for  union  with 
Greece,  but  were  forced  to  be  content  with  emancipation  from  the 
Turkish  yoke  under  the  government  of  a  Greek  prince. 

12.  In  the  Cretan,  as  in  the  Armenian  question,  the  govern- 
ment was  much  blamed  for  not  taking  a   more  vigorous  part 
against  the  Turks,  but  the  other  difficulties  with  which   other 
Britain  had  to  contend   during  these  years  account   foreign 
for  her  inaction.     In  1895  a  dispute  arose  between  the  tp°u°les. 
United  Kingdom  and  Venezuela  with  regard  to  the  boundaries  of 
British  Guiana.     It  became  dangerous  when  the  United   States 
claimed  the  right  of  settling  the  matter,  and  much  ill-will  arose 
between  England  and  America  on  the  subject.     Ultimately,  how- 
ever, the  outlook  became  quieter,  and  finally  the  question  was 


6q3      VICTORIA — HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE      [1895- 

decided  by  an  arbitration,  which  gave  most  of  the  disputed 
territory  to  Britain.  To  make  matters  worse,  came  the  trouble  in 
South  Africa,  which  culminated  in  Jameson's  Raid  (see  page  725). 
The  German  emperor  showed  signs  of  supporting  the  Transvaal, 
and  the  indignation  felt  in  England  at  his  action  did  something  to 
distract  attention  from  our  dispute  with  America.  Fortunately 
our    relations    with    America  have  been  improving  ever  since. 


AlexanflriS^ 


EnKry'iVliter  ' 


EGYPT  AND  THE    St'DAS. 


More  serious  were  the  difficulties  with  France,  which  complicated 

our  uneasy  relations  with  Germany  and  America. 

13.  Besides  minor  troubles,  the  position  of  Britain  in  Egypt 

gave  cause  for  much  discontent  in  France.     There  the  English 

The  eon-         ^ad,  un^er  ^he  w^se  administration  of  Lord  Cromer, 

quest  of  the    restored  the  reign  of  law,  civilization,  and  economy, 

Sudan,  &n&  gir  Herbert  Kitchener  had  built  up,  out  of  the 

1 896-1899 

Egyptian  peasantry  and  the  blacks  of  the  upper  Nile, 

a  well-drilled  and  efficient  army.     The  Sudan  was  now  ruled  by 

the  Khalifa,  the  successor  of  the  Mahdi,  and  for  many  years  the 

fanatics  of  the  south  threatened  to  overrun  Egypt  itself.     At  last, 


-1898.]     VICTORIA— HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE     693 

in  1898,  the  English  resolved  on  the  reconquest  of  the  Sudan. 
The  heart  of  the  Khalifa's  empire  was  assailed  by  a  mixed  force  of 
English  and  Egyptian  troops,  and  on  September  1,  the  power  of 
the  Khalifa  was  destroyed  in  a  decisive  battle  fought  outside 
Omdurman,  his  new  capital,  which  had  grown  up  opposite  the 
ruined  town  of  Khartum.  The  victor  of  Omdurman  was  made 
Lord  Kitchener  of  Khartum,  and  the  work  of  civilization,  which 
had  done  so  much  good  in  Egypt,  was  extended,  amid  extraordinary 
difficulties,  to  the  Sudan. 

14.  The  French  were  mortified  at  the  reconqnest  of  the  Sudan, 
and  made  an  open  attempt  to  block  our  further  progress  in  that 
region.    A  French  officer,  Major  Marchand,  worked 

his  way  with  a  little  force  from  the  coast  to  Fashoda,  [£gg0da, 
a  place  much  higher  up  the  Nile  than  Khartum. 
Thereupon  the  French  were  peremptorily  ordered  to  withdraw 
Marchand  or  face  the  consequences.  French  feeling  was  violently 
roused  by  this  action,  and  war  between  the  two  countries  seemed  to 
be  very  near,  but  France  was  weakened  by  internal  dissensions, 
and  Russia,  her  ally,  was  unwilling  to  provoke  a  great  war  for  the 
sake  of  a  desert  in  Central  Africa.  Accordingly,  France  gave  way, 
and  in  1899,  signed  a  treaty  which  admitted  that  the  whole  Nile 
valley  lay  within  the  British  sphere  of  influence.  Other  subjects 
of  dispute  were  already  settled.  The  result  was  that  relations 
between  the  two  powers  became  much  less  strained,  and,  after  a  few 
years,  the  old  cordiality  was  completely  restored. 

15.  A  fresh  problem  for  Western  statesmen  was  now  supplied 
by  China.  In  1894  and  1895  there  was  war  between  China  and 
Japan.  In  this  struggle  Japan  won  an  easy  victory,  Troubles  in 
and  revealed  to  the  world  that  a  new  great  power  had  the  Far 
arisen  in  the  East,  which  had  so  well  assimilated  the  East# 
lessons  of  Western  civilization  that  she  was  ready  to  match  Euro- 
peans on  their  own  ground.  The  immediate  result  of  the  Japanese 
triumph  was  seen  in  the  apparent  decay  of  her  defeated  rival,  and 
the  chief  powers  of  East  and  West  at  once  began  to  form  schemes 
for  profiting  by  the  threatened  fall  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  Russia, 
France,  and  Germany  sought  from  the  Chinese  grants  of  "  spheres 
of  influence,"  within  which  their  respective  subjects  should  have 
the  monopoly  of  trade.  England,  on  the  other  hand,  strove  to 
maintain  the  policy  of  the  "  open  door,"  by  which  all  China  was 
equally  thrown  open  to  foreign  commerce.  At  first  the  change  of 
Chinese  policy  led  to  a  great  extension  of  trade  with  Europe,  in  which 
England  took  a  leading  share.     But  complications  soon  followed. 


694      VICTORIA — HOME  RULE  AND  THE  EMPIRE      [1901. 

Russia  established  herself  in  Manchuria,  whereupon  Britain  and 

Germany  acquired   Chinese  ports   and  territory.      In    1900  the 

Chinese  hatred  of  foreigners  burst  out  afresh  in  the  sudden  attack 

on  the  European  legations  at  Pekin  by  rebels  called  Boxers,  with 

the    connivance,    however,    of    the    Chinese    government.       The 

legations   defended  themselves  bravely,  while  a  hastily  collected 

international  European  army  forced  its  way  to  Pekin  and  effected 

their  liberation.     China  was  for  some  months  at  war  with  Europe, 

but  at  last  an  agreement  was  patched  up. 

16.  At  home  the  government's  acts  included  the  extension  of 

elective  county  councils  to  Ireland,  the  increase  of  the  state  grants 

Diamond        ^°  "voluntary  schools,  and   some  attempt  to  organize 

Jubilee,  secondary  education.     In  1897  the  Empire  celebrated 

li  .*         what  was  called  the  Diamond  Jubilee,  or  the  sixtieth 
death  of 
Queen  year   of  Victoria's  reign.     In  1900,  on  the  imagined 

Victoria,  conclusion  of  the  Boer  War,  a  new  general  election 
gave  the  government  a  majority  of  a  hundred  and 
thirty.  About  this  time  the  health  of  the  aged  queen,  which  had 
hitherto  remained  extraordinarily  good,  began  to  decline.  She  died 
on  January  22,  1901,  after  a  reign  which  had  happily  surpassed  in 
length  all  other  reigns  in  our  history.  Her  eldest  3on  was  pro- 
claimed Edward  vii. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  UNITED   KINGDOM   IN  THE   NINE- 
TEENTH   CENTURY 

1.  The  decay  of  the  effective  power  of  the  crown  after  the  death 

of  George  in.  made  the  king's  ministers  mainly  dependent  upon 

the    House    of   Commons,   and    as    three   successive   T _, _ 

-r»  *  t  _  ,  ,_,  increase  or 

xtetorm  Acts  rendered  the  House  of  Commons  a  more   the  func- 

and  more  popular  body,  they  thus  became  for  most  t,ons  °r  the 
practical  purposes  the  ministers  of  the  people.  There 
was  some  danger,  clearly  seen  by  a  shrewd  observer  like  Prince 
Albert,  lest  parliamentary  government  might  prove  weak  govern- 
ment. Men  feared  that  a  state  depending  on  the  whims  of  a  popular 
assembly  might  fail  to  carry  out  a  firm  and  consistent  policy.  This 
danger  became  the  greater  since  a  strong  tendency  set  in  after  the 
middle  of  the  century  towards  extending  on  every  side  the  work  of 
the  state.  Bitter  experience  had  shown  that  leaving  individuals  or 
classes  to  follow  their  own  selfish  instincts  had  resulted  in  grave 
evils.  Accordingly  the  state  gradually  concerned  itself  with 
checking  the  bad  results  of  fierce  competition.  It  sought  to 
provide  for  the  workmen  clean,  healthy,  and  properly  fenced  work- 
shops ;  to  save  the  helpless  from  unsuitable  or  excessive  toil ;  to 
procure  for  every  child  a  proper  education,  and  for  every  household 
a  fitting  dwelling ;  to  control  the  giant  monopolies  which  the 
modern  system  had  brought  into  being,  and  to  sweeten  men's  lot  by 
providing  means  and  time  for  recreation,  study,  and  refreshment. 

2.  All  this  increased  work  of  the  state  involved  the  building 
up  of    fresh    machinery  for    its    execution.      New    government 
departments  were  organized.     The  two  secretaries  of 
state  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  gradually  increased   govern- 
to  six.     Secretaries  of  state  were  created,  charged  re-   ment- 
spectively  with  the  work  of  the  Home,  Colonial,  Foreign,  War, 
Indian  and    Scottish    departments.      As  the    lord-lieutenant  of 
Ireland  became  more  limited  to  the  ceremonial   duties  of   the 

695 


696  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  [1820- 

mock  court  at  Dublin,  his  chief  secretary  became  in  nearly  all 
matters  the  minister  for  Ireland.  The  Board  of  Trade,  which 
began  under  William  in.,  became  increasingly  important.  New 
branches  of  the  government  arose  in  such  bodies  as  the  Local 
Government  Board  and  the  boards  for  education  and  agriculture. 
So  great  has  been  this  increase  in  the  number  of  government 
departments  that  the  cabinets  of  the  later  nineteenth  century  were 
swollen  to  numbers  nearly  approaching  twenty.  As  the  heads  of 
all  these  offices  were  chosen,  after  the  English  fashion,  from  their 
position  in  parliament  and  the  country,  rather  than  for  their  know- 
ledge of  their  special  work  or  their  capacity  as  administrators,  they 
were  forced  into  contenting  themselves  with  the  general  oversight 
of  their  departments,  while  the  details  of  the  work  were  done  by  a 
paid  and  trained  staff  of  permanent  officials.  Fortunately,  the 
English  civil  service  has  always  been  non-party  and  permanent. 
The  influence  and  knowledge  of  the  official  class  has  accordingly 
done  much  to  balance  the  evils  of  party  government  controlled  by 
a  popular  chamber,  though  it  has  dangers  of  its  own  in  the  liability 
of  officials  to  be  enslaved  by  "  red  tape  "  and  routine.  By  this  time 
entrance  into  the  civil  service  was  secured  by  open  competition. 

3.  Local  government,  like  the  central  administration,  became 
increasingly  complicated.  For  the  greater  part  of  the  period  the 
Local  administration  of  the  English  country  districts  remained 
govern-  with  the  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace, 

a  class  largely  made  up  of  the  landed  gentry.  In  Ireland 
the  same  class  ruled  the  shires  through  the  Grand  Juries.  Local 
self-government  was,  after  1888,  extended  to  the  counties  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  by  means  of  popularly  elected 
County  Councils.  In  corporate  towns  the  oligarchical  rule  of  self- 
elected  corporations  was  destroyed  by  the  Municipal  Corporation 
Reform  Act  of  1835,  and  by  the  subsequent  creation  of  new 
corporate  boroughs  in  the  case  of  populous  places  like  Manchester 
and  Birmingham.  In  the  country  districts  elective  Parish  and 
District  Councils  have  extended  the  same  principle  to  the  smaller 
areas  into  which  the  shires  are  divided.  The  local  authorities 
have  extended  their  sphere  of  action  even  more  conspicuously  than 
the  central  state,  and  provide  gas,  water,  tramways,  and  many 
other  services  for  their  constituents.  The  county  councils  received 
by  the  Act  of  1902  the  responsibility  for  the  control  of  education 
within  their  spheres. 

4.  The  army,  which  fought  so  bravely  under  Wellington,  was  only 
kept  in  discipline  by  flogging  and  sternness  during  its  twenty-one 


-1901.J  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  697 

years  of  service.  The  officers,  though  mostly  high-spirited  gentle- 
men,  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  war  until  they  were  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  enemy,  and  in  peace  time  were  as  idle 
and  undisciplined  as  their  men.  The  army  administra-  *  arn,y- 
tion  was  a  marvel  of  complication  and  inefficiency.  Af ter  the  peace 
of  1815  there  still  survived  some  of  the  old  jealousy  of  a  standing 
army,  and  "Wellington  sought  to  hide  it  away  in  small  bodies  to 
prevent  it  getting  too  conspicuous.  The  old  system  went  on 
through  all  the  long  peace,  and  finally  collapsed  in  the  needless 
miseries  which  it  brought  upon  our  army  in  the  Crimean  War. 
Reforms  were  then  introduced,  and  a  secretary  of  state  for 
war  appointed.  But  the  commander-in-chief  remained  directly 
responsible  to  the  crown,  and  every  attempt  to  subordinate  the 
general  to  the  statesman  was  resisted  as  an  attack  on  the  royal 
prerogative.  At  last  CardwelTs  reforms  in  1870  and  1872  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  better  system.  The  organization  was  simplified ; 
the  evil  custom  of  officers  buying  their  commissions  was  abolished  ; 
and  attempts  were  made  to  provide  them  with  some  system  of 
military  education.  Short  service  was  introduced ;  flogging  was 
abolished,  and  ultimately  the  army  was  localized  so  that  each 
regiment  was  connected  with  a  county  from  which  it  took  its 
name,  and  included  not  only  at  least  two  battalions  of  the  line, 
but  the  militia  of  the  district  and  the  volunteer  force,  which,  first 
raised  in  1859,  added  largely  to  the  number  of  trained  men  available 
for  home  defence.  Meanwhile  the  development  of  rifled  arms  of 
precision,  loaded  at  the  breech,  and  firing  with  a  rapidity  and  at  a 
range  undreamt  of  in  earlier  days,  had  revolutionized  the  art  of 
war.  Though  army  reform  was  never  very  complete  or  thorough, 
great  improvements  were  effected  both  in  the  quality  and  number 
of  the  forces  of  the  crown.  This  was  shown  by  the  rapidity  with 
which,  in  1899,  a  larger  force  than  Britain  had  ever  despatched 
from  her  shores  was  transported  successfully  to  South  Africa.  But 
the  failures  of  the  Boer  War  showed  that  there  was  still  need  for 
further  reform,  and  unhappily  the  lessons  suggested  by  it  did  not 
result  in  the  establishment  of  a  satisfactory  and  rational  system 
of  national  defence. 

5.  The  navy  was  never  allowed  to  fall  so  low  as  the  army.  The 
introduction  of  steam  brought  about  a  revolution  in  maritime  war- 
fare, though  it  was  long  before  steam  was  thought 
practicable  for  warships.  By  the  time  of  the  Crimean 
War  the  queen's  ships  were  propelled  by  steam,  though  they  kept 
up  the  general  appearance  of  the  old  line-of -battle  ships.  Their 
inability  to  fight  against  shore  fortifications  led  to  the  building  of 


698  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  [1820- 

floating  batteries,  protected  by  plates  of  iron.  Before  long  armour 
plating  was  employed  for  sea-going  men-of-war ;  all'  large  ships 
were  built  of  iron,  and  later  of  steel;  masts  and  sails  almost 
disappeared,  and  a  large  number  of  small  cannon  was  replaced  by 
a  few  heavy  and  powerful  guns.  Improvements  in  the  steam- 
engine  made  it  possible  to  move  the  unwieldy  modern  warship  at  a 
speed  of  more  than  twenty  miles  an  hour.  Much  smaller  crews  were 
also  required,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them  were  engineers  and 
stokers,  who  have  nothing  to  do  with  navigation  or  fighting. 

6.  In  the  early  part  of  the  century  the  Evangelicals  were  the 
most  active  section  in  the  Church.    They  were  never,  however,  very 

numerous,  though  their  teaching  gave  colour  to  many 
outside  their  own  body.  It  was  largely  owing  to  them 
that  many  new  churches  were  erected  in  the  large  towns.  The  mass 
of  the  clergy,  though  good  natured,  honest,  and  kindly,  were  want- 
ing in  zeal  and  energy,  and  many  of  the  bishops  were  distinguished 
by  their  birth,  their  scholarship,  or  by  their  complaisance  to  their 
royal  and  noble  patrons  rather  than  by  the  activity  with  which  they 
discharged  their  spiritual  duties.  The  Church  was  not  popular. 
Nonconformity  was  strong  among  the  middle  classes ;  the  mass 
of  the  population  was  stolidly  indifferent  to  church  and  chapel 
alike  ;  and  reformers  resented  the  tenacity  with  which  the  Church 
party  clung  to  its  old  exclusive  privileges.  It  was  believed  that 
the  reformed  parliament  would  make  short  work  of  the  Church 
altogether. 

7.  The  High  Church  tradition  still  survived  in  some  country 
parsonages,  and  was  revived  soon  after  the  Reform  Bill  by  u  small 

group  of  Oxford  men,  whose  leaders  were  John  Keble, 
rian  move-  the  poet  of  the  Christian  Year,  Edward  Bouverie  Pusey. 
ment  and  professor  of  Hebrew  since  1828,  and,  above  all,  John 
its  results.  Henry  Newman,  vicar  of  St.  Mary's.  To  this  little 
band  the  Church  outlook  seemed  very  gloomy,  and  they  resolved  to 
revive  through  the  press  the  teaching  of  the  Laudian  school  as  to 
the  Church,  the  ministry,  and  the  sacraments.  The  result  was  a 
series  of  pamphlets  called  the  Tracts  for  the  Times,  which  were 
received  with  great  enthusiasm  by  a  few  and  with  a  howl  of  repro- 
bation from  the  many.  But  gradually  the  movement  spread,  and 
by  1837  the  Church  revival  had  become  general.  The  outcry 
against  the  Tractarian  movement  was  still  very  strong,  and  a  great 
blow  .fell  upon  it  when,  in  1845,  Newman  became  a  convert  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Many  of  his  followers  followed  his  example,  but 
the  mass  of  the  party  stood  firm  under  the  quiet  and  diplomatic 


-iqoi.]  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  699 

leadership  of  Dr.  Pusey,  from  whom  they  were  often  called 
Puseyites,  though  they  chose  to  call  themselves  the  Caiholic  school. 
One  result  of  the  movement  was  a  fresh  study  of  mediaeval  art  and 
practices,  whioh  led  up  to  a  revival  of  the  symbolical  ritual  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  gave  the  extreme  following  the  nickname  of 
Ritualists,  though  the  great  teachers  had  cared  little  for  mere 
outward  forms.  Despite  much  opposition,  the  devotion  of  many  of 
the  clergy  of  this  party  made  their  teaching  acceptable  to  large 
numbers,  and  procured  for  them  a  practical  toleration.  The  many 
efforts  to  put  them  down  signally  failed,  and  none  more  completely 
than  Disraeli's  Public  Worship  Regulation  Act  of  1874.  Mean- 
while the  Evangelical,  or  Low  Church,  party  continued  its  activity, 
though  it  began  to  show  signs  of  losing  its  power  of  spreading 
more  widely.  A  new  school  of  liberal  or  latitudinarian  church- 
manship,  called  the  Broad  Church,  revived  the  spirit  of  Tillotson 
and  Burnet.  Efforts  to  restrain  these  were  as  ineffective  as  the 
efforts  to  put  down  Ritualism.  Da  the  end  each  of  the  Church 
parties  got  some  sort  of  legal  recognition.  Some  evil  has  resulted 
from  the  strange  growth  of  party  spirit,  but  also  a  good  deal  of 
energy  and  activity  which  has  not  altogether  limited  itself  to 
sectional  channels.  Vast  sums  were  lavished  on  building  new 
churches  and  in  repairing  old  ones.  The  Ecclesiastical  Commission, 
set  up  in  1836,  did  a  great  deal  towards  the  better  management 
and  the  more  equal  distribution  of  the  estates  of  the  Church. 
Many  new  bishoprics  were  established,  and  a  whole  hierarchy 
of  colonial  bishops  set  up,  so  that  in  1878  ninety-five  Anglican 
prelates  met  together  in  a  Pan-Anglican  Synod,  and  nearly  two 
hundred  and  fifty  in  1897.  Convocation,  which,  since  the  reign  of 
George  1.  had  met  only  formally,  was  after  1854  again  allowed  to 
transact  business,  and  as  this  was  not  a  very  representative  body, 
voluntary  Congresses  and  Councils  have  been  gathered  together  to 
get  at  Church  opinion  more  fully.  All  through  the  century  the 
Church  had  gradually  been  losing  its  old  invidious  supremacy. 
However,  it  managed  to  do  more  work  than  in  the  days  of  the 
Reform  Bill,  and  won  a  larger  measure  of  esteem  and  support. 

8.  Nonconformist  bodies  also  increased  in  numbers,  wealth, 
influence,  and  organization.     The  disabilities  imposed  upon  them 
in  earlier  times  were  gradually  swept  away,  notably  in 
1828,  when  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  were  re-    Protestant 
pealed.   In  1836  Dissenters  were  allowed  to  be  married   ^^ti. 
in  their  own  chapels,  or  before  a  registrar.     In  1868 
Gladstone  abolished  compulsory  ohurch  rates,  and  in  1871  most 


7<DO  7HE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  [1820- 

religious  tests  were  removed  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge:  In  1880 
the  Burials  Act  allowed  burials  in  parish  churchyards  "  with  any 
Christian  or  orderly  religious  service."  A  great  change  of  feeling 
induced  the  mass  of  Nonconformists  to  adopt  what  was  called  the 
Voluntary  Principle,  and  to  maintain  that  the  state  should  have 
nothing  to  do  with  religion.  One  result  of  this  was  the  movement, 
for  the  disestablishment  and  disendowment  of  the  state  Church 
The  Irish  Church  Act  of  1869  was  the  chief  victory  of  this  doctrine 
under  Victoria. 

9.  Another  feature   of    the   century   was    the    great  growth 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  England,  beginning  with  the 

Catholic  Emancipation  Act  in  1829  and  the  repeal  of 

I^?,.R?man  the  repressive  laws  of  earlier  times,  and  helped  forward 
Catholics.        ,,,  .  „-»T  /       ■,•     ■<  •     -low/w   i_     j.i 

by  the  secession  of  Newman  (cardinal  in  1879),  by  the 

longing  of  many  to  find  rest  from  a  troubled  and  sceptical  age 
in  the  bosom  of  an  infallible  Church,  and  by  the  large  migra- 
tions of  Irish  to  the  English  and  Scotch  great  towns.  In  1850 
a  hierarchy  of  twelve  bishops,  under  the  archbishop  of  West- 
minster, was  set  up,  and  a  similar  territorial  episcopate  was  intro- 
duced somewhat  later  among  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Scotland. 

10.  In  Scotland  there  grew  up  early  in  the  century  the  same 
zeal  for  ecclesiastical  independence  which  marked  the  High  Church 

revival  in  England.  The  Evangelical  party  won  back 
Established  a  majority  in  the  general  assembly,  under  the  leader- 
Church  and  ship  of  Dr.  Thomas  Chalmers,  and  sought  to  abolish 
rvf  Fp® •  the  right  claimed  by  some  of  the  Scottish  landlords 
Scotland.        ^°  appoint  ministers  to  the  parish  churches.    This  was 

resisted  by  the  patrons,  who  were  upheld  by  the  law 
courts,  so  that  a  great  conflict  arose  between  Church  and  state. 
After  ten  years  of  controversy,  this  was  ended  in  1843,  when  nearly 
five  hundred  ministers,  headed  by  Chalmers,  gave  up  kirk,  manse, 
teinds,  and  glebe  and  formed  a  Free  Church,  in  which  their 
spiritual  liberties  were  not  controlled  by  secular  laws.  A  large 
number  of  their  congregations  followed  them,  especially  in  the 
Highlands,  and  to  this  day  the  Church  of  Scotland  has  ceased  to 
minister  to  the  majority  of  the  population.  In  1874  the  Patronage 
Act  of  1712  was  repealed,  though  it  was  too  late  to  be  of  much  use, 
and  Scotch  Presbyterianism  remained  split  into  different  camps. 
Besides  the  Free  Church,  there  were  various  older  Presbyterian 
secessions,  which  united  in  1847  to  form  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  distinguished  from  the  Free  Church  by  upholding  as  a 
theory  the  "  voluntary  principle."     Late  in  the  century  the  Free 


-I90I.]  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  70I 

Church  and  the  United  Presbyterians  were  united  in  a  body  called 
the  United  Free  Church,  despite  the  protests  of  a  small  minority  of 
the  old  Free  Church  which  still  claimed  to  represent  that  body, 
and  obtained  decisions  of  the  law  courts  in  its  favour. 

11.  In  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  chief 
British  industries  were  somewhat  languishing,  but,  after  the 
gradual  introduction  of  free  trade  by  Huskisson  and 

Peel,  progress  became  rapid.  The  population  increased  "^[h*1 
enormously,  despite  the  fact  that  after  1847  there  We* 
was  a  large  and  continual  falling  off  in  Ireland,  and  that 
the  tendency  of  recent  years  has  been  towards  a  steady  decline 
of  the  numbers  in  the  purely  agricultural  districts  in  Britain. 
Wealth  increased  even  more  rapidly;  and  the  national  revenue 
mounted  up  in  proportion.  Prices  fell  as  goods  could  be  made 
more  easily  and  raw  materials  could  be  brought  in  the  cheaper 
markets.  Artisans  and  professional  men  earned  better  salaries, 
and  the  income  tax  returns  showed  a  steady  addition  to  the 
number  of  people  comfortably  well  off.  Despite  the  repeal  of 
the  corn  laws,  farmers  and  landlords  long  continued  as  pros- 
perous as  the  manufacturer  and  tradesman.  But  ultimately 
the  growth  of  foreign  competition  cut  down  the  profits  of  agri- 
culture and  made  corn  growing  one  of  the  least  attractive  forms 
of  employment.  The  great  national  states  which  had  grown  up 
on  the  continent,  especially  Germany,  and  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  the  United  States  of  America,  began  to  prove 
formidable  rivals  to  English  manufacturers.  Yet  the  volume 
of  British  trade  never  fell  off,  though  capitalists  had  often  to 
be  contented  with  a  smaller  percentage  of  interest  and  traders 
with  a  diminished  margin  of  profit.  Though  it  is  improbable  that 
England  will  ever  win  back  the  position  she  once  bade  fair  to 
obtain  as  the  one  great  manufacturing  and  commercial  nation 
of  the  world,  she  has  no  great  reason  to  fear,  for  being  every  whit 
as  well  situated  as  her  competitors,  she  is  likely  to  retain  a  large 
share  of  the  world's  business. 

12.  There  was  nothing  quite  so  striking  in  the  annals  of  nine- 
teenth-century inventions  as  the  story  of  the  great  discoveries 
which  made  the  industrial  revolution  possible.    Yet  all 

sorts  of  machinery  became  elaborated  with  a  subtlety,   fnf?m" 
detail,  and  scientific  knowledge  to  which  the  eighteenth- 
C3ntury  inventors  were  strangers,  and  man's  control  over  matter 
wonderfully  enlarged.     This  was  well  illustrated  by  the  enormous 
improvements  in  the  methods  of  communication  by  which  the 


702  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  [1820- 

increased  volume  of  trade  was  made  possible,  and  notably  by  the 
application  of  steam  both  to  land  and  water  carriage.  Early  in 
the  century  successful  experiments  were  made  in  steam  navigation 
both  in  England  and  in  America,  and  in  1819  a  steamboat  crossed 
the  Atlantic,  though  it  was  not  for  nearly  a  generation  that 
improvements  in  engines  and  the  utilization  of  the  screw-propeller 
made  steam  navigation  habitual  for  large  ocean-going  vessels.  By 
the  end  of  the  century  steam  navigation  had  become  so  cheap  that 
steamers  almost  superseded  sailing  ships. 

13.  By  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  canals  had 
done  a  great  deal  for  the  transport  of  heavy  goods.     Roads  had 

been  made  smooth  and  hard  through  the  improve- 
ways?  Pai "     men*s  brought  in  by  an   engineer   named  Macadam. 

On  them  magnificently  horsed  coaches  conveyed  pas- 
sengers and  mails  at  a  rate  of  over  ten  miles  an  hour,  both  by  night 
and  day.  Moreover,  the  roads  were  at  last  safe  from  the  highway- 
men who  had  infested  them  in  earlier  times.  But  canals  were  slow 
and  road  transport  costly,  and  engineers  were  beginning  to  look 
around  for  quicker  and  cheaper  ways  of  moving  heavy  goods. 
In  1802  Richard  Trevithick,  a  Cornishman,  took  out  a  patent 
for  a  steam  locomotive,  and  in  1814  G-eorge  Stephenson  ran  his 
first  engine  on  a  tramway  used  in  the  Tyne  district  for  conveying 
coals  to  the  port.  So  successful  was  this  that  Stephenson  started 
an  engine  factory,  and  his  locomotives  soon  began  to  supersede 
horses  for  dragging  coal  waggons  along  the  mining  tramways 
of  Durham  and  Northumberland.  The  first  line  on  which  they 
were  largely  used  was  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  opened 
in  1825.  But  the  first  really  important  railway  for  passengers  as 
well  as  goods  was  the  line  between  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  which 
was  completed  in  1830.  On  this  line  Stephenson's  famous  engine 
the  Rochet  drew  a  passenger  train  at  over  thirty  miles  an  hour. 
Though  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  lovers  of  old  ways,  railway 
construction  upon  a  large  seale  soon  set  in.  The  first  long-distance 
line  was  one  between  London  and  Birmingham,  built  by  Stephen- 
son's son  Robert  in  1839.  Soon  a  network  of  railways,  spread  over 
the  whole  country,  effected  for  inland  commerce  what  steamships 
did  for  sea  trade.  Britain,  the  country  of  their  first  employment, 
was  thus  enabled  to  maintain  her  unique  position  among  the 
trading  states  of  the  world. 

14.  Later  in  the  century  other  mechanical  inventions  still 
further  increased  facilities  for  communication.  Telegraphs,  patented 
in  1837,  became  in  1870  the  property  of  the  state,  and  in  1866  a 


■iooi.]  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


703 


submarine  cable  was  first  successfully  laid  between  Britain  and 
America.  About  1880  the  telephone  became  utilized.   More  recently 
the  bicycle  and  the  motor-car  have  once  more  brought 
back  traffic  to  the  roads  which  became  comparatively   pther 
deserted  after  the  invention  of  railways.    Nor  should    nventlons' 
we  omit  to  mention  among  the  things  which  have  furthered  the 
spread  of  cheap  communications,  the  introduction  in  1839  of  penny 
postage  between  any  places  in  the  United  Kingdom.    This  boon 
was  in  the  last  years  of  the  century  extended  to  nearly  every  part 
of  the  British  Empire 

15.  Early  in  the  century  the  terrible  evils  of  the  early  factory 
system  still  went  on  unheeded,  while  the  agricultural  labourer  was 
a  helpless  and  spiritless  serf.  Child  labour  in  factories 
and  mines  was  widespread,  and  wages  in  many  trades  Industrial 
were  so  low  and  fluctuating  that  even  skilled  workmen  progress. 
found  life  a  hard  struggle.  So  gloomy  was  the  outlook  that  it  drove 
Robert  Owen  to  turn  his  brilliant  gifts  from  the  pursuit  of  his 
own  fortunes  to  schemes  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  workers 
and  for  the  regeneration  of  society.  He  gave  the  first  impulse 
to  factory  legislation,  and  was  the  founder  of  English  Co-operation. 
About  1820  he  turned  from  these  fruitful  efforts  to  pursue  a  scheme 
of  Socialism,  in  which  he  was  not  at  all  successful.  More  plodding 
hands  took  up  his  practical  work,  and  a  series  of  Factory  Acts  were 
passed,  which  limited  the  hours  of  women's  and  children's  labour, 
and  provided  that  workshops  should  be  properly  ventilated,  fenced, 
and  inspected.  A  large  measure  of  the  credit  of  these  measures 
was  due  to  Michael  Sadler,  a  Tory  member  of  Parliament,  and  to 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  leader  of  the  Evangelical  party  in  the 
Church  and  a  zealous  and  unwearied  philanthropist.  They  were 
opposed  by  many  of  the  millowners,  and  by  the  Radicals  of  the 
school  of  Bright  and  Cobden,  who  denounced  them  as  interfering 
with  individual  liberty  and  hampering  the  production  of  wealth. 
Parallel  to  the  growth  of  factory  legislation  went  the  development 
of  self-help  among  the  workers  themselves.  This  was  made  pos- 
sible by  the  repeal,  in  1824,  of  the  Combination  Laws,  which 
had  prevented  the  legal  combination  of  workmen  to  protect  their 
own  interests.  Long  after  this  there  were  strong  prejudices  on 
the  part  of  employers  and  political  economists  against  attempts 
of  workmen  to  join  together  to  raise  the  rate  of  wages  or  to 
improve  their  condition.  Trades  Unions,  thus  discouraged,  grew 
up  under  unwholesome  conditions.  They  were  often  headed  by 
ignorant  and  unreasonable  men,  and  the   strikes  which,  under 


704  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  [1820- 

their  auspices,  became  more  numerous,  were  sometimes  marked  by 
violence,  and  met  by  repression  tbat  excited  bitter  feelings  between 
class  and  class.  Bit  by  bit  things  became  better,  and  a  series  of 
acts,  beginning  in  1871,  fully  protected  and  recognized  legitimate 
trade  societies.  By  teaching  self -help  and  by  increasing  the  work- 
man's power,  and  also  by  acting  as  benefit  societies  on  a  large  scale, 
trades  unions  have  done  much  to  raise  the  condition  of  more 
skilled  labourers.  Of  recent  years  their  operations  have  been 
extended  to  agricultural  labourers  and  to  the  coarse  and  less  skilled 
occupations  in  the  great  towns.  As  organization  became  more 
perfect,  strikes  and  lock-outs  became  less  violent,  and  in  many 
trades  less  frequent  than  before.  By  these  various  means  much 
has  been  done  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  mass  of  the  people. 
The  change  for  the  better  began  perceptibly  about  1850.  Work- 
men became  better  fed,  housed,  clothed,  and  paid.  They  worked 
shorter  hours,  and  had  fuller  opportunities  of  employing  their 
leisure  than  the  brutal  drunkenness  and  degrading  pastimes  of  a 
hundred  years  ago,  though  there  was  still  need  for  further  effort, 
and  the  slums  of  the  large  towns  present  modern  life  in  its  least 
satisfactory  side.  There  remained  too  much  abject  misery  among 
large  sections  of  the  community,  and  too  much  dulness,  monotony, 
and  lowness  of  aim  among  those  comfortably  off,  to  give  us  any  room 
for  looking  upon  the  undoubted  social  progress  of  the  nineteenth 
century  with  undue  or  self-complacent  satisfaction. 

16.  None  of  the  arts  was  in  a  satisfactory  condition  early  in 
the  nineteenth  century.     In  architecture  a  somewhat  incongrous 

mimicry  of  Greek  architecture  was  then  fashionable 
ture       "        ^or  cnnrcnes  an(l  public  buildings,  until  the  Romantic 

and  Tractarian  attraction  for  the  "  ages  of  faith " 
brought  about  a  Gothic  Revival,  which  soon  filled  the  whole  country 
with  countless  imitations  of  the  fabrics  of  the  Middle  Ages.  As 
time  went  on  these  imitations  became  more  artistic,  learned,  and 
appropriate,  but  no  great  school  of  art  could  ever  arise  from  the 
mere  copying  of  the  work  of  earlier  generations.  The  best  result 
of  the  movement  was  to  be  found,  not  so  much  in  the  buildings 
erected  under  its  auspices,  as  in  the  careful  and  loving  study  of 
mediaeval  monuments,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Unluckily,  zeal 
for  uniformity,  love  of  prettiness,  and  conventional  propriety  led 
to  numerous  so-called  restorations  of  old  buildings,  which  have  in 
too  many  cases  wiped  out  the  historical  record  on  the  pretence 
of  removing  incongruities  and  providing  modern  accommoda- 
tion.     Later  than  the    taste    for    Gothic    came    the    study  of 


-I90I.]  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  7°5 

Renaissance  architecture,  which  was  taken  np  by  several  men  of 
ability. 

17.  In  painting  the  ablest  master  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  was  the  noble  colourist,  John  Constable  (1776-1837),  the 
effect  of  whose  work  at  home  and  abroad  has  been  Painting, 
second  to  none  in  this  century.  A  greater  era  began  music,  and 
with  the  romantic  landscapes  of  J.  M.  W.  Turner  sculPture- 
(1775-1851),  whose  work,  great  in  oils,  was  unsurpassed  in  water- 
colours,  so  that  under  his  influence  there  grew  up  a  remarkable 
school  of  British  landscape  painters  in  the  latter  medium.  A  further 
step  in  advance  was  made  when,  in  1848,  a  knot  of  young  artists, 
conspicuous  among  whom  was  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  started  a 
society  called  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  which  upheld  an  entire 
adherence  to  the  simplicity  of  nature  as  its  guiding  principle.  From 
their  efforts  sprang  a  lasting  improvement  in  English  art,  which 
was  felt  far  beyond  the  narrow  limits  and  original  conceptions  of 
the  actual  brotherhood.  In  1824  the  National  Gallery  was  founded  in 
London,  and  as  art  teaching  improved,  a  higher  level  of  technical 
skill  everywhere  produced  excellent  results.  Some  of  the  best 
later  work  was  to  be  seen  in  black  and  white  work,  though  the 
ancient  arts  of  steel-engraving  and  mezzotint  went  out  of  fashion. 
In  music,  the  most  progressive  art  in  modern  times,  there  was 
a  remarkable  development ;  but  sculpture  produced  few  masters  of 
real  note. 

18.  No  aspect  of  nineteenth-century  development  is  more  im- 
portant than  the  growth  of  Natural.  Science.  Englishmen  were 
among  the  foremost  in  finding  out  those  marvellous 

laws  of  nature  which  have  so  greatly  altered  our  N*tural 
whole  way  of  looking  at  the  universe,  and  in  their 
applications  to  the  practical  arts  and  industries,  have  so  immensely 
increased  man's  command  over  matter.  In  the  development  of 
sciences,  such  as  chemistry,  electricity,  and  geology,  Englishmen 
have  taken  a  leading  part,  and  the  greatest  revolution  in  scientific 
thought  in  the  isneteenth  century  was  brought  about  by  the 
publication,  in  1859,  of  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Charles  Darwin. 
It  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  epoch-making  books,  which  gradually 
led  to  the  general  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  Evolution,  or  the 
theory  of  progress  by  gradual  growth,  which  soon  extended  from 
biology  to  many  other  branches  of  knowledge.  It  has  taught  the 
fruitful  method  of  trying  to  find  out  the  origin  of  things  by 
patient  investigation  of  their  history  rather  than  by  startling 
theories  based  upon  their  later  and  developed  aspects.     It  has  been 

2  B 


706  THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  [1820- 

as  epoch-making  in  the  social  sciences  as  in  the  study  of  nature, 
and  the  sciences  of  law,  history,  and  philology  have  been  meta- 
morphosed by  its  influence.  More  than  any  other  single  principle, 
this  Historical  Method  marks  out  the  contrast  between  eighteenth- 
and  nineteenth-century  thought. 

19.  Literature  has  not  altogether  fallen  short  in  its  progress. 
We  have  spoken  already  of  the  Lake-school  of  poets,  and  of  the 

singers  who,  in  the  early  nineteenth  century,  were  the 
apostles  of  Liberalism,  or  voiced  the  Romantic  reaction 
from  the  shipwreck  of  eighteenth-century  ideas  through  the  French 
Revolution.  A  new  poetic  wave  surged  up  with  the  great  stir  of 
national  life  marked  by  the  Reform  Bill  and  the  Tractarian  move- 
ment. Foremost  among  those  who  grappled  with  the  problems 
which  were  disturbing  the  new  generation  were  Alfred  Tennyson 
(1809-1892),  whose  work  tenderly  reflects  the  varied  moods  of 
nature,  and  Robert  Browning  (1812-1887),  the  poet-philosopher. 
In  strong  contrast  to  these  stood  the  aesthetic  school,  which,  like 
Keats  before  them,  pursued  art  for  her  own  sake,  careless  of  external 
aims.  This  tendency  seemed  to  centre  round  the  exquisite  sonnets 
of  Rossetti,  as  consummate  a  poet  as  he  was  unique  as  a  painter. 
It  became  most  widely  known  by  the  musical  and  eloquent  verse 
of  Algernon  Charles  Swinburne,  and  the  fresh  narrative  poems  of 
William  Morris,  who  was  also  a  painter  and  a  designer  of  rare 
excellence. 

20.  In  prose  the  early  nineteenth  century  saw  the  spread  of  the 
Romantic  School  by  its  prose  fiction  as  well  as  by  its  verse  and 

drama.  The  special  growth  of  the  age  was  in  the 
novel,  which  continued  all  through  the  century  to  be 
by  far  the  most  popular  form  of  literature.  The  historical  and 
romantic  novel,  best  represented  by  the  Waverley  Novels  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  gradually  gave  way  to  the  novel  of  contemporary 
life,  whose  highest  exponents  include,  in  the  middle  of  the  century, 
William  Makepeace  Thackeray,  the  greatest  of  English  novelists, 
and  Charles  Dickens,  the  most  popular  of  all»writers  of  fiction ; 
and,  in  the  next  generation,  the  great  and  thoughtful  work  of 
George  Meredith,  and  the  popular  but  delicately  artistic  tales 
of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  In  other  aspects  of  letters,  we 
have  to  note  the  eloquence  of  De  Quincey  ;  the  taste  and  humour 
of  our  greatest  critic  Charles  Lamb ;  the  subtle  art  of  John  Henry 
Newman ;  and  the  eloquent  rhetoric  with  which  the  triumphs 
of  Whiggism  and  of  modern  material  progress  were  glorified 
by  Thomas  Babington   Macaulay,  the   most   readable,  vivid,  and 


-1901.I  THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY  707 

picturesque  of  historians,  and  the  best  index  of  the  merits  and 
deficiencies  of  his  time.  In  strong  contrast  to  Macaulay's  good- 
natured  optimism  stood  Thomas  Carlyle,  the  most  influential  teacher 
of  the  middle  part  of  the  century,  who  taught  reverence,  obedience, 
hero-worship,  and  the  gospel  of  duty  and  work ;  and  Carlyle's  friend 
and  disciple,  the  ethereal  John  Raskin,  who  made  art  criticism, 
expressed  with  rare  eloquence,  his  vehicle  for  expounding  the  moral 
and  social  teaching  of  his  master.  The  spread  of  education  had 
the  result  of  bringing  about  an  enormous  growth  of  periodicals 
and  of  the  newspaper  press,  whose  popularity  was  a  sign  of  a  large 
class  of  people  fond  of  reading,  but  not  able  or  willing  to  read 
systematically  and  deeply.  The  abolition  of  newspaper  stamps  and 
of  duties  on  paper  had  the  good  effect  of  reducing  the  price  of 
nearly  all  newspapers  to  a  penny,  while  many  cost  only  a  halfpenny. 
Another  sign  of  the  times  was  the  great  growth  of  a  daily  press  in 
all  the  larger  towns,  some  of  which  became  fully  as  capably  con- 
ducted and  as  influential  in  guiding  public  opinion  as  the  London 
newspapers.  Future  improvement  is  to  be  hoped  for  rather  in  the 
deepening  than  in  the  extension  of  the  habit  of  reading,  which  in 
some  shape  or  another  has  almost  become  universal. 

21.  Another  characteristic  feature  of  the  nineteenth  century  is 
the  enormous  diffusion  of  education,  the  change  of  its  methods, 
the  widening  of  its  subjects,  and  the  gradual  assump- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  state  of  care  for  its  provision, 
organization,  and  direction.  Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  few 
children  of  the  English,  and  hardly  any  of  the  Irish  lower  classes, 
had  any  chance  of  receiving  instruction,  though  in  Scotland  a 
plan  projected  by  John  Knox  had  been  a  reality  since  1696,  and 
every  parish  had  had  its  school  for  over  a  century.  Early  in  the 
century  rival  private  societies,  the  Church  National  Society  and  the 
undenominational  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  set  to  work 
to  provide  schools  for  the  children  of  the  poor.  Their  operations 
received  a  great  impetus  when,  in  1833,  the  state  began  to  make 
srants  to  help  forward  elementary  education,  and  still  more  after 
1839,  when  the  rudiments  of  an  education  office  were  organized  by 
the  government.  But  religious  animosities  and  popular  prejudice 
or  indifference  long  made  progress  slow,  and  it  was  not  until  1870 
that  Forster's  Education  Act  supplemented  the  self-denying  efforts 
of  individuals  by  establishing  compulsory  education  and  a  really 
national  system.  Even  after  this  secondary  education  remained 
entirely  at  the  mercy  of  voluntary  effort  and  individual  munificence. 
In  1868  and  1869  the  Public  Schools  Act  and  the  Endowed  Schools 


708  THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  [1901, 

Act  laid  down  the  principle  that  it  was  the  business  of  the  state 
to  see  that  educational  trusts  were  strictly  carried  out,  and  that 
antiquated  schemes  should  be  revised  and  brought  up  to  date.  The 
care  of  the  state  was  thus  gradually  extended  from  elementary  to 
secondary  education,  and  this  process  went  on  gradually  widening 
until  the  Education  Act  of  1902  charged  the  county  councils 
everywhere  with  the  responsibility  of  the  oversight  of  all  forms  of 
education  within  their  respective  areas.  The  state  direction  of  the 
higher  types  of  education  was  to  be  seen  in  the  appointment  of 
commissions  which,  in  1854,  and  again  in  1877,  strove  to  bring  the 
universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  more  abreast  of  modern 
times.  Conspicuous  features  of  educational  progress  in  recent 
years  have  been  the  establishment  of  new  universities  in  several  of 
the  greater  towns  of  England,  and  also  in  Wales  and  Ireland,  the 
wide  diffusion  of  technical  schools  for  the  promotion  of  skill  in 
applied  science  and  handicrafts,  and  the  great  increase  in  the 
number  of  good  secondary  schools  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
These  innovations  were  the  more  far-reaching  since  in  all  the  new 
universities  and  colleges  women  were  admitted  on  terms  of  sub- 
stantial equality  with  men,  while  the  new  schools  included  a  large 
number  of  high  schools  for  girls  and  of  dual  schools  open  to  boys 
and  girls  alike. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BRITISH   INDIA  IN  THE  NINETEENTH 
CENTURY  (1820-1901) 

Chief  Dates : 

1826.  First  Burmese  War. 

1828.  Lord  William  Bentinck  Governor. 

1839.  Afghan  War. 

1843.  Conquest  of  Sind. 

1845.  First  Sikh  War. 

1849.  Conquest  of  the  Punjab. 

1848.  Lord  Dalhousie  Governor. 

1857-  Indian  Mutiny. 

1858.  End  of  East  India  Company. 

1877.  Victoria  Empress  of  Iodia. 

1878.  Second  Afghan  War. 
1898.  Afridi  War. 

1.  The  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  saw  England  dominant  in 
India  and  making  good  progress  towards  the  development  of  a 
new  colonial  empire  wherewith  to  replace  the  lost  xjje  Indian 
American  colonies.  The  position  which  she  had  won  and  colonial 
as  mistress  of  the  seas  enabled  her  to  carry  out  both  emp  pes* 
tasks  with  little  interference  from  any  other  nation,  and  to  profit 
by  the  weakness  of  Trance  and  her  involuntary  allies  to  appropriate 
for  herself  the  remnants  of  their  Indian  and  colonial  power. 
Nothing  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  more  pregnant  with  results 
for  the  future  than  this  consummation  of  the  process  by  which 
Britain  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  has 
been  extending  her  tongue,  people,  and  traditions  over  distant 
continents,  and  winning  for  her  empire  the  most  ancient  civiliza- 
tions of  the  East.  The  nineteenth-century  development  both 
of  our  Indian  empire  and  our  new  colonial  system  has  been  so 
independent  of  our  internal  history  and  of  European  complications, 
that  it  will  be  simplest  for  us  to  study  them  separately,  apart  from 
the  record  of  the  domestic  history  of  Britain. 

2.  In  India  the  genius  of  Clive,  Hastings,  and  Wellesley  had 

709 


7IO  BRITISH   INDIA  [1820- 

secured  for  England  a  large  amount  of  territory  directly  under  her 
sway,  and  a  paramount  position  over  the  whole  of  the  peninsula. 
British  The  greatest  aggregate  of   country  governed  imme- 

India  in  diately  by  the  British  was  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges. 

To  Bengal  and  Behar,  annexed  in  1765,  had  been 
added  the  Upper  and  Lower  Doab  and  Rohilkhand,  taken  in 
1801-1803,  which  extended  our  territory  to  the  rich  districts 
of  the  Upper  Ganges,  and  included  Delhi,  the  old  capital  of  the 
Mogul  emperors.  In  1803,  Orissa,  the  coast  district  to  the 
south-west  c  f  Calcutta,  had  also  been  absorbed.  These  regions 
jointly  constituted  the  presidency  of  Bengal,  and  were  directly 
ruled  by  the  governor-general  from  Calcutta.  South  of  Orissa  the 
Circars  (176 1)  and  the  Karnatik  (1801)  extended  the  Madras  presi- 
dency along  the  whole  eastern  coast  as  far  as  Cape  Comorin. 
Besides  this,  Ceylon,  acquired  from  the  Dutch  during  the  Napoleonic 
wars,  became  also  British,  though  then  as  now  separately  governed 
from  continental  India.  In  the  west  the  Bombay  presidency  up 
to  1818  included  but  a  very  small  area  of  actual  British  lands,  and 
was  still  closely  pressed  in  the  interior  by  the  territories  of  the 
Maratha  chieftains,  who  had  only  been  temporarily  cowed  by 
their  defeats  at  Assaye  and  Argaum.  However,  in  1817-1818  the 
third  Mardtlid  war  led  to  the  absorption  of  the  whole  dominions 
of  the  Peshwa.  into  the  Bombay  presidency,  which  thus  assumed 
dimensions  not  much  inferior  to  those  of  the  eastern  seats  of 
British  power.  Moreover,  the  beginning  of  the  Central  Provinces 
of  a  later  date  were  now  made  by  other  annexations. 

3.  The   British  overlordship  was  at  the   same  time  extended 
over  the  most  powerful  of  the  native  princes.     Holkar  and  the 

...  Gaekwar  were  forced  to  sign  subsidiary  treaties,  such 

vassal  as  the  other  Maratha  lords  had  already  been   corn- 

states  in  pelled  to  accept.  The  result  of  this  was  a  complete 
1820 

destruction  of  Maratha  independence,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  peace  and  sound  rule  in  regions  long  devastated  by  the 
Maratha  hordes  and  their  allies,  the  freebooting  Pindaris.  The 
warlike  princes  of  Rajputana,  long  the  victims  of  Maratha  inroads, 
now  gladly  accepted  British  supremacy.  In  the  north  the  nawab 
of  Oudh,  whose  lands  were  surrounded  by  British  territory ;  in  the 
Deccan  the  nizam ;  and  in  the  extreme  south  the  raja  of  Mysore, — 
were  closely  bound  by  the  subsidiary  treaties  negotiated  in  "Wel- 
lesley's  governorship.  Only  in  the  extreme  north  was  there  now 
a  strong  and  independent  native  state.  This  was  the  monarchy 
which  Ranjit  Singh  had  established  over  the  Sikhs  of  the  Punjab. 


-iqoi.]  BRITISH  INDIA  J 11 

The  Sikhs  were  warlike  Hindu  devotees  who  had  revolted  from  the 
Mogul  Empire,  and  had  courage  and  faith  enough  to  make  them 
really  formidable.  But  Ranjft  Singh  made  a  point  of  keeping  on 
good  terms  with  the  English,  so  that,  though  he  commanded  great 
military  resources,  there  was  no  trouble  with  the  Sikhs  until  after 
his  death  in  1839. 

4.  The  third  Maratha  war  had  been  fought  during  the  governor- 
generalship  of  the  marquis  of  Hastings,  who  ruled  India  from 
1814  to  1823.  Under  his  successor,  Lord  Amherst,  a 
nephew  of  Chatham's  favourite  general,  the  chief  event  g^p  0f  L0r(j 
was  the  first  Burmese  war,  which  led,  in  1826,  to  the  William 
annexation  of  Assam  and  Arakan  to  the  Bengal  presi-  igoslss's 
dency.  Amherst  was  succeeded  as  governor  by  Lord 
William  Bentinck,  a  younger  son  of  the  duke  of  Portland,  prime 
minister  in  1783  and  1807.  An  ardent  Whig  and  an  enthusiastic 
reformer,  Lord  William  made  his  rule  memorable,  not  by  conquests, 
but  by  his  self-denying  efforts  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  vast 
populations  committed  to  his  charge.  He  had  the  courage  to  put 
down  the  ancient  Hindu  custom  of  Sati,  or  widow -burning,  despite 
the  outcry  of  Hindus  and  Anglo-Indians,  who  thought  that  a  revolt 
would  follow  an  attack  on  so  long-cherished  a  superstition.  He 
also  stamped  out  Thagi,  and  rooted  out  the  brotherhoods  of  thags,  or 
hereditary  murderers,  who  had  wandered  over  the  whole  country  in 
disguise,  and  made  a  trade  of  strangling.  He  sought  to  educate 
the  higher  classes  of  the  native  races  in  Western  literature  and  in 
the  English  language.  He  removed  the  old  restrictions  on  mis- 
sionaries, and  encouraged  steam  navigation  on  the  Granges.  He 
set  his  face  against  further  annexations ;  he  strove  to  extend 
freedom  of  speech  and  writing,  and  opened  the  public  services  to 
the  native  races.  Ho  often  pursued  these  laudable  aims  by  methods 
too  Western  to  suit  the  circumstances  of  India,  and  set  the  class- 
Zeeling  of  the  Anglo-Indians  strongly  against  him.  But  he  was 
strongly  supported  by  the  Whig  governments  of  the  period  of  the 
reform  movement.  In  1833  the  East  India  Company's  charter  was 
renewed  on  terms  which  fitted  in  with  the  liberal  character  of 
Bentinck's  acts.  By  it  the  company  was  forced  to  abandon  its 
commercial  monopolies  and  its  trading  activity.  The  limitation  of 
the  governing  corporation  to  administration  and  patronage  greatly 
improved  the  tone  of  its  policy,  and  reacted  favourably  on  the 
character  of  British  rule  in  India. 

•5.  Under  Lord  Auckland,  the  next  governor-general  (1836-1842}, 
troubles  broke  out  with  Afghanistan,  a  mountainous  country  beyond 


712  BRITISH  INDIA  [1820- 

the  western  mountain  borders  of  India,  inhabited  by  scattered 
tribes  of  warlike  and  enthusiastic  Mohammedans,  who  had  for 
.  more  than  a  century  made  themselves  the  terror  of 
war.  1839-  Northern  India.  Alarmed  by  the  intrigues  of  Russia 
1 842.  with  Dost  Muhammad,  amfr  of  Afghanistan,  Auckland 

resolved  to  drive  him  from  his  throne,  and  restore  his  rival  Shah 
Shuja,  then  an  exile  in  British  India.  It  was  a  task  both  dangerous 
and  unnecessary,  but  in  1839  was  safely  accomplished.  Shah  Shujii 
was  restored,  but  even  a  strong  army  at  Kabul,  the  capital,  could 
not  maintain  the  new-comer  in  his  throne.  The  Afghans  revolted, 
and  pressed  the  English  garrison  at  Kabul  so  hard  that  its  com- 
mander, General  Elphinstone,  a  weakly  old  man,  inadequate  for  so 
great  a  charge,  was  glad  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  rebel  leader, 
Akbar  Khan,  Dost  Muhammad's  son,  to  allow  him  to  retire  in  safety 
to  British  territory.  But  Akbar  would  not,  or  more  probably  could 
not,  keep  his  promise.  As  the  panic-stricken  army  wound  their 
way  through  the  defiles  of  the  passes  of  the  Khurd-Kabul  and  the 
Khaibar,  fierce  mountaineers,  lining  every  height,  shot  down  the 
hapless  fugitives  as  they  dragged  on  in  helpless  disorder,  suffering 
intensely  from  the  cold  and  snows  of  the  hard  Afghan  winter. 
Before  long  the  whole  force  was  annihilated.  At  last,  on  the 
morning  of  January  13,  1842,  a  sentry  from  the  walls  of  Jalalabad 
saw  a  single  white  man  clinging  wearily  to  the  neck  of  a  tired-out 
pony  that  could  hardly  drag  him  along.  He  was  the  sole  survivor 
of  the  army  of  4500  men,  with  its  12,000  followers,  which  had 
marched  out  of  Kabul  a  week  before.  Next  spring  Afghanistan 
was  invaded,  the  prisoners  rescued,  and  a  show  made  of  punishing 
the  offenders.  In  the  end,  Dost  Muhammad  was  restored  to  his 
throne,  and  the  war  resulted  in  absolutely  no  change  in  the 
position  of  Afghanistan,  though  it  did  much  to  reveal  to  the  enemy 
the  limitations  of  the  British  power. 

6.  The  conclusion  of  the  Afghan  war  was  fought  under  Lord 
Ellenborough,  a  vigorous  but  vain  and  pompous  ruler,  who  was 
governor-general  from  1842  to  1844.  In  1843  Sir 
The  con-  Charles  Napier  defeated  the  amirs  of  Sind,  the  district 
Sind,  1843,  °f  the  Lower  Indus,  at  the  battle  of  Midni,  from  which 
and  the  followed  the  conquest  of  Sind  and  its  annexation  to 

war  1845  the  Bombay  presidency.  Under  Lord  Hardinge  (1844- 
1848),  the  next  governor-general,  trouble  broke  out  with 
the  Punjab,  which  had  become  hostile  to  the  British  since  Ranjit 
Singh's  death,  and  anxious  to  try  its  strength  against  the  power 
which  had  failed  so  signally  in  Afghanistan.    In  1845  a  very  hard- 


-iqoi.]  BRITISH   INDIA  713 

fought  war  was  waged  with  the  gallant  Sikhs.  Ranjft's  army 
proved  a  magnificent  instrument  of  warfare,  and  the  headstrong 
valour  of  Lord  Gough  exposed  the  British  troops  to  terrible  losses 
at  the  hands  of  the  most  desperate  foe  against  whom  they  had  ever 
fought  in  India.  However,  they  were  at  last  forced  to  make  their 
submission.  A  young  son  of  Ranjit's  was  made  nominal  ruler 
of  the  Punjab,  but  an  English  resident  was  appointed  at  Lahore 
to  control  the  policy  of  those  who  ruled  in  his  name.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  Sikhs  was  thus  brought  to  an  end. 

7.  From  1848  to  1856  India  was  ruled  by  the  marquis  of  Dal- 
housie,  whose  government  proved  more  eventful  than  any  since  the 
days  of  Wellesley,  both  as  regards  extension  of  territoiy 

and  internal  progress.    His  first  difficulty  arose  from  a    Annexation 
revolt  of  the  Sikhs,  who  bore  with  impatience  the  loss  jab,  1849, 
of  their  freedom,  and  raised  the  whole  Punjab  in  1848.    &nd  Lower 
The  whole  of  the  Sikh  district  fell  away,  and  early  in   jg^™*' 
1849  Gough  fought  the  battle  of  Chilianwala,  where  the 
victorious  march  of  the  British  through  a  thick  jungle  against  the 
well-protected  Sikh  batteries  was  checked  by  the  panic-flight  of  our 
cavalry,  so  that  the  brave  infantry  suffered  enormous  losses,  and, 
though  the  enemies'  position  was  captured,  many  trophies  of  victory 
fell  into  the   Sikhs'  hands.     Next  month  Gough  put  down  the 
revolt  in  the  decisive  victory  of  Gujrat.     The  Punjab  was  then 
annexed ;  and  the  energy  of  Dalhousie,  well  seconded  by  the  brothers 
Lawrence,  built  up  a  system  of  mixed  military  and  civil  rule,  which 
soon  reduced  the  Punjab  to  obedience  and  contentment.     Hence- 
forth the  remarkable  military  capacity  of  the  Sikh  levies  was  to  be 
used  on  the  British  side,  and  before  long  this  was  to  prove  the 
salvation  of  our  Indian  empire.     In  1852  Dalhousie  fought  the 
second  Burmese  war,  which  resulted  in  the  annexation  of  Lower 
Burma  and  the  great  trading  station  of  Rangoon. 

8.  A  special  feature  of  Dalhousie's  rule  was  the  wholesale  an- 
nexation of  native  states.  Disregarding  the  universally  recognized 
Hindu  custom  of  adopting  heirs  to  childless  princes,  Dalhousie's 
Dalhousie  laid  down  his  famous  doctrine  of  lapse,  and  Doctrine  of 
freely  absorbed  states  whose  rulers'  bodily  heirs  had  Lapse- 
died  out.  Thus,  in  1853,  Nagpur  was  seized  on  the  death  of  the 
last  of  the  Bhonslas.  Moreover,  the  nizam  was  forced  to  sur- 
render Berar ;  while,  in  1856,  Oudh  was  forcibly  annexed,  on 
account  of  the  shameful  misgovernment  of  the  last  of  the  nawabs 
of  that  region.  By  these  annexations  the  modern  boundaries  of 
British  India  were  in  substance  attained.     Dalhousie  applied  the 


714  BRITISH   INDIA  [1820- 

same  doctrine  of  lapse  to  the  pensioned  princes  who  had  ceased 
to  rale.  Among  others,  he  refused  to  recognize  the  claims  of 
Nana  Sahib,  the  adopted  heir  of  the  last  of  the  Peshwas.  Acts 
such  as  these,  based  on  disregard  of  Hindu  tradition,  did  more 
to  excite  native  feeling  against  the  governor  than  his  down- 
right annexations.  And  the  swift,  stern  rush  of  Dalhousie's  re- 
forms in  the  administration  did  not  always  take  sufficiently  into 
account  the  unconquerable  conservatism  of  India  and  the  strength 
of  local  prejudice.  "With  all  allowances,  however,  Dalhousie  re- 
mains among  the  greatest  of  Anglo-Indian  statesmen. 

9.  In  1856  Dalhousie,  broken  down  by  his  strenuous  labours, 
went  home  to  die,  and  was  succeeded  as  governor  by  Lord  Canning, 

the  son  of  George  Canning,  the  famous  statesman, 
ning  and  Canning  had  been  little  more  than  a  year  in  India 
the  Indian  when  a  formidable  mutiny  of  the  native  army  of 
J857"  Bengal  placed  British  rule  in  the  utmost  periL     Since 

the  Crimean  war  India  had  been  dangerously  denuded 
of  British-born  troops,  and  the  sepoy  or  native  forces  had  been 
alternately  pampered  by  foolish  indulgences  and  irritated  by 
ignorant  offences  done  to  their  racial  and  religious  sentiments. 
At  last  a  real  panic  was  produced  when  an  improved  musket,  the 
Enfield  rifle,  was  issued  to  the  Bengal  army,  the  ammunition  for 
which  required  greased  cartridges,  the  end  of  which  the  soldier 
had  to  bite  off  before  loading  the  gun.  The  Hindu  was  convinced 
that  the  new  ammunition  was  greased  with  the  sacred  fat  of  cows, 
and  the  Mussulman  thought  it  was  lubricated  with  the  contaminat- 
ing lard  of  swine.  A  rumour  arose  that  the  government  meant 
to  destroy  their  caste  and  their  faith.  A  wild  panic  broke  the 
habits  of  years,  and  a  general  mutiny  was  skilfully  and  secretly 
planned.  The  rising  broke  out  at  Meerut,  and  soon  spread  over  all 
Northern  and  Central  India,  affecting  a  large  portion  of  the 
Bengal  army.  It  was  at  its  worst  at  Delhi,  where  the  Moham- 
medans hoped  to  revive  the  Mogul  Empire,  and  in  the  recently 
annexed  region  of  Oudh,  where  the  whole  people,  headed  by  the 
nobles,  joined  the  rebels,  and  reduced  the  English  power  to  a  few 
hard-beset  garrisons,  such  as  those  at  Cawnpur  and  Lucknow. 
Nana  Sahib  declared  himself  to  be  the  Peshwd,  and  headed  the 
mutineers  at  Cawnpur.  Before  long  the  Cawnpur  garrison  sur- 
rendered, and  was  butchered  in  cold  blood  by  orders  of  the 
Nana.  Luckily  the  armies  of  Bombay  and  Madras,  separated 
by  language  and  tradition  from  the  Bengal  sepoys,  remained 
true.     The  leading  native  princes  were  also  strongly  loyal,  among 


-I90I.]  BRITISH   INDIA  71 5 

those  conspicuous  for  their  fidelity  being  the  Maratha  princes, 
Holkar  and  Sindhia,  and  the  powerful  nizam.  Lower  Bengal 
even,  though  disturbed,  remained  for  the  most  part  in  British 
hands,  and  the  Punjab  was  not  only  loyal,  but  contributed  a  large 
force  of  warlike  Sikhs  to  the  forces  which  were  rapidly  collected 
to  deal  with  the  mutineers  on  the  Upper  and  Middle  Ganges, 
A  force,  partly  British  and  partly  Sikh,  marched  south  from  the 
Punjab,  captured  Delhi  after  a  long  siege,  while  General  Have- 
lock  moved  up  the  Ganges  to  Lucknow,  and  relieved  the  famished 
garrison.  This  marked  the  turn  of  the  tide.  Next  year  (1858) 
the  remnants  of  the  mutiny  were  stamped  out  with  a  cruelty 
which  rivalled  that  of  the  mutineers  themselves  during  their 
short  moment  of  triumph.  The  last  places  to  resist  were  in 
the  Maratha  districts  round  Bombay,  where  many  of  the  local 
forces  had  deserted  their  loyal  princes  and  rallied  round  Nana 
Sahib.  In  the  worst  days  of  the  mutiny,  Canning  had  shown  rare 
presence  of  mind  and  determination,  and  did  much  to  limit  the 
wild  reprisals  of  the  victors. 

10.  The  mutiny  sealed  the  fate  of  the  East   India  Company, 
whose  political  power,  by  a   strange   anomaly,  had  outlasted  its 
trading  days.     In  1858  the  Derby  ministry  carried  an  „    .    _  . 
India  Bill,  by  which  the  company  was  dissolved  and  East  India 
the  government   of   India  transferred  to  the   crown.  Company, 
acting  through  a  secretary  of  state   and   an   expert 

council,  which  replaced  the  board  of  control.  The  local  ad- 
ministration was  placed  under  a  viceroy,  to  whom  all  the  provinces, 
including  even  Bombay  and  Madras,  were  henceforth  subordinate. 
The  company's  European  army  was  amalgamated  with  the  forces 
of  the  crown,  and  its  navy  abolished.  Canning  became  the  first 
viceroy,  but  in  1862  he  went  home,  like  Dalhousie,  with  broken 
health,  and  died  immediately  after  his  return. 

11.  A  long  period  of  comparative  calm,  marked  by  the  avoidance 
of  fresh  conquest,  and  by  careful  attention  to  internal  reforms  and 
economic  development,  made  the  history  of  the  period   Raiiways 
which  succeeded  the  mutiny  stand  in  strong  contrast   and 

to  the  warlike  activity  and  confusion  of  the  days  of  *amines- 
Dalhousie  and  Canning.  A  network  of  railways  was  extended 
over  the  whole  of  India,  and  made  it  easier  to  deal  with  the  periodic 
famines,  which,  however,  still  remain  the  worst  curse  of  India. 
The  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  brought  Britain  and  her  great 
dependency  into  much  closer  relations. 

12.  In  1877  the  queen  assumed  the  title  of  empress  of  India. 


7l6  BRITISH  INDIA  [1820- 

Soon  after  came  the  most  stirring  episode  in  later  Indian  history, 
the  second  Afghan  war  of  1878  to  1880.  Its  origin,  like  that  of 
Second  its  Predecessor>  lay  in  the   jealousy  of   the   British 

Afghan  government    of    the  intrigues    of  Russia    with    the 

1878-1880  amfr*  These  intrigues  were  peculiarly  resented  at 
a  time  when  the  relations  of  England  and  Russia 
had  been  much  strained  by  the  events  of  the  Russo-Turkish  war 
which  had  just  been  concluded.  On  the  refusal  of  Sher  AH,  the 
amir,  to  receive  an  English  mission,  Lord  Lytton,  the  viceroy, 
overran  Afghanistan,  and  drove  Sher  Ali  to  take  flight  in  Central 
Asia.  His  son  accepted  the  English  terms,  surrendered  the  passes 
beyond  the  Indus,  and  strove  to  reign  with  British  help.  As  in 
1842,  an  Afghani  rising  soon  drove  the  weak  amir  from  the  throne. 
But  General  Roberts  was  now  sent  with  a  strong  force,  with 
which  he  occupied  Kabul.  In  1880,  however,  it  was  resolved  to 
abandon  Afghanistan,  and  a  treaty  was  made  with  the  nephew  and 
old  rival  of  Sher  Ali,  Abdur  Rahman,  who  was  then  the  strongest 
force  in  the  country.  By  it  the  new  acquisitions  made  by  the 
previous  treaty  were  relinquished.  Abdur  Rahman,  left  to  himself, 
soon  mad "3  himself  undisputed  amir.  The  only  chance  of  a  united 
and  friendly  Afghanistan,  strong  enough  to  prove  an  efficient 
barrier  to  Russia,  was  regained  by  this  reversal  of  policy  ;  but  the 
hesitation  of  Britain  between  the  two  methods  of  action  was 
ominous  as  to  the  result  of  the  growing  influence  of  English  party 
struggles  on  India. 

13.  During  the  later  years  of  Yictoria,  the  chief  military  troubles 
of  British  India  were  with  the  fierce  frontier  tribes  of  the  north- 
India  at  west.  Conspicuous  among  these  were  the  Afridis, 
the  End  of  a  fanatical  hill  tribe  of  warriors,  who  gave  much 
Victoria's  trouble,  and  necessitated  great  efforts  before  they 
could  be  forced  into  submission  in  1898.  In  India 
itself  there  was  such  peace  as  the  land  had  never  known  before, 
though  well-being  was  still  limited  by  the  clironic  poverty  of  the 
mass  of  the  people,  and  checked  by  a  series  of  terrible  famines. 
The  very  rapid  increase  of  population,  brought  about  since  the  old 
checks  on  growth  had  become  weaker,  raised  real  problems  as  to 
their  maintenance.  But  manufactures  began  to  spring  up  to  take 
away  some  of  the  surplus  population  from  the  soil,  and  in  the 
great  industrial  cities  of  modern  India  the  stationary  stage  of 
civilization  was  soon  almost  outgrown.  Yet  the  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation still  live  their  old  life,  untouched  by  the  manifestations  of 
Western  civilization  which  are  around   them.      Nothing  is  more 


1901.] 


BRITISH  INDIA 


717 


Emery  Walker  sc* 


71 8  BRITISH  INDIA  [t9oi. 

remarkable  than  the  constant  contrast  of  old  and  new,  East  and 
West,  which  British  India  presents.  We  must  go  back  to  the 
eastern  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  its  palmy  days  to  find  its 
like.  The  conquest  of  India  is  among  the  greatest  achievements 
of  Englishmen.  Its  government  by  them  is  still  more  creditable 
and  wonderful. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  BRITISH  OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  IN 
THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  (1783-1901) 

Chief  Dates : 

1788.     Beginnings  of  Australia. 

1837.  Canadian  revolt. 

1838.  Lord  Durham  Governor  of  Canada. 

1839.  New  Zealand  settled. 

1851.  Victoria  separated  from  New  South  Wales. 

1867.  Dominion  of  Canada  estahlished. 

1877.  Annexation  of  the  Transvaal. 

1879.  Zulu  War. 

1889.  British  South  African  Company  established. 

1895.  Jameson's  Raid. 

1899.  Beginning  of  Boer  War. 

1901.  Commonwealth  of  Australia  established. 

1.  While   British  ascendency   was    being    extended   over   India, 
a  new  colonial  empire  came  into  being,  to  replace  that  which 
had    been    lost    by    the    secession    of    the    thirteen 
American  colonies.     After  their  falling  away  Britain    Bpitisn 
had    few    colonies    left,    save  the   West   Indies   and    the  latter 
French    Canada,    and    even    in    these    the    British    part  of  the 
element  was  small,  since  the  West  Indies,  even  more   gentury 
than  the   southern   states  of  America,  were  tropical 
in  their   climate,   so   that  the  whites   could  only  form  a   small 
aristocracy  of  planters  and  governors,  leaving  the  tilling  of  the 
fields  to  be  done  by  the  labour  of  negro  slaves,  and  in  Canada 
the  European  element  was  French  and  not  English.     However, 
both  these  districts  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  wealth  after  1783. 
A  migration  of  ill-treated  United  Empire  loyalists  from  the  states 
of  the  American  Union  began  the  settlement  of  the  Upper  or 
English  Canada  around  the  great  lakes,  and  the  West  India  sugar 
colonies  were  soon  at  the  very  height  of  their  prosperity.     More- 
over, with  the  conscious  object  of  replacing  in  some  fashion  the 
loss  of  America,  a  few  far-seeing  men  were  turning  to  the  new 

719 


/ 20  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  [1820- 

continent  of  Australia,  for  the  first  time  well  known  through  the 
voyages  of  the  famous  navigator  and  discoverer,  Captain  Cook. 
In  1788  a  small  settlement  was  established  by  Captain  Phillip 
on  Tort  Jackson,  a  noble  harbour  in  New  South  Wales,  as  the 
eastern  coast  of  Australia  was  already  called,  where  there  soon 
arose  the  little  town  of  Sydney,  so  called  from  the  secretary  of 
state  of  Pitt's  ministry,  who  favoured  the  enterprise.  But  the 
settlement  was  on  a  small  scale,  and  destined  chiefly  for  the 
reception  of  convicts ;  and  before  long  the  outbreak  0*  the  great 
wars  against  France  called  away  British  energies  into  other 
channels.  Yet  a  beginning  had  been  made  of  another  New 
England  in  the  Antipodes.  These,  with  a  few  trading  stations 
in  the  tropical  parts  of  Africa,  and  isolated  islands  like  the 
Bermudas  and  St.  Helena,  almost  completed  the  list  of  British 
colonial  possessions  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

2.  The  Revolutionary  and  Napoleonic  wars  brought  back  to 
England  a  colonial   supremacy  wider  than   ever  dreamed  of  by 

Chatham.  The  immediate  result  of  our  maritime 
expansion  ascendency  was  that  the  colonies  of  France  and  her 
during  the  compulsory  allies  were  at  our  mercy,  and  as  many  as 
lutfonapv  seemed  worth  occupying  were  captured.  The  majority 
and  of  these  conquests  were   given  up  in  the  peaces  of 

Napoleonic     \%\^  and  1815,  but  a  considerable  number  still  remained 

in  British  hands.  These  included  several  West  India 
islands,  originally  French,  like  Tobago,  or  Spanish,  like  Trinidad ; 
Demerara  and  the  other  portions  of  Guiana,  taken  from  the  Dutch, 
which  were  henceforth  known  as  British  Guiana;  Cape  Colony, 
already  long  inhabited  by  Dutch  farmers  called  Boers ;  the  Dutch 
island  of  Ceylon,  and  the  French  island  of  Mauritius  in  the  Indian 
Ocean.  The  revolt  of  the  negroes  of  San  Domingo  from  France, 
and  the  establishment,  in  the  days  of  Canning,  of  the  independence 
of  most  of  the  great  Spanish  colonies  of  Southern  and  Central 
America,  still  further  cleared  the  field  of  European  rivals.  Thus, 
after  the  death  of  George  iv.,  the  position  of  Britain  as  a  colonial 
power,  relative  to  other  European  states,  was  stronger  than  it  had 
ever  been  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

3.  The  new  colonies  were  not  all  clear  gain.  Except  the  Cape, 
as  yet  of  little  importance,  they  were  all  of  the  hot  tropical  sort, 
Decay  of  *n  w^c^  Europeans  could  only  live  as  a  leisurely 
the  West  property-owning  class,  and  they  increased  the  diflicul- 
Indies.  ^eg  -^hich  the  question  of  negro  slavery  now  brought 
forward.     After  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  labour  became 


1901.]  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  ?2I 

dearer,  and  during  the  long  blockade  of  the  continent,  Europe  had 
learnt  to  make  sugar  from  beetroot,  so  that  she  had  less  need  of 
colonial  wares,  when,  after  1815,  our  colonies  could  again  send 
their  products  to  continental  markets.  The  abolition  of  negro 
slavery  throughout  the  Empire  in  1834  gave  a  fresh  blow  to  the 
West  Indian  planters;  and,  last  of  all,  came  free  trade,  which 
enabled  foreign  produce,  often  slave-grown,  to  crowd  out  the 
produce  of  British  plantations  from  British  markets.  There  were, 
moreover,  difficulties  with  the  free  blacks,  who  settled  down  in 
happy  sloth  on  their  small  patches  of  land,  and  could  not  be 
tempted  to  work  regularly  for  their  former  masters,  while  their 
numbers  and  claim  to  exercise  political  rights,  made  them  a 
political  as  well  as  an  economic  trouble.  To  avoid  being  ruled 
by  the  blacks,  many  "West  Indian  colonies  surrendered  their  con- 
stitutions, and  preferred  to  be  ruled  despotically  as  crown  colonies ; 
and  to  remedy  the  scarcity  of  labour,  they  sought  to  import  coolies, 
or  coloured  labourers  from  India.  These  devices  were  but  partially 
successful,  and  bit  by  bit  the  West  Indies,  once  the  greatest  glories 
of  the  Empire,  lost  nearly  all  their  prosperity,  which,  based  upon 
monopoly  and  slavery,  could  not  continue  in  an  age  of  free  com- 
petition in  trade  and  labour.  Yet  even  in  their  ruin  they  remained 
magnificent  monuments  of  their  former  greatness. 

4.  The  decay  of  the  tropical  colonies  brought  into  greater 
prominence  the  colonies  in  temperate  regions,  with  a  population 
largely  European,  though  not  in  all  cases  preponderat-   The      , 
ingly  British.     These  regions  had  problems  of  their   gration 
own,  for  the  conquests  of  the  great  wars  had  made   move- 
many  Frenchmen  and  Dutchmen  and  some  Spaniards 

"  the  subjects  of  the  British  crown.  But  the  growth  of  population, 
and  the  amount  of  distress  and  irregularity  of  employment  at 
home,  caused  many  Englishmen  to  seek  new  homes  for  themselves 
in  colonies  beyond  the  sea,  and  steadily  raised  the  population  and 
proportionately  increased  the  British  element  in  our  possessions. 

5.  Other  great  results  followed  from  the  steady  flow  of  emigra- 
tion from  Britain.     Large  masses  of  Englishmen,  freer  and  more 
unconventional  in  their  ways  than  those  left  at  home,    phases  of 
would  never  be  satisfied  with  anything  but  the  fullest    colonial 
rights  of  self-government,  and  the  lesson  of  the  falling   po  cy" 
away  of  America  had  taught  the   mother-country  the   necessity 
and  policy  of  allowing  them  to  work  out  their  political  and  economic 
destinies  as  they  themselves  thought  best.    Unluckily,  the  doctrine 
first  taught  in   revolutionary  France,  that  colonies  were  for  all 


722  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  [1820- 

time  parts  of  the  mother-country,  found  no  echo  either  in  England 
or  even  in  her  colonies.  Most  statesmen  believed  that  colonies, 
when  strong  enough,  would  naturally  fall  away,  like  America,  and 
took  no  pains  to  prevent  such  a  result.  Good  resulted  at  the 
moment  from  this  narrow  policy,  since  the  colonies'  demands  for 
self-government  were  gracefully  conceded. 

6.  The  first  step  forward  from  the  arbitrary  rule  of  crown 
officials,  which  was  necessary  in  the  infancy  of  a  new  settlement, 
Growth  of  was  ^°  S1*311^  a  local  Legislative  Council,  at  first  in 
colonial  many  instances  consisting  of  official  nominees,  but 
indepen-  ultimately  becoming  elected  by  the  colonists  them- 
selves.    The  second  great  step  was  when  responsible 

government  was  granted — that  is  to  say,  when  the  executive  power 
was  made  to  depend  on  the  legislative.  This  process,  granted  to 
Canada  in  1840,  was  completed  for  most  of  Australia  by  1856. 
The  result  was  colonial  independence,  for  the  only  link  now  was 
the  governor,  appointed  by  the  crown,  who,  however,  reigned  but 
did  not  govern,  and  the  continued  jurisdiction  of  the  English 
privy  council  as  the  supreme  court  of  appeal  from  the  colonies. 
For  the  rest  nothing  but  common  citizenship,  common  traditions, 
and  common  love  of  English  ways  bound  the  colonies  with  the 
mother-country  and  with  each  other. 

7.  This  new  colonial  system  gave  the  colonies  not  only  the 
political  freedom  which  the  American  colonies  had  had,  but  also 

an  economic  independence  denied  to  our  earlier  plan- 
Federation     Nations.     The  principle  of  free  trade  was  looked  upon 

as  incompatible  with  all  commercial  monopoly,  and 
England  stood  aside,  even  when  the  colonies  set  up  protective  laws 
of  their  own,  which  powerfully  helped  on  their  infant  industries, 
often  to  the  loss  of  those  of  England.  But  the  tendency  towards 
unity  between  neighbouring  colonies  led  to  plans  of  federation  which 
have  successfully  united  British  North  America  and  Australia. 
The  only  permanent  and  satisfactory  way  of  uniting  these  great 
groups  with  each  other  and  with  the  mother-country  is  by  some 
wise  scheme  of  Imperial  Federation,  which  would  bind  together  the 
British  races  in  one  of  the  greatest  states  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  We  can  now  best  follow  the  history  of  the  three  great  groups 
■ — North  America,  Australia,  and  South  Africa — in  turn,  and  see 
how  it  has  fared  with  them  under  this  new  colonial  system. 

8.  During  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Canada  was  by  no  means  satisfactory,  The  English  in 
the  Upper  Province  quarrelled  with  the  French  of  Lower  Canada, 


-I90I-]  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  72$ 

and  in  1837  the  French  rose  in  revolt.     The  rising  was  crushed, 
and    Lord   Durham  was    sent  out    in   1838  by  the  Melbourne 
ministry  to  organize  a  new  government.    By  his  advice   The  North 
the  two  Canadas  were  united,  though  as  a  counter-    American 
concession  the  executive  ministry  was  made  directly   c0  on  es" 
responsible  to  the  Canadian  parliament.     As  time  went  on,  the 
system  of  union  proved  a  dead  failure,  despite  the  facts  that  Canada 
made  wonderful  progress  after  the  grant  of  independence,  and  that 
the  English  element  steadily  increased. 

9.  At  last,  in  1867,  a  more  comprehensive  system  was  adopted, 
by  which  not  only  the  French  and  English  elements  in  Canada,  but 
the  scattered  population  of  the  other  North  American  The 
colonies,  were  brought  together  under  a  federal  system.  Dominion  of 
The  Dominion  of  Canada  was  established  under  a  ana  a" 
governor-general  appointed  by  the  crown,  with  a  federal  parliament 
having  its  seat  at  Ottawa,  and  an  executive  cabinet  directly 
responsible  to  it.  The  adoption  of  the  federal  principle,  as  in  the 
United  States,  made  it  easy  to  extend  a  full  measure  of  local  self- 
government  to  the  various  provinces,  each  of  which  also  possessed 
its  separate  parliament  and  government.  One  excellent  result  of 
the  scheme  was  the  separation  once  more  of  French  and  English 
Canada,  which,  henceforth  known  as  the  provinces  of  Quebec  and 
Ontario,  were  enabled  to  carry  on  their  local  affairs,  each  after  its 
own  fashion.  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  at  once  joined  the 
union,  and  soon  afterwards  it  was  also  accepted  by  Manitoba,  British 
Columbia,  and  Prince  Edward's  Island,  so  that  Newfoundland  alone 
henceforth  stood  outside  the  Dominion.  Di  1885  the  opening  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  set  up  an  unbroken  railway  route 
from  Halifax  to  the  Pacific  coast.  The  fertile  but  uninhabited 
regions  of  the  West  were  thus  opened  up  for  settlers,  and  during 
the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Victoria  this  development  went  on  at 
an  ever-increasing  rate.  Moreover,  the  discovery  of  rich  gold- 
mines at  Klondyke  and  elsewhere  in  the  remote  north-west,  attracted 
crowds  of  adventurers  to  the  desolate  regions  that  stretch  north- 
wards to  the  Arctic  circle.  By  these  means  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  became  a  great  country. 

10.  Equally  remarkable  has  been  the  development  of  the  Australian 
colonies.    This  was  very  slow  at  first,  since  the  original   ^ 
settlements  were  mere  convict  stations.     To  Sydney   Common- 
(1788)  was  added  Port  Phillip  (1803),  Tasmania  (1804),   JJ^jJ 
ejxi  the   Swan  River   (1826),   all  as  penal   colonies. 
Progress  became  possible  when  the  opening  up  of  fertile  pastures 


724  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  [1820- 

led  to  sheep-farming  on  a  large  scale,  and  this  in  its  turn  attracted 
free  settlers.  Before  long  the  colonists  refused  to  allow  the  further 
exportation  of  convicts  to  their  shores.  The  discovery  of  gold- 
fields  further  enriched  Port  Phillip  and  its  capital,  Melbourne, 
named  in  1837  after  the  Wliig  prime  minister.  In  1851  the  regions 
round  these  spots  was  separated  from  New  South  "Wales  and  became 
the  separate  colony  of  Victoria.  Other  colonies  were  cut  off — 
Queensland  in  1859,  in  the  hot  but  genial  regions  of  the  north-east ; 
and  South  Australia,  established  in  1836,  with  a  capital  named 
Adelaide,  after  William  iv.'s  queen.  Tasmania  became  a  separate 
government  in  1856 ;  and  the  Swan  River  Settlement,  after  a 
languishing  existence  for  a  long  time,  received  a  great  impetus 
through  gold  discoveries  in  its  interior,  and  in  1890,  with  the  name 
of  Western  Australia,  received  the  responsible  government  already 
allowed  to  its  more  populous  neighbours.  At  last,  in  1901,  all  the 
Australian  colonies  were  united  in  a  federal  union,  called  the 
Commonwealth  of  Australia.  Besides  these,  the  flourishing  islands 
of  New  Zealand,  first  settled  in  1839,  received  a  parliamentary 
constitution  in  1853,  and  strengthened  its  unity  in  1875  by  abolish- 
ing its  nine  provincial  councils. 

11.  South  Africa  stands  midway  between  colonies  of  the  type  of 
Australia  and  Canada  and  the  West-Indian-planter  class  of  settle- 
ment.    It  is  a  genuine  colony,  where  Dutchmen  since 

Africa  ^e  seven^eenth  century,  and  Englishmen  in  the  nine- 

teenth, have  settled  in  large  numbers.  But  the  native 
races  have  always  been,  and  will  certainly  remain,  the  great 
majority  of  the  population,  so  that  its  progress  has  been  rendered 
slow  by  the  conflict  between  European  and  African  as  well  as 
by  the  national  hostility  of  Dutch  and  English.  Disliking  the 
pushing  ways  of  the  adventurous  British  settlers,  who  went  to 
South  Africa  after  the  peace  of  Paris,  and  bitterly  resenting  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  British  Empire  in  1834,  the  more  inde- 
pendent of  the  Boers  withdrew  in  detachments  from  the  original 
settlements  in  Cape  Colony,  and  sought  to  find  new  homes  for 
themselves  in  the  wilderness.  The  first  migration  was  in  1835, 
when  some  of  the  Boers  established  on  the  north-east  coast  the 
republic  of  Natal,  but  the  English  followed  them,  and  in  1843  took 
Natal  into  their  own  hands. 

12.  Two  other  Boer  republics  arose,  the  Orange  River  Free 
The  Boer  State,  which,  in  1854,  was  allowed  its  independence  by 
republics.  Britain ;  and  in  1852  in  the  district  called,  after  1858, 
the   South  African  Republic  or  the  Transvaal.     The  settlers  in 


-I90I.]  THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  72$ 

the  latter  were  so  few  that  they  could  neither  administer  the 
country  nor  keep  control  over  the  natives,  especially  the  tierce 
Zulus  who  dwelt  in  the  lands  between  their  territories  and  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Prom  these  difficulties  so  many  troubles  flowed 
to  South  Africa,  that,  in  1877,  the  Transvaal  was  annexed,  and 
abortive  attempts  were  made  to  unite  all  the  South  African  colonies 
in  a  federation.  The  native  troubles  were  appeased  in  1879,  when 
the  Zulu  king  Cetchwayo  was  overthrown.  As  soon  as  this  terror 
was  removed,  the  Transvaal  revolted,  defeated  the  British  at 
Majuba  Hill,  and  in  1881  received  virtual  independence  from  the 
Gladstone  government. 

13.  Not  long  after  this  the  discovery  of  rich  gold  reefs  in  a 
district  of  the  Transvaal,  called  the  Band,  further  complicated  the 
South  African  problem.  A  restless  cosmopolitan  popu- 
lation  of  gold  seekers  filled  the  Rand  and  its  chief  mines  and 
town,  Johannesburg.  It  was  then  inevitable  that  there  the  struggle 
should  be  the  strongest  antagonism  between  them  and  °*  Boer  and 
the  slow-minded,  hard-fighting,  old-fashioned  Dutch 
farmers.  Though  hating  the  foreigners  and  their  ways,  the  Boers 
shrewdly  profited  by  the  flowing  tide  of  wealth  set  rolling  by  the 
Outlanders,  carefully  excluded  them  from  the  citizenship,  and,  con- 
tinuing their  old  habits  of  military  training,  lavishly  provided 
themselves  with  modern  weapons  and  artillery.  Their  dislike  of 
the  new-comers  became  the  greater,  since  a  great  extension  of 
British  influence  was  brought  about  after  1889,  when  a  British 
Smith  African  Company  was  established  by  Cecil  Rhodes,  an 
English  emigrant,  who  had  made  a  fortune  in  the  diamond  fields 
of  Kimberley,  and  in  1890  became  prime  minister  of  Cape  Colony. 
Through  his  operations  the  districts  to  the  north  of  the  Transvaal 
were  opened  up  for  settlement  under  the  name  of  Bhodesia,  through 
which  the  Boers  were  limited  to  their  existing  territories.  More- 
over, Rhodes  and  his  party  made  common  cause  with  the  Outlanders 
in  the  Transvaal,  and  in  1895  one  of  the  officers  of  the  company, 
Dr.  Jameson,  made  a  raid  into  the  Transvaal.  He  was  easily  over- 
powered by  the  Boers.  Moreover,  his  attempt  did  much  harm  to  the 
Outlander  movement,  and  stirred  up  race  hatred  between  English 
and  Dutch  all  over  South  Africa.  At  the  Cape  the  Dutch  party 
drove  Rhodes  from  power,  and  replaced  him  by  a  ministry  strongly 
sympathizing  with  the  Boers.  The  blunders  of  their  enemies 
enabled  the  Transvaal  Boers,  headed  by  their  president,  Paul 
Kruger,  to  pose  as  the  champions  of  Dutch  freedom  in  South 
Africa. 


726 


THE   OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS 


[1820- 


14.  From  1895  to  1899  strong-  tension  prevailed  between  the 
rival  parties  in  Africa,  and,  despite  many  efforts  at  negotiations, 
The  pre-  Krnger  and  the  Boers  refused  to  accept  any  terms 
paratior.s       which  the    British    government  would    offer.      The 

or  war.  Boers  redoubled  their  military  preparations,  and  in 
October,  1899,  the  Transvaal  and  the  Orange  River  Free  State 
combined  to  invade  Cape  Colony  and  Natal. 

15.  The  Boer  war  outlasted  the  reign  of  Victoria,  and  was 


F:n*ry  Wjdjcer  sc. 


The  Boer 
war. 


only  concluded  under  her  successor.  The  Boer  states,  where  every 
man  was  a  rider  and  marksman,  put  a  large  force  into 
the  field,  and  at  first  swept  everything  before  them. 
When  an  army  corps  was  mobilized  in  England  and 
successfully  despatched  to  South  Africa,  it  was  split  up  into  four 
divisions,  not  one  of  wliich  was  strong  enough  to  effect  its  purpose. 
The  fiercest  fighting  was  in  Natal,  where  the  Boers  besieged  the 
chief  force  in  South  Africa  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  Lady- 
smith,  and  the  largest  section  of  the  corps  sent  from  England 
strove  in  vain  to  relieve  the  sieere.     Before  the  end  of  1899,  three 


-iooi.J  THE    OVERSEAS  DOMINIONS  727 

at  least  of  the  divisions  of  the  army  corps  had  delivered  their  main 
attack  and  failed.  But  the  Boers  did  not  know  how  to  utilize  their 
successes,  and  the  early  months  of  1900  saw  each  side  waiting  for 
the  other.  An  enormous  number  of  fresh  British  troops  were 
despatched  under  Lord  Roberts,  the  hero  of  the  Afghan  war,  with 
Lord  Kitchener,  the  conqueror  of  the  Sudan,  as  the  chief  of  his 
staff.  All  through  the  Empire  our  roverses  excited  a  wave  of 
patriotic  feeling,  and  gave  admirable  opportunity  of  demonstrating 
the  reality  of  our  reserve  forces,  and  the  zeal  of  the  self-governing 
colonies  in  supplying  solid  bodies  of  fine  troops  for  the  defence  of 
the  Empire.  Lord  Roberts  then  marched  from  Cape  Colony  north- 
wards to  the  Free  State,  defeated  the  main  Boer  army,  and  took 
possession  of  Bloemfontein,  its  capital.  After  his  advance,  the 
Boer  forces  round  Ladysmith  were  so  far  weakened  that  it  became 
a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  storm  their  strong  positions  and 
relieve  the  hard-pressed  garrison.  A  terrible  outbreak  of  typhoid 
long  delayed  Roberts  at  Bloemfontein,  but  in  May  he  resumed  his 
advance,  and  occupied  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria. 

16.  The  conquest  of  the  Boer  capitals  increased  rather  than 
diminished  the  difficulties  of  concluding  the  war.     The  long  line 
of  communications  could  only  be  guarded  with  the 
utmost  difficulty,  and  the  Boers,  who  had  failed  in   establish- 
their    more   constructive   plans   of    strategy,   proved   ment  of 

consummate  masters  of  war  on  a  small  scale.'   Their    Bpltisri 

supremacy, 
energy,    skill,   and  resourcefulness   enabled  them  to 

carry  on  a  brilliant  guerilla  warfare  for  two  years  more. 

Books  Recommended  for  the  Further  Study  of  the  Years  1820 
to  1901 

As  we  get  nearer  our  own  days  histories  become  more  voluminous  and  less 
authoritative,  so  that  the  difficulty  of  making  a  selection  is  an  ever  increasing 
one.  Full  details  are  given  in  a  short  but  rather  dry  form  in  J.  F.  Bright's 
History  of  England,  in  three  volumes,  called  respectively  Constitutional 
Monarchy,  1689-1837,  The  Growth  of  Democracy,  1837-1880,  and  Imperial 
Reaction,  1880-1901.  More  elaborate  and  voluminous  are  Miss  Martineau's 
History  of  Thirty  Years'  Peace;  S.  Walpole'3  History  of  England  from  1815  ; 
Disraeli's  Life  of  Lord  George  Bentinck  ;  Charles  Greville's  Memoirs ;  Morley's 
Life  of  Golden ;  Morley's  Life  of  Gladstone ;  S.  Lee's  Queen  Victoria ;  and 
Longmans'  Political  History  of  England,  vol.  xL,  1801-1837,  by  Brodrick  and 
Fotheringham,  vol.  xii.,  1837-1901,  by  Low  and  Sanders.  For  non-political 
aspects  of  history  see  T.  H.  Ward's  Reign  of  Queen  Victoria,  Social  England, 
vol.  vi.,  and  Hovell's  Chartist  Movement.  There  are  many  good  short  biogra- 
phies of  the  leading  personalities  of  the  period.  For  Indian  history,  see 
Sir  VV.  W.  Hunter's  Indian  Empire,  and  R.  Muir's  Making  of  British  India, 
1756-1858.  For  the  Dominions  overseas  H.  E.  Egerton's  Short  History  of  British 
Colonial  Policy  and  Lucas'  Historical  Geographies  of  the  British  Colonies. 


BOOK    IX. 

THE  HOUSE    OF   WINDSOR. 

CHAPTER   I. 
EDWARD  VII.  (1901-1910). 

Chief  Dates : 

1901.  Accession  of  Edward  vu. 

1902.  End  of  the  Boer  war ;  Balfour's  Education  Act. 

1903.  Chamberlain  resigned  and  started  Tariff  Reform  movement. 

1904.  War  between  Russia  and  Japan  ;  Convention  between  England  and 

France. 
1906.     Conservative   defeat  at    general  election  ;    Campbell-Bannerman 
ministry. 

1908.  Asquith  prime  minister. 

1909.  Budget  rejected  by  House  of  Lords. 

1910.  Federation  of  South  Africa ;  Liberal  victory  at  general  election  ; 

death  of  Edward  vu. 

1.  Edward  vu.  was  the  first  king  of  England  who  directly  suc- 
ceeded as  son  of  a  queen  regnant.     It  seems  as  natural  for  a  son 
to  succeed  his  mother  as  his  father,  and  his  accession 
Saxony  and    did  not  lead  to  any  break  of  continuity  or  change  of 
the  Coburg-    policy.     Yet  with  him  old-fashioned  historians  would 

a  .  have  said  that  a  new  dynasty  began  on  the    British 

succession.  J         J       ° 

throne.    The  house  of  Brunswick,  which  had  furnished 

us  kings  for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  would  have  been  regarded 
as  ending  in  the  direct  line  at  the  break  in  the  uninterrupted 
male  succession.  Just  as  the  old  house  was  called  indifferently 
Brunswick,  Hanover,  or  Guelph,  so  the  new  house  could  be  called 
Saxony,  Coburg-Gotha,  or  Wettin.  Brunswick  or  Saxony  repre- 
sented the  general  territorial  designation  of  either  house ;  Hanover 
or  Coburg-Gotha  the  particular  local  branch  represented  in  Britain ; 
Guelph  or  Wettin  the  traditional  family  name.  By  strict  law 
Edward  vie.  would  have  become  Duke  of  Coburg  and  Gotha, 
728 


-1902.]  EDWARD    VII.  729 

even  before  his  own  succession  to  the  throne.  Accordingly,  when 
prince  of  Wales,  Edward  waived  his  German  rights  in  favour  of 
his  younger  brothers  and  their  children.  The  new  King,  who  had 
been  called  Albert  Edward  when  prince  of  Wales,  took  the  style 
of  Edward  vn.  He  added  to  his  old  titles  that  of  "  King  of  the 
British  Dominions  beyond  the  seas."  It  was  a  recognition  that  the 
Overseas  Dominions  had  outgrown  the  status  of  Colonies,  as  much 
as  the  United  States. 

2.  Edward  vn.  was  already  in  his  sixtieth  year,  and  had  for 
nearly  forty  years  represented  his  mother  on  nearly  all  the  cere- 
monial sides  of  her  office.     He  had  been  an  indefati- 
gable traveller,  knew  every  part  of  the  Empire,  and  Edward  VH* 
had  acquired  a  shrewd  judgment  of  men  and  things. 

He  had,  however,  abstained  from  taking  any  part  in  politics,  and 
was  thought  to  have  had  little  share  in  the  counsels  of  his  mother. 
He  was  looked  upon  as  an  easy-going  and  pleasure-loving  man  of 
the  world,  with  tact,  intelligence,  open-mindedness,  discretion,  and 
strong  practical  interests.  He  took  his  position  as  constitutional 
king  very  seriously,  and  made  his  influence  strongly  felt,  notably 
on  foreign  affairs.  He  was  even  more  careful  than  his  mother  in 
keeping  to  himself  his  personal  opinions  on  politics.  His  wide 
sympathies,  tolerance,  and  good  nature  made  it  easy  for  him  to  act 
with  men  of  different  parties,  notions,  and  social  position.  He 
worked  hard  until  the  end  of  his  life,  winning  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  his  subjects,  and  leaving  behind  him  the  reputation  of 
a  monarch  who  played  a  difficult  part  with  discretion  and  success. 

3.  At  the  new  king's  accession  the  war  with  the  Boers  was 
still  dragging  on.  Lord  Roberts  had  left  South  Africa,  and  Lord 
Kitchener  was  in  supreme  command.     Fresh  troops 

were  still  poured  in,  and  a  series  of  block-houses  was  Boep°ware 
erected  to  control  the  chief  centres  of  resistance. 
Nevertheless  the  Boers  raised  a  revolt  in  Cape  Colony,  and  de- 
feated and  captured  Lord  Methuen  after  a  fierce  fight.  Gradually, 
however,  Kitchener's  measures  of  repression  began  to  have  their 
results.  Every  week  large  numbers  of  fighting  Boers  were  slain 
or  captured,  and  very  slowly  their  obstinate  resistance  wore  itself 
out.  At  last  the  Boers  saw  that  further  resistance  was  useless, 
and  made  their  submission  in  May,  1902.  Thus  the  Boer  republics 
became  subject  to  the  British  crown,  as  the  Transvaal  and  Orange 
River  Colonies. 

4.  War  had  reduced  to  a  low  ebb  the  prosperity  of  South  Africa, 
and  after  the  peace  trade  long  remained  depressed.     There  were 


73°  EDWARD    VII.  [1902- 

difflculties  in  the  way  of  obtaining  enough  native  labour  on  the  Hand. 
To  remedy  the  lack  of  black  workmen  in  the  mines,  Chinese  coolies 

were  imported  in  large  numbers.  The  Chinamen  were 
African  bound  by  contract  to  work  under  strict  conditions  for 

settlement      a  period  of  years,  and  the  forms  of  their  service  were 
*"d  denounced  as  amounting  to  slavery.   After  the  general 

election  of  1906,  the  Chinese  were  sent  back  to  their 
own  land,  and  gradually  industry  in  the  Transvaal  was  restored  to 
its  former  channels.  Political  difficulties  immensely  complicated  the 
situation.  The  British  and  Dutch  elements,  so  recently  engaged 
in  mortal  combat,  were  now  forced  to  live  side  by  side,  though 
racial  antagonism  still  remained  strong.  Fortunately,  both  sides 
had  fought  so  well  that  they  kept  both  their  own  self-respect  and 
respect  for  their  antagonists.  Bit  by  bit  the  situation  improved. 
At  last,  in  1906,  the  Liberal  government  granted  self-government 
to  the  Transvaal,  and  the  majority  of  the  elected  assembly  proving 
favourable  to  the  Boers,  Louis  Botha,  their  general-in- chief  during 
the  war,  became  prime  minister.  A  little  later  responsible  govern- 
ment was  extended  to  the  Orange  River  Colony,  where  the  Boers 
were  in  an  enormous  majority.  Some  friction  inevitably  arose, 
but  the  Boer  leaders  showed  frankness  and  loyalty  in  recognising 
their  new  position  as  subjects  of  the  British  crown.  Very  soon 
the  success  of  the  experiment  led  to  a  renewal  of  the  negotiations 
for  the  joining  together  of  the  various  South  African  colonies 
after  the  fashion  of  the  federation  of  Canada  and  Australia.  More 
than  thirty  years  before,  in  1877,  the  breakdown  of  the  earlier 
efforts  at  union  began  the  long  troubles  which  came  to  a  head  in 
the  war.  The  revived  federal  movement  was  now  easily  carried  to 
a  conclusion,  and  accepted  even  in  Natal,  where  the  British  party 
was  stronger  than  anywhere  else.  In  1909,  a  South  Africa  Act 
was  passed  through  the  British  parliament  by  which  Cape  Colony, 
Natal,  the  Transvaal,  and  the  Orange  River  were  to  be  united  from 
the  year  1910.  "When  the  federal  government  was  formed,  Botha 
became  prime  minister  of  united  South  Africa. 

5.  For  the  first  years  of  the  new  reign  the  Unionist  govern- 
ment, set  up  in  1895,  remained  in  power.     In  July,  1902,  Lord 

Salisbury,  the  prime  minister,  whose  health  was 
ministry0"1"  rapi<Hy  declining,  resigned  office,  and  died  soon  after- 
and  the  wards.    Thereupon  his  nephew,  A.  J.  Balfour,  stepped 

Education       fcfo  ^g  piace_     jn  1902  Balfour  passed  an  Education 

Act,  the  central  principle  of  which  was  to  make  the 
county  councils  of  England  and  Wales   the  local   authority  for 


-1914]  EDWARD    VII.  731 

every  aspect  of  education.  The  school  boards,  which  since  1870 
had  been  entrusted  with  the  management  of  elementary  education, 
were  abolished,  and  their  functions  transferred  to  an  education 
committee,  appointed  by  the  county  council.  Next  in  importance 
to  this  was  the  compelling  of  the  local  authority  to  maintain  from 
its  funds  not  only  the  public  elementary  schools,  set  up  by  the 
school  boards,  but  all  other  elementary  schools  as  well,  including 
the  so-called  "  voluntary  schools,"  the  great  majority  of  which 
belonged  to  the  Church  of  England  and  to  the  Roman  Catholics. 
This  led  to  an  outcry  against  the  bill,  which  was  denounced  as 
endowing  sectarian  education  at  the  expense  of  the  state.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  act  offered  to  managers  of  such  schools 
freedom  from  financial  anxieties,  but  it  was  at  the  expense  of  their 
surrendering  the  ultimate  direction  of  the  schools  to  a  popularly 
elected  body.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  act  will  in  the  long 
run  be  best  remembered  for  the  fact  that  it  gave  the  local 
authority  absolute  control  over  the  secular  instruction  in  every 
elementary  school.  Even  more  important  was  the  duty  first  im- 
posed on  the  local  bodies  of  being  responsible  for  all  education 
within  its  district.  It  thus  made  a  great  step  forward  towards  the 
establishment  of  a  uniform  national  system  of  education.  Other 
changes  increased  about  the  same  time  the  control  of  the  central 
state  over  all  aspects  of  education.  For  the  moment,  however,  the 
broader  issues  were  lost  sight  of.  There  were  many  persons  found, 
both  among  friends  and  foes  of  voluntary  schools,  who  believed 
that  these  schools  had  received  a  great  advantage  by  the  act. 
Some  of  the  nonconformist  leaders  refused  to  pay  the  education 
rate,  because  they  objected  to  their  money  being  employed  to  endow 
sectarian  teaching.  They  were  known  as  "  passive  resisters." 
Meanwhile  the  operation  of  the  act  began  steadily  to  reduce  the 
number  of  voluntary  schools. 

6.  In  1903  a  costly  but  necessary  step  was  taken  in  the  Irish 
Land  Act,   which    empowered  the  state  to  lend  money  to  Irish 
tenants  who  wished  to  buy  their  farms.     In  1904  a   irishLand 
Licensing  Act  was  passed,  which  provided  new  facili-    and  Licens- 
ties  for  reducing  the  number  of  public-houses,  but   in&Acts. 
also  allowed  compensation  to  be  given  to  those  interested  in  lapsed 
licenses  out  of  a  fund  raised  from  the  license -holders  themselves. 
This  measure  was  fiercely  denounced,  because  it  was  said  that  the 
government  thus  recognised  the  hitherto  precarious  yearly  license 
as  a  permanent  piece  of  property. 

7.  In  foreign  affairs  Lord  Lansdowne,  who  succeeded  Salisbury 


732  EDWARD    VII.  [1901- 

as  foreign  secretary  in  1900,  strove  to  remedy  the  isolation  from 
all  foreign  alliances  in  which  Britain  fonnd  herself  at  the  time 
The  isolation  of  Victoria's  death.  The  traditional  friendship  with 
of  England.  Germany  had  weakened  under  the  stress  of  grow- 
ing commercial,  naval,  and  colonial  rivalry,  while  the  ancient 
dread  of  Russia  remained  and  threatened  to  compromise  our  rela- 
tions with  Russia's  ally,  the  French  Republic,  with  which  we  had 
many  outstanding  points  of  dispute.  The  general  sympathy 
shown  on  the  continent  for  the  Boers  increased  the  loneliness  of 
this  country.  Besides  the  coolness  of  Europe,  there  were  troubles 
in  the  Far  East  and  in  the  Far  West. 

8.  The  blackness  of  the  situation  was  not,  however,  unrelieved. 
In  the  worst  of  the  South  African  difficulties,  no  power  gave  the 
_  Boers  more  than  sympathy,  and  the  military  resources 
cordiale  developed  to  vindicate  our  supremacy  showed  that 
with  Britain  was  still  no  negligible  factor  in  politics.    It  was 

now  the  work  of  our  statesmen  to  win  back  friendship 
with  the  chief  powers,  while  avoiding  complications  likely  to  fetter 
our  future  action.  The  first  step  in  that  direction  was  a  treaty  of 
alliance  made  in  1902  with  Japan.  In  the  same  year  Britain 
joined  with  Germany  to  force  the  South  American  Republic  of 
Venezuela  to  respect  the  property  and  rights  of  subjects  of  the 
two  states.  More  important  was  the  conclusion  of  a  convention 
with  France  in  1903,  by  which  many  ancient  disputes  were  settled. 
France  recognized  the  British  occupation  of  Egypt;  the  trouble 
about  the  respective  rights  of  British  and  French  fishermen  off  the 
Newfoundland  coast,  which  went  back  to  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht, 
was  brought  to  an  end ;  some  common  policy  was  arranged  for 
Morocco,  and  petty  boundary  disputes  in  remote  parts  of  the  world 
were  adjusted.  Gradually  what  was  called  an  entente  cordiale  was 
established.  Germany,  however,  resented  the  Anglo-French 
alliance,  and  made  it  a  reason  for  increasing  the  German  navy, 
for  renewing  the  old  friendship  with  Russia,  and  in  particular 
for  complaining  that  the  Anglo-French  policy  in  Morocco  was 
dangerous  to  her  interests.  Some  indiscretions  on  the  part  of  the 
French  foreign  minister  gave  colour  to  German  irritation.  For 
a  time  war  between  France  and  Germany  seemed  not  impossible. 
But  France  was  at  last  forced  to  gratify  the  Germans  by  sacrificing 
her  foreign  minister,  and  under  his  more  prudent  successor  the 
storm  died  down.  The  result  was,  however,  to  make  Germany 
more  suspicious  of  England  than  ever. 

9.  Early  in  1904  war  broke  out  in  the  Far  East  between  Russia 


-1907.]  EDWARD    VII.  733 

and  Japan.  Prom  the  beginning-  the  issue  of  the  struggle  was  not 
left  in  doubt.  Incompetence,  corruption,  and  unrest  at  home  para- 
lyzed the  huge  resources  of  Russia.  The  Japanese  The  Russo- 
showed  wonderful  efficiency,  energy,  and  self-restraint.  Japanese 
After  a  long  siege  they  captured  Port  Arthur,  de-  North  Sea' 
feated  the  Russians  in  a  series  of  pitched  battles  in  incident. 
Manchuria,  and  annexed  Corea.  At  last  the  Russians  sent  their 
Baltic  fleet  to  dispute  with  the  up-to-date  Japanese  navy  the 
command  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  The  Russian  ships  were  ill- 
found,  and  went  out  conscious  of  coming  disaster.  As  they  sailed 
by  the  fishing-grounds  of  the  North  Sea,  they  mistook  a  harmless 
fleet  of  English  trawlers  for  Japanese  torpedo  craft,  fired  upon 
them,  and  slew  some  helpless  Hull  fisherfolk.  Great  indignation 
was  excited  by  this  outrage,  and  the  subsequent  movements  of  the 
Russians  were  closely  watched  by  a  strong'  British  fleet,  deter- 
mined to  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  conduct.  On  reaching  the 
seat  of  war,  the  Russian  ships  were  destroyed  by  the  Japanese  in 
the  battle  of  Tsushima,  the  fiercest  sea-fight  ever  fought  under 
modern  conditions.  Before  long  the  Russians  gladly  accepted  the 
mediation  of  the  United  States,  which  resulted  in  October,  1905, 
in  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  by  which  they 
yielded  to  Japan  all  her  chief  demands.  The  spectacle  of  the 
defeat  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  European  powers  by  yellow  men, 
only  recently  brought  under  the  influence  of  Western  civilization, 
demonstrated  that  Russia  was  incapable  of  aggression,  and  that  a 
strong  new  power  had  arisen  in  the  Far  East  with  which  European 
peoples  established  in  the  Pacific  lands  would  have  to  reckon. 
After  the  treaty,  Russia  was  further  distracted  by  internal 
troubles  and  threatened  revolution.  The  North  Sea  incident  had 
necessarily  turned  British  sympathy  towards  Japan ;  but  it  was 
soon  made  clear  that  the  slaughter  of  the  fishermen  was  due  not  to 
design  but  to  blunder  and  panic,  and  ultimately  compensation  was 
accepted,  and  the  outrage  condoned.  By  1907  a  good  understanding 
between  Britain  and  Russia  was  arrived  at. 

10.  In  improving  the  relations  of  Britain  with  foreign  powers 
an  important  part  was  played  by  the  personal  action  of  the  king. 
He  was  indefatigable  in  visiting  foreign  countries,  and   _ 
in  welcoming  the  return   visits  of  kings,  presidents,    the  Peace 
and  ministers   to   our  shores.      A  large   number  of    Maker, 
foreign  princes  were  closely  akin  to  the  king  or  the  queen,  and 
new  marriages  of  the  royal  family  widened  the  circle  of  monarchs 
related   to  our  reigning  house.     The   king   had  some  share  in 


734  EDWARD    VII.  [1901- 

bringing  about  the  entente  with  France,  and  was  equally  active  in 
promoting  good  relations  with  his  wife's  nephew,  the  emperor  of 
Russia.  His  personal  intercourse  with  his  nephew  the  German 
emperor  helped  to  lessen  the  strain  of  the  relations  between 
the  United  Kingdom  and  Germany.  The  change  of  government 
in  1905  did  little  to  alter  our  foreign  policy.  The  Liberal  foreign 
secretary,  Sir  Edward  Grey,  continued  the  lines  already  laid 
down.  If  the  entente  with  France  was  negotiated  by  the  Con- 
servatives, the  better  understanding  with  Russia  and  Germany  was 
to  be  set  down  to  the  credit  of  the  Liberals.  The  general  result 
won  for  king  Edward  the  title  of  the  Peace  Maker. 

11.  A  new  direction  was  given  to  politics  by  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, the  colonial  secretary,  who  now  advocated  the  abandonment 
Chamberlain  °^  ^e  sys^em  °f  ^ree  trade  which  since  the  days  of 
and  tariff       Peel  and  Gladstone,  had  generally  been  regarded  as 

the  essential  condition  of  our  prosperity.  Various 
reasons  led  him  to  this  conclusion.  Despite  the  example  of  Britain, 
our  chief  commercial  rivals  had  not  adopted  free  trade,  and  had 
nevertheless  thriven  exceedingly.  Even  our  colonies  had  become 
strongly  protectionist,  and  were  as  anxious  as  foreigners  to  keep 
our  manufactures  out  of  their  markets.  Chamberlain  dreamt  of  a 
closer  union  between  Britain  and  the  dominions.  Thinking  that  the 
easiest  way  of  preparing  for  this  was  to  offer  the  colonies  a  pre- 
ference in  their  commerce  with  us,  he  saw  that  this  could  only  be 
done  if  duties  were  imposed  on  a  large  number  of  articles.  More- 
over, he  believed  that  free  trade  had  damaged  our  home  industries 
and  our  agriculture  by  admitting  to  our  markets  the  products  of 
countries  which  jealously  kept  out  our  goods  by  high  tariffs. 
Chamberlain  soon  gathered  round  him  a  certain  number  of 
followers,  but  he  was  fiercely  opposed  by  the  Liberals  and  found 
little  active  support  in  the  cabinet.  Ritchie,  the  free  trade 
ehanceller  of  the  exchequer,  insisted  on  taking  off  the  small  duty 
on  corn,  imposed  for  revenue  purposes  during  the  Boer  war. 
Peeling  himself  hampered  by  office  from  preaching  his  new  gospel, 
Chamberlain  resigned  in  September,  1903.  His  ideas,  however, 
had  so  far  taken  root  in  the  cabinet  that  the  keener  free  traders, 
including  Ritchie  and  the  duke  of  Devonshire,  also  gave  up  their 
places  soon  afterwards.  In  the  reconstitution  of  the  ministry  then 
effected,  his  son  Austen  Chamberlain,  who  shared  his  views, 
became  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and,  after  much  hesitation, 
Balfour  began  to  veer  towards  tariff  reform. 

12.  The    ministry  was    much  weakened    by  these     changes. 


-iqo6.j  EDWARD    VII  735 

Efforts  to  reorganize  the  army  elicited  little  enthusiasm  or  con- 
fidence. There  was  a  fierce  agitation  against  the  Education  and 
Licensing  Acts,  and  a  hot  outcry  against  what  pan  0f  the 
was  called  "  Chinese  slavery  "  in  South  Africa.  The  Balfour 
conservative  instincts  of  the  average  British  elector  n  y' 
made  him  loath  to  disturb  the  free  trade  system  which  he  was 
accustomed  to.  Political  economists  declared  that  Chamberlain's 
views  were  against  the  doctrines  of  their  science.  The  poor  man 
feared  that  import  duties  would  raise  the  cost  of  living.  Great 
industries,  like  the  Lancashire  cotton  trade,  believed  that  tariff 
reform  would  diminish  their  enormous  export  trade,  and  there  was 
a  widespread  feeling  that  protection  might  encourage  the  growth  of 
trusts,  rings,  and  corrupt  vesteu  interests.  For  all  these  reasons 
the  ministry  lost  ground.  The  bye-elections  showed  that  it  had 
largely  lost  popular  confidence,  and  yet  it  made  the  fatal  mistake 
of  clinging  to  office  and  postponing  the  dissolution  of  parliament. 
At  last  the  situation  became  so  difficult  that  in  December,  1905, 
the  Balfour  cabinet  resigned. 

13.  Sir    Henry    Campbell-Bannerman    then     became     prime 
minister  of  a  Liberal  administration,  in  which  Sir  Edward  Grey 
was   foreign    secretary,  R.  B.   Haldane    minister  of   Th    c 
war,  John  Morley  (soon    made    a   viscount)    Indian   bell-Ban- 
secretary,    and   H.    H.   Asquith    chancellor    of    the    nerman 
exchequer.     Among  the  newer  men  were  the  eloquent    and  the 
Welshman,  David  Lloyd  George,  and  John  Burns,    elections 
the  workmen's   representative.     Parliament  was  dis-    ofl906- 
solved,  and  the  general  election  of  January  and  February,  1906, 
resulted  in  an  overwhelming  victory  for  the  new   government, 
whose  immediate  supporters  mustered  twice  as  strong  as  all  sections 
of  Unionists.     Besides  nearly  400  Liberal  members,  there  was  the 
usual  solid  Irish  Nationalist  vote  of  over  80,  and  a  new  feature  of 
the  election  was  the  return  of  about  40  members  of  an  Independent 
Labour  Party,  pledged  to  strong  labour  measures,  and  a  policy  of 
social    reform    veering    in    the    direction    of    socialism.     When 
Nationalists  and  Labour  men  supported  the  government,  it  could 
outvote  by  more  Chan  350  the  150  dispirited  Conservatives.     Never 
had  there  been  such  a  majority  before,  and  never  had  the  individual 
majorities  of  a  large  number  of  the  victorious  party  been  so  over- 
whelmingly great.     In  Scotland  the  Liberal  majority  was  greatly 
increased ;    Wales  elected  no  Conservatives  at  all ;  the  industrial 
districts  of  the  north  declared  strongly  for  free  trade,  and  Lanca- 
shire, hitherto  preponderatingly  Conservative,  returned  a  Liberal 


736  EDWARD    VII.  rI902- 

majority  almost  rivalling  those  of  Durham  and  Yorkshire.  London 
was  more  evenly  divided,  but  the  Conservatives  greatly  lost  ground. 
Even  in  the  home  counties  and  small  boroughs  of  the  south  a 
fair  number  of  Liberals  was  returned.  Only  in  Birmingham  and 
its  district  did  the  cause  of  tariff  reform  win  a  decided  victory. 
This  was  a  remarkable  personal  triumph  for  Chamberlain.  But 
before  long  ill-health  gradually  compelled  him  to  give  up  all  but  a 
nominal  part  in  public  life.  His  removal  from  active  politics 
deprived  Britain  of  the  statesman  whose  conduct,  though  very 
variously  judged,  was  always  dominated  by  large  ideals  and  com- 
prehensive schemes  appealing  to  the  imagination  of  the  electorate. 
Yet,  though  the  issues  before  the  electors  were  exceptionally  com- 
plicated, it  is  clear  that  Chamberlain's  fiscal  policy  was  not  attrac- 
tive to  the  majority  of  voters,  and  even  clearer  that  the  late 
ministry  was  no  longer  trusted.  It  was  the  first  election  since 
1886  in  which  Home  Bade  for  Ireland,  though  still  part  of  the 
Liberal  programme,  was  allowed  to  sink  into  the  background 
Another  feature  of  the  struggle  was  the  prominence  of  the  cry  for 
social  reform. 

14.  The  Liberals  remained  in  power  for  the  rest  of  Edward  vn.'s 
reign.  Campbell- Bannerman,  though  without  any  claim  to  a  high 
The  rank  among  statesmen,  showed  shrewdness,  tact,  and 
Asquith  good  humour  in  keeping  together  his  huge,  but  some- 
mmistpy.  what  discordant  majority.  It  was  a  real  loss  to  his 
party  when  ill-health  compelled  his  resignation  in  1908,  and  soon 
after  led  to  his  death.  Asquith  was  chosen  as  his  successor,  and 
lovers  of  old  ways  complained  that  the  king,  then  in  the  south  of 
France,  sent  for  the  new  premier  to  Biarritz,  instead  of  returning 
to  England  to  treat  with  his  servants  in  his  own  country.  In  the 
reconstitution  of  offices  necessitated  by  the  change  of  prime 
minister,  Lloyd  George  became  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and 
cabinet  office  was  given  to  the  brilliant  son  of  Lord  B&ndolph 
Churchill,  Winston  Churchill,  who  had  but  recently  left  the 
Conservative  for  the  Liberal  party. 

15.  The   new   government   set    to   work   to   remedy  what    it 

regarded  as  the  errors  of  its  predecessors.    Prominent  among  these 

_,  was  the  Education  Act   of  1902.     Various  elaborate 

ifle 

Liberal  schemes  of  educational  reorganization  were  brought 

education        forward  in  the  years  1906  and  1908.     The  first  pro- 
posed that  no  elementary  school  should  be  recognized 
unless  it  was  provided  by  the  local  education  authority,  and  evoked 
as  violent  protests  from  the  church  party  as  Balfour's  act  had 


-1908.]  EDWARD   VII.  737 

excited  among  the  nonconformists.  The  bill  passed  through  the 
Commons,  but  was  so  much  altered  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  the 
Commons  rejected  all  these  amendments,  and  the  government 
abandoned  it.  Early  in  1907  a  new  bill  on  different  lines  was 
proposed,  but  withdrawn  in  favour  of  a  third  scheme,  introduced  in 
the  autumn  session,  which  sought  to  disarm  opposition  by  allowing 
privately  managed  schools  to  "  contract  out "  of  its  provisions. 
This  yielded  too  much  to  satisfy  the  extreme  supporters  of  the 
government,  and  not  enough  to  please  its  opponents.  Despairing 
of  any  agreement  being  arrived  at,  the  government  dropped  this 
plan  also.  Not  even  the  grievances  of  the  "  passive  resistors  "  were 
remedied  by  law,  but  efforts  were  made  to  administer  the  act  of 
1902  in  such  a  spirit  that  the  friends  of  the  government  should  see 
less  reason  to  object  to  it. 

16.  A  second  chief  concern  of  the  government  was  to  amend 
the  licensing  act  of  1904.  Accordingly,  in  1908  a  new  Licensing 
Bill  was  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons  which 
provided  for  the  compulsory  reduction  of  licenses,  and  programme 
affirmed  the  principle  that,  after  a  time  limit,  devised  and  the 
to  protect  vested  interests,  a  locality  might,  at  its  or  s' 
option,  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicants.  A  great  outcry  against 
the  measure  arose  on  the  ground  that  it  dealt  unfairly  with  those 
engaged  in  the  drink  traffic,  and  though  it  passed  the  Commons, 
the  House  of  Lords  threw  it  out.  This  was  only  one  of  several 
government  measures  which  the  Lords  either  rejected  outright, 
or  amended  so  freely  that  the  ministry  preferred  to  abandon  them 
altogether  to  accepting  them  in  their  altered  form ;  among  the 
former  was  a  bill  to  prevent  plural  voting,  while  among  the  latter 
was  a  bill  to  promote  small  holdings  in  Scotland.  The  ministers 
succeeded,  however,  in  passing  many  important  acts,  including 
measures  to  compensate  workmen  for  injuries  received  as  a  result 
of  their  employment,  and  to  allow  old  age  pensions  to  persons  over 
seventy  not  in  receipt  of  parish  relief.  The  hours  for  work  in  coal- 
mines were  fixed  by  law  not  to  exceed  eight  hours ;  an  act  was 
passed  for  the  protection  of  children,  called  the  Children's  Act, 
and  two  new  universities  were  set  up  in  Ireland,  one  of  which, 
called  the  National  University,  was  likely  to  be  under  the  control 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  had  long  disliked  the  Protestant  or 
non-sectarian  character  of  Irish  university  education.  An  attempt 
to  give  Ireland  an  instalment  of  Home  Rule  by  what  was  called 
the  Devolution  Bill,  and  a  proposal  to  disestablish  the  "Welsh  church, 
were  not  persevered   in  by   the  government.     Already,  in  1907, 

2  c 


73%  EDWARD    VII.  [1909- 

a  large  scheme  of  army  re- organization  was  carried  by  R.  B. 
Haldane,  and,  later,  large  snms  were  spent  in  adding  to  the  navy 
the  novel  and  expensive  type  of  battleship  called  the  Dreadnoughts. 

17.  In  1909  the  great  measure  was  the  budget  of  Lloyd  George. 
This  extended  the  system  of  graduating  the  income  tax,  so  that 
The  budeet  weal^y  persons  paid  at  a  higher  rate  than  those  of 
and  the  moderate  means ;  increased  the  taxes  on  spirits  and 
House  of          the  amounts  paid  for  licenses  by  publicans  and  sellers 

of  strong  drink  ;  taxed  for  the  first  time  the  u  un- 
earned increment "  which,  it  was  said,  accrued  to  owners  of  lands 
near  growing  towns  without  any  effort  on  their  own  part ;  and 
claimed  a  share  for  the  state  out  of  the  royalties  paid  for  the  right 
of  extracting  minerals  from  land.  The  budget  was  denounced  as 
revolutionary  and  confiscatory,  and  all  through  the  summer  was 
fiercely  contested  in  the  Commons.  It  was  not  till  late  in  the  year 
that  it  came  to  the  House  of  Lords,  which  declined  to  pass  the  bill 
until  the  country  had  been  definitely  asked  whether  it  approved  of 
it  or  not.  Its  necessary  result  was  to  force  the  government  to  have 
recourse  to  an  immediate  dissolution  of  parliament.  The  electors 
had  to  decide  between  the  Lords  and  the  Liberals. 

18.  Early  in  1910  the  second  general  election  of  Edward  vn.'s 
reign  was  held.  The  ministers  asked  the  electors  to  declare  in 
The  elections  favour  of  the  budget,  and  declared  that  they  would 
of  1910.  not  bold  office  unless  means  were  taken  to  destroy  the 
Lords'  control  over  finance,  and  to  end  their  veto  over  legislation, 
which  had  in  the  last  parliament  wrecked  so  many  of  the  govern- 
ment measures.  The  Opposition  defended  the  action  of  the  Lords, 
but  argued  that  the  main  issue  before  the  country  was  the  choice 
between  free  trade  and  tariff  reform.  The  elections  showed  either 
that  the  electors  did  not  generally  regard  the  House  of  Lords  as 
strong  enough  to  be  dangerous,  or  that  tariff  reform  had  made 
considerable  progress.  The  Liberals  lost  many  seats,  especially  in 
the  south  and  midlands,  but  the  industrial  north  was  still  almost 
solid  for  free  trade,  and  against  the  Lords.  Consequently  the 
turnover  of  votes  was  not  sufficient  to  give  the  Conservatives  a 
majority.  Ministers  could  retain  office  as  long  as  they  kept  the 
support  of  the  Irish  and  Labour  parties,  with  whose  help  they  had 
a  majority  of  about  130.  It  was  therefore  with  weakened  forces 
that  they  met  the  new  assembly. 

19.  Two  questions  were  prominent  above  all  others.  The 
government  wished  to  send  up  its  rejected  budget  to  the  Lords, 


-1910.]  EDWARD    VII  739 

and  to  prevent  the  Upper  Honse  from  thwarting  its  policy  in 
the  future.  There  was  some  difficulty,  however,  in  deciding 
the  order  in  which  these  two  matters  should  be  pushed  _. 
forward,  and  time  was  consumed  in  drawing  up  resolutions 
resolutions  declaring  that  in  the  future  the  Lords'  and  the 
power  over  finance  was  to  be  abolished,  and  their  right  ng 
of  veto  so  limited  that  any  measure  desired  by  the  Commons  might 
become  law,  despite  the  peers,  before  the  expiration  of  the  parlia- 
ment in  which  it  was  first  passed  by  the  Commons.  Such  resolu- 
tions involved  the  whole  constitutional  problem  of  the  power  and 
constitution  of  the  second  chamber,  and  demanded  much  time  and 
thought  before  they  could  be  turned  into  laws.  The  ministers 
were  reproached  with  delaying  the  budget  because  they  were  afraid 
that  the  Irish  party,  which  had  no  love  of  the  increased  duties  on 
spirits,  would  vote  against  it.  Within  a  few  weeks  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  new  parliament  there  was  talk  of  dissolution. 
When,  however,  the  budget  of  1909  was  at  last  reintroduced,  it 
was  easily  carried  through  the  Commons,  and  accepted  by  the 
Lords.  The  question  of  the  second  chamber  was,  however,  so 
thorny,  and  the  opposition  of  the  Lords  to  the  government 
proposals  likely  to  be  so  emphatic,  that  a  dissolution  still  seemed 
likely  to  be  inevitable  before  the  problem  was  settled.  Party 
controversy  remained  fierce,  when  the  king,  whose  health  had 
latterly  been  giving  way,  died  somewhat  suddenly  on  May  6,  1910, 
at  a  moment  when  his  mediating  influence  was  specially  required. 
His  son,  George  prince  of  Wales,  became  George  v.,  and  an 
informal  truce  of  parties  ushered  in  the  new  reign. 


CHAPTER   II 

GEORGE  V.  AND  THE  GREAT  WAR 
(1910-1918) 

Chief  Dates  : 

1910.  Accession  of  George  v. ;  Second  General  Election  of  1910. 

1911.  The  Parliament  Act.    National  Insurance  Act. 

1912.  The  Balkan  League. 

1914.  Home  Rule  and  Welsh  Disestablishment  Bills  become  law.     Out- 

break of  war  with  Germany.  Battles  of  the  Marne,  Aisne,  and 
Ypres. 

1915.  Second  Battle  of  Ypres.     The  Dardanelles  Expedition.    Battle  of 

the  Dunajec.     The  Asquith  National  Ministry. 

1916.  Capitulation  of  Kut-el-Amara.     Battle  off  Jutland.     The  Dublin 

Rebellion.     The  Lloyd  George  Coalition  Ministry. 

1917.  Capture  of  Bagdad.    Battle  of  Caporetto.    America  at  war  with 

Germany. 

1918.  Treaty  of  Brest-Litovsk.     Failure  of  German  offensive  in  France. 

Second  Battle  of  the  Marne.  Conquest  of  Syria,  Mesopotamia, 
and  Serbia.  Armistice  signed.  Reform  and  Education  Acts. 
General  Election. 

1.  George  v.  was  forty-five  years  old  when  he  became  king.  A 
second  son,  he  was  an  active  naval  'officer  until  his  brother's  death 

in  1892  put  him  in  the  direct  line  of  succession.  He 
aadLtKe  '  was  known  as  a  good  sailor,  a  great  traveller,  and  an 
House  of         excellent  speaker.     He  threw  himself  conscientiously 

into  the  discharge  of  the  delicate  duties  of  his  position, 
and  showed  courage  in  speaking  his  mind.  In  1893  he  married  his 
second  cousin,  Princess  Mary  of  Teck,  a  great-granddaughter  of 
George  m.  Though  daughter  of  a  German  father,  she  was  born 
and  brought  up  in  England.  Thus,  for  the  first  time  since  the 
Tudors,  both  king  and  queen  were  thoroughly  British  in  sympathy 
and  education.  This  was  emphasised  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
German  war,  when  king  George  repudiated  all  foreign  titles,  and 
desired  that  his  dynasty  should  be  known  as  the  House  of  Windsor. 
2.  The  new  king  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  crown  as  a 
link  between  the  various  portions  of  the  Empire,  which  were  tending 
740 


19".]    GEORGE   V.   AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  74 1 

to  drift  in  different  directions  as  they  severally  worked  ont  their 
own  destinies.  His  uncle,  the  duke  of  Connaught,  who  had 
already  been  sent  to  Sjuth  Africa  to  open  the  first 
Union  Parliament,  was  appointed  Governor- General  theDo^"' 
of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  In  the  winter  of  1911-  mij}lon?/ 
1912  the  king  and  queen  went  to  India,  being  the 
first  British  reigning  sovereigns  to  visit  the  greatest  of  their 
dominions.  They  held  a  magnificent  Durbar  at  Delhi,  at  which 
the  king  announced  the  transference  of  the  seat  of  government  of 
India  from  Calcutta  to  Delhi,  the  old  capital  of  the  Mogul  Empire. 
Many  schemes  for  the  improvement  of  the  government  and  the 
development  of  the  resources  of  India  were  suggested,  and  in  1917 
a  considerable  advance  in  the  direction  of  Indian  self-government 
was  promised.  The  loyalty  of  India  during  four  years  of  war, 
and  the  large  share  taken  by  Indian  troops  in  the  campaigns, 
gave  reasons  for  making  such  changes  as  early  as  practicable. 
Meanwhile  the  self-governing  colonies  were  all  developing  their 
own  resources.  Canada,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  and  South  Africa 
set  an  example  to  the  mother  country  by  schemes  for  organising 
national  defence.  The  problems  of  the  relations  of  the  Dominions 
to  the  Empire,  though  much  discussed,  were  never  seriously  faced. 

3.  Between  1910-1914  Parliament  was  hotly  engaged  in  the  old 
party  warfare,  though  it  found  some  leisure  to  deal  with  problems 
more  deeply  affecting  the  heart  of  society.    The  great    _.     s         . 
fact  for  the  politicians  was  the  impending  conflict  be-    Election 
tween  Lords  and  Commons.    To  avoid  this,  an  attempt   ° 

was  made  to  bring  about  an  understanding  between  the  two  houses 
by  a  conference  of  party  leaders  of  both  sides.  On  the  failure  of  the 
effort,  the  government  appealed  to  the  country,  seeking  a  clear 
mandate  from  the  electors  to  destroy  the  veto  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  parliament,  elected  in  January,  1910,  was  dissolved  in 
November,  and  another  general  election  was  held  in  December  ;  but 
the  balance  of  parties  in  the  new  house  was  the  same  as  in  the  old 
one.  The  number  of  Liberal  and  Unionist  members  was  exactly 
equal,  so  that  the  ministry,  as  in  the  earlier  parliament,  could  main- 
tain its  majority  only  when  it  could  secure  Irish  Nationalist  and 
Labour  support.  It  was  accordingly  with  weakened  authority 
that  it  began  in  1911  to  put  its  proposals  into  practice. 

4.  A  Parliament  Bill  was  laid  before  the  Commons  in  February, 
1911.  The  Lords'  absolute  power  to  stop  all  legislation  was  to  be 
changed  into  a  suspensory  veto.  The  Lords  were  neither  to 
reject  nor  amend  a  money  bill;  any  other  bill,  if  passed  by  the 


742  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [191 1- 

Commous  in  three  consecutive  sessions,  was  to  become  law,  irre- 
spective of  the  action  of  the  Lords  ;  the  duration  of  a  Parliament 

was  to  be  cut  down  from  seven  years  to  five,  so  that 
Act  lln        on^  measures  passed  by  a  young*  House  of  Commons 

could  be  pushed  through,  over  the  heads  of  the  Lords, 
without  an  appeal  to  the  people.  To  meet  complaints  that  no  pro- 
posals were  made  as  to  the  reconstitution  of  the  upper  chamber, 
the  Prime  Minister  pledged  the  government  to  bring  forward  1 
scheme  for  this  within  the  lifetime  of  parliament.  Insisting, 
however,  that  the  Parliament  Bill  must  be  got  through  as  a  tirst 
step,  he  carried  it  in  the  Commons.  The  Lords'  attempts  to 
amend  the  bill  were  firmly  resisted,  and  as  the  Lords  dared  not 
persist,  it  became  law  by  August.  A  measure  was  also  carried 
to  pay  each  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  £400  a  year  for 
his  services.  Other  government  measures,  including  the  budget, 
had  to  be  postponed  to  an  autumn  session. 

5.  In  this  autumn  session  Lloyd  George  finally  passed  his 
National  Insurance  scheme.  This  plan  secured  that  all  workers 
N  tiona.1  "with  an  income  below  a  certain  level  should  be  provided 
Insurance       with  an  allowance,  in  the  event  of  their  sickness  or 

c  '  "  unemployment,  out  of  funds  to  which  the  insured 
person,  his  employer,  and  the  State  alike  contributed.  This  was 
the  first  of  a  series  of  measures  designed  to  make  life  more  toler- 
able to  the  mass  of  the  population,  and  to  mitigate  the  harshness 
of  the  industrial  struggle  for  existence.  Unrest,  culminating  in 
a  series  of  strikes,  shewed  that  there  was  widespread  dissatisfac- 
tion with  existing  conditions.  The  most  serious  of  the  labour 
troubles  was  a  great  strike  of  colliers  in  the  spring  of  1912. 

6.  In  1912  also  Parliament  sat  most  of  the  year.  The  govern- 
ment proposed  to  set  up  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  to  disestablish 

and  disendow  the  Welsh  Church,  and  to  widen  the 

WeisVlM  *'     e*ectoral   franchise.      Its   Irish   scheme   took    a  dif- 

establish-       ferent  shape  from  the  provisions  of  the  Home  Rule  bills 

Parliamen-     of  1886  and  1893.     Ireland  was  to  have  a  parliament 

tary  Re-  '  0f  ^wo  chambers,  a  House  of  Commons,  and  a  small 
lorm,  iyii. 

nominated  senate  :  but  the  Irish  parliament  was  only 

gradually  to  take  over  its  full  powers,  and  was  not  to  make  laws 
concerning  the  crown,  the  army  and  navy,  or  foreign  policy.  There 
was  also  to  be  an  Irish  executive,  responsible  to  the  local  parlia- 
ment. Forty -two  Irish  members  were  still  to  sit  at  Westminster, 
with  powers  equal  to  those  of  Great  Britain's  representatives. 

The  bill  produced  acrimonious  debates,  and  the  Irish  Unionist 


-KJI4.J        GEORGE.    V.   AND    THE  GREAT  WAR  743 

members,  led  by  Sir  Edward  Carson,  openly  threatened  resistance 
in  the  event  of  it  becoming1  law.  The  measure  was,  however, 
slowly  pushed  through  the  Commons,  only  to  be  rejected  by  the 
Lords.  The  Welsh  Church  Bill,  also  passed  by  the  Commons,  had 
the  same  fate.  The  New  Reform  Bill  proposed  that  no  man  should 
have  more  than  one  vote,  that  residence  or  occupation  should  be 
the  sole  qualification  of  a  voter  and  that  the  cumbrous  registration 
law  should  be  simplified.  There  was,  however,  no  proposal  to 
rearrange  the  constituencies  or  to  give  votes  to  women,  despite 
strong  agitation,  both  inside  and  outside  parliament,  in  favour  of 
the  latter  step.  An  amendment  for  giving  women  votes  was 
ruled  inadmissible  by  the  Speaker.  Thereupon  Asquith  withdrew 
the  whole  bill.  He  promised  to  give  facilities  next  year  for  the 
discussion  of  a  measure  for  women's  suffrage.  . 

7.  Unfruitful  debates  prolonged  the  1912  session  till  February 
1913,  and,  after  a  few  days'  interval,  the  new  session  began.  The 
Home  Rule  and  the  Welsh  Church  bills  were  again 

sent  up  by  the  Commons  and  again  rejected  by  the  If  eif?3Si°n 
Lords.  The  same  fate  overtook  a  bill  abolishing 
plural  voting,  while  leaving  untouched  the  other  anomalies  of  the 
electoral  system.  A  Women's  Suffrage  bill,  brought  forward  by 
private  members,  failed  to  pass  the  Commons,  the  Prime  Minister 
being  in  the  forefront  of  the  opposition  to  it. 

8.  The  government  had  not  improved   its  position  either  in 

parliament  or  in  the  country.     Even  its  more  broadly  conceived 

measures,  such  as  the  Insurance  Act,  were  difficult  to    „.  ,  . 

.  .  Ulster  and 

carry  out,  and  required  amending  and  supplementing    Home  Rule, 

before  they  worked  well.  The  Prime  Minister  was  1913~1914- 
vigorously  attacked  by  the  friends  of  Women's  Suffrage,  who 
thought  that  he  had  interpreted  his  pledge  in  too  lawyerlike  a 
fashion.  Adverse  bye-elections  slowly  undermined  the  Liberal 
majority,  and  increased  the  reluctance  of  the  ministers  to  appeal 
to  the  country.  The  worst  trouble  before  them  seemed  to  be  the 
disturbed  state  of  Ireland,  brought  about  by  the  fact  that,  under 
the  Parliament  Act,  the  Home  Rule  Bill  would  automatically 
become  law  by  the  end  of  the  session.  Headed  by  Carson,  the 
Ulster  Protestant  party  took  a  solemn  covenant  to  resist  Home 
Rule  by  force.  It  drilled  and  armed  a  large  force  of  Ulster 
Volunteers  to  defend  Protestant  Ulster.  The  Nationalists  natu- 
rally followed  the  example,  and  levied  a  host  of  National  Volunteers 
to  enforce  Home  Rule..  Ireland  was  divided  into  two  armed 
camps,  each  professing  to  prepare  to  fight  the  other.     The  Irish 


744  GEORGE    V.   AND   THE  GREAT  WAR  [191 1- 

government,  barely  controlled  by  the  weak  Irish  Secretary,  proved 
incompetent  either  to  comprehend  or  to  restrain  the  fierce  passions 
which  its  proposals  had  excited. 

9.  In  this  tense  atmosphere  the  session  of  1914  opened.  The 
government  once  more  brought  forward  its  old  measures,  but,  as  a 

concession  to  Ulster,  it  allowed  any  county,  or  county 
H°d1fheU^e  borough,  to  exclude  itself  by  popular  vote  from  the 
Ulster  Home  Rule  Act  for  six  years.     Carson   offered    to 

1914.nan         consider  permanent  exclusion,  but  ministers  refused 

to  move  any  farther.  Rumours  spread  of  a  projected 
concentration  of  troops  to  enforce  Home  Rule  on  Ulster.  There- 
upon some  highly  placed  army  officers,  stationed  in  Ireland, 
sent  in  their  resignation.  The  result  was  a  ministerial  crisis, 
involving  the  resignation  of  the  minister  of  war  and  of  Sir  John 
French,  chief  of  the  staff.  The  trouble  was  patched  up  only 
by  the  Prime  Minister  himself  undertaking  the  charge  of  the 
"War  Office.  Nevertheless  the  Home  Rule  Bill  was  still  pressed 
through  the  House,  Asquith  maintaining  that  concession  to  Ulster 
must  take  the  shape  of  a  subsequent  amending  act.  But  his 
The  Amend-  Amending  Bill  was  only  produced  because  the  Lords 
ing  Bill,  refused  to  discuss  the  Home  Rule  Bill  until  this  was 

done.  It  proved  to  be  the  old  offer  of  six  years'  ex- 
clusion co  any  counties  voting  for  such  a  course.  The  Lords  then 
amended  the  Home  Rule  Bill  before  them  by  excluding  all  Ulster 
from  its  operation.  The  danger  of  war  with  Germany  now  led 
the  king  to  summon  a  conference  of  all  parties  to  Buckingham 
Palace,  but  nothing  resulted  from  this.  After  war  broke  out,  the 
Government  dropped  the  Amending  Bill,  and  thus  forced  the 
Lords  to  reject  outright  the  Home  Rule  Bill.  When  the  "Welsh 
Church  Bill  was  again  sent  up  to  the  Lords,  it  was  once  more 
thrown  out.  As  union  against  the  German  peril  made  it  unde- 
sirable that  these  two  fiercely  opposed  measures  should  become  law 
at  the  end  of  the  session  under  the  Parliament  Act,  a  Suspensory 
Act  postponed  their  operation  until  after  the  war. 

10.  The  greatest  war  in  history  was  the  result  of  the  claim 
of  Germany  to  dominate  the  world  and  the  inevitable  resistance 
0  1  •  0f  which  such  a  pretension  excited.  Yisions  of  an  Empire, 
the  Great        transcending  the  power  of  a  Louis  xiv.  or  a  Napoleon, 

had  long  dazzled  the  eyes  of  William  11.,  the  German 
Emperor,  and  the  German  military  class.  The  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  intoxicated  by  their  increasing  success  in  com- 
merce and  industry,  shared  in  the  illusion  of  their  rulers.     For 


-19 13-]    GEORGE    V.   AND   THE  GREAT  WAR  745 

more  than  forty  years  Germany's  claims  had  divided  Europe 
into  hostile  camps.  Each  continental  nation  was  armed  to  the 
teeth  ;  every  accidental  dispute  became  dangerous  because  it  might 
provoke  an  internecine  conflict.  On  the  one  side  stood  the  Triple 
Alliance  of  the  Central  Powers,  Germany,  Austria  and  Italy,  which 
latter  state  was,  however,  becoming  conscious  that  she  was  dragged 
in  the  wake  of  her  mighty  allies  without  any  regard  to  her  own 
special  interests.  Opposed  to  the  Triple  Alliance  stood  the  Dual 
Alliance  of  Russia  and  France. 

Alone  of  the  great  European  powers,  Britain  did  her  best  to  keep 
free  from  the  trammels  of  the  rival  leagues.  Even  after  necessity 
had  forced  her  to  shew  strong  sympathy  for  the  Dual  Alliance,  she 
hoped  still  to  live  on  friendly  terms  with  Germany,  and  made  no 
attempt  to  rival  the  armaments  of  the  continental  powers.  Her 
politicians  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  warnings  of  the  veteran  Lord 
Roberts  that  only  general  national  service  could  prepare  her  for  a 
great  war.  Haldane,  who,  as  war  minister,  had  done  more  than 
any  other  man  for  army  reform,  declared  that  enough  had  been 
accomplished  to  meet  any  eventuality.  Thus  Britain  blinded  her- 
self to  the  increasing  arrogance  of  German  claims.  If  war  was 
avoided  for  so  long,  it  was  mainly  because  Germany  was  well 
content  with  the  success  of  her  policy  of  "  peaceful  penetration," 
supplemented  upon  occasion  by  threats,  which  generally  resulted 
in  her  obtaining  what  she  wanted. 

11.  Between  1911  and  1913  three  new  troubles  shewed  that  the 
armed  peace  was  not  likely  to  last  much  longer.     The   first  of 
these  was  in  Morocco,  where  there  was  war  between   rontmentai 
the  French  and  the  disorderly  government  of  that   troubles, 
kingdom.     In  1911  the   German  Emperor  sent  the 

gunboat  Panther  to  the  port  of  Agadir,  thus  revealing  his  desire 
to  interfere  between  France  and  Morocco.  The  Anglo-French 
agreement  had  laid  down  that  Morocco  was  within  tne  French 
sphere  of  influence ;  Britain  now  declared  that  she  was  prepared 
to  support  France  against  German  attack.  The  Tn 
Kaiser  withdrew  the  Panther,  and  accepted  a  treaty  " Panther" 
which  left  France  undisturbed  in  Morocco.  It  was  a  ga 
a  great  triumph  for  the  entente  cordiale,  but  it  left  bad  blood 
behind  it. 

12.  A  second  trouble  was  even  more  disturbing  to  Germany,  be- 
cause it  foreshadowed  the  breakdown  of  the  Triple  Alliance  by  the 
secession  of  Italy,  and  opened  up  once  more  the  eternal  Eastern 
question,  which  had  been  comparatively  quiet  since  the  powers  had 


746  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [1911- 

put  an  end  to  the  Greco-Turkish  War  of  1897.  There  had  been  many- 
disputes  among  the  Christian  states,  between  which  the  greater 
part  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  had  been  divided  since  1878.  These 
became  the  more  dangerous  since  Turkey  went  through  a  domestic 
The  T  ki  h  rev°luti°n  *n  1909.  By  this  the  Sultan,  who  had  so 
Revolution,     cruelly  oppressed  the  Armenians,  was  overthrown,  and 

a  new  government  set  up,  controlled  by  the  Young 
Turks,  who  boasted  that  they  would  revive  the  Turkish  power  by 
introducing  western  methods  of  democracy  and  liberty.  They 
sought  and  obtained  support  in  Germany,  and  prepared  to  re- 
organise the  Turkish  army  under  German  advisers.  But  the 
Christian  subjects  of  Turkey,  finding  the  rule  of  the  Young 
Turks  as  oppressive  as  that  of  the  old  Sultans,  rose  up  in  revolt, 
especially  in  Macedonia.  The  Christian  rebels  included  Greeks, 
Serbs,  and  Bulgars,  but  the  kingdoms  of  Greece,  Serbia,  and 
Bulgaria  were  prevented  by  their  jealousies  of  each  other  from 
rendering  effective  aid  to  them.  For  a  time  the  Macedonian 
troubles  were  thrown  into  the  background  by  the  war  which  broke 
The  Tureo-  ou*  between  1911  and  1912  between  Italy  and  Turkey. 
Italian  war,  To  the  disgust  of  Germany  and  Austria,  Italy  im- 
1911-1912  ...  . 

posed  a  peace  upon  the  Turks  by  which  Tripoli  and 

many  islands  in  the  Eastern  iEgean  remained  in  her  hands. 

13.  "Worse  for  Germany  was  now  to  come,  for  the  conclusion  of 

the  peace  between  Italy  and  Turkey  was  followed  by  the  serious 

m.    t»  11  renewal  of  the  Balkan  troubles.      The  easy  defeat  of 

The  Balkan  f 

League,  the  Turks  encouraged  the  Balkan  peoples  to  make  up 

their  feuds,  and  in  1912  all,  except  Rumania,  joined  in 
the  Balkan  League,  concluded  through  the  wise  statesmanship  of 
the  Greek  Prime  Minister,  Venizelos.  In  1912  the  league  took 
up  arms  against  the  Turks,  and  drove  them  out  of  Macedonia. 
Behind  the  Balkan  League  was  the  unconcealed  support  of  Russia, 
and  the  sympathy  of  the  Western  powers.  But  its  success  im- 
perilled Germany's  schemes  of  using  her  Turkish  tools  to  establish 
her  influence  in  Western  Asia,  and  to  threaten  the  British  power 
in  Egypt  and  India.  The  league  even  more  directly  attacked 
And  its  Austria,  because  the  expansion  of  Serbia  blocked  her 

dissolution,     path  to  Salonica,  and  exposed  her  to  the  danger  of 

Serbia  becoming  the  champion  of  the  Southern  Slavs  of 
Croatia  and  Bosnia.  By  the  help  of  the  German  princes,  who  reigned 
over  most  of  the  Balkan  States,  Germany  and  Austria  broke  up  the 
Balkan  League.  Their  task  was  the  easier  since  Greece  and  Serbia 
were  quarrelling  with  Bulgaria  over  the  division  of  the  Turkish 


-I9I4-1        GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  747 

spoils.  Bulgaria  now  went  to  war  against  her  rivals,  whereupon 
Turkey  resumed  hostilities  against  her.  But  Rumania,  hitherto 
neutral,  joined  in  the  attack  on  Bulgaria,  which  was  soon  forced  to 
disgorge  many  of  her  conquests.  The  intervention  of  the  powers 
forced  an  unsatisfactory  peace  on  the  Balkans  in  September,  1913. 
By  it  Turkey  in  Europe  was  reduced  to  the  districts  between 
Adrianople  and  Constantinople,  and  the  Balkan  States,  to  which 
Albania  was  added,  received  large  accessions  of  territory.  But 
Austria  annexed  Bosnia,  and  stopped  Serbia  from  access  to  the 
sea.  Moreover,  Bulgaria  secretly  joined  hands  with  the  Central 
Powers,  and,  like  Turkey,  courted  their  support  to  re-establish 
her  position  at  the  expense  of  the  Serbs. 

14  A  great  change  now  took  place  in  German  policy.     There 
had  long  been  an  active  German  war  party,  but  hitherto  it  had  been 
kept  in  some  check  by  the  Emperor.    But  the  threatened  withdrawal 
of  Italy  from  his  alliance  and  the  inability  of  the  Central  Powers 
to  stop  the  increase  of  Serbian  territories  convinced  him  that  the 
time  was  come  when  Germany  must  fight.    If  this  was  to  be  done, 
the  sooner  the  war  began  the  better,  since  Germany 
was  ready,  and  her  rivals,  despite  their  elaborate  pre-    IfgSSSjevo 
parations,  were  neither  willing  nor  able  to  bring  their   and  its 
forces  rapidly  into  the  field.     An  accidental  calamity   queries, 
soon  gave  the  pretext  to  fire  the  train  which  set  the   June_ 
world  ablaze.     In  June,  1914,  as  the  archduke  Francis    1914. 
Ferdinand,  heir  to  the  Austrian  throne,  was  driving 
through  the  streets  of  Serajevo,  the  Bosnian  capital,  he  was  assassi- 
nated by  a  Serb  fanatic.   Austria  accused  Serbia  of  complicity  in  the 
crime,  and  demanded  her  unconditional  submission.    Serbia  yielded 
nearly  all  that  was  asked,  but  in  her  terror  appealed  to  Russia,  the 
natural  protector  of  Sbvonic  peoples  in  distress.    Russia  answered 
by  setting  her  army  on  a  war  footing,  whereupon  Austria  began 
hostilities  against    Serbia.     Germany,  which  knew  and  approved 
of  Austria's  action,  ordered  Russia  to  demobilize  under  threat  of 
immediate  war.    On  Russia's  refusal,  Germany  and  Austria  de- 
clared war  against  her.     Thereupon  France,  as  bound  by  treaty, 
took  up  arms  in  defence  of    her  eastern  ally.      Thus  a  general 
European  war  became  inevitable. 

15.  The  only  question  still  open  was  what  Britain  was  to  do. 
In  order  to  prevent  the  war,  Sir  Edward  Grey  proposed  to  refer 
all  disputes  to  a  European  conference ;  but  the  Central  Powers 
contemptuously  rejected  his  suggestion.  Germany  persuaded  her- 
self that  Britain  was  too  conscious  of  her  military  weakness,  too 


74-8  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [19 14. 

much  wedded  to  the  doctrine  of  peace  at  any  price,  and  too  fearful 
of  civil  war  in  Ireland  to  venture  to  draw  the  sword.     Yet  she 

hated  and  feared  Britain  even  more  than  her  con- 
joins the  tinental  enemies,  knowing  that  Britain's  sea-power 
y$fi4Au8'4,    stood  between  her  and  the  schemes  of  maritime  and 

colonial  expansion  which  were  dearer  to  Germany  than 
even  continental  ascendancy.  In  her  eagerness  to  make  the  war  short 
and  decisive,  she  wantonly  provoked  British  hostility  by  demand- 
ing from  Belgium  a  passage  for  her  troops  through  Belgian  terri- 
tory in  order  that  she  might  strike  at  France  on  her  unprotected 
northern  frontier.  The  neutrality  of  Belgium  had  been  solemnly 
proclaimed  by  all  the  powers  after  her  independence  had  first  been 
established,  and  Britain  was  known  to  lay  special  stress  upon  its 
maintenance.  But  Britain  was  roughly  told  that  treaties  were 
but  "  scraps  of  paper,"  and  that  Germany  was  resolved  to  take 
the  shortest  road  to  victory.  This  gross  contempt  for  public 
law  silenced  the  last  hesitation  on  Britain's  part.  Impelled  by 
interest  and  honour  to  support  France  and  Russia  from  wanton 
attack,  she  was  doubly  bound  to  stand  forth  as  the  protector  of  a 
weak  state  like  Belgium,  and  to  vindicate  the  sanctity  of  inter- 
national law  against  the  doctrine  that  might  makes  right.  On 
August  4  she  went  to  war  against  the  Central  Powers.  Great  levies 
of  men  and  vast  grants  of  money  were  made.  Kitchener  was 
appointed  war  minister ;  all  the  available  forces,  amounting  to 
about  150,000  men,  were  sent  over  the  Channel  under  Sir  John 
French.  The  navy,  under  Admiral  Jellicoe,  was  already  prepared 
to  convoy  the  expeditionary  force  and  uphold  British  supremacy 
on  the  seas  against  the  new  German  navy. 

16.  The  early  course  of  the  war  went  almost  as  the  Germans 
had  expected.     The  little  Belgian  army  was  overwhelmed,  and  a 

huge  German  force  marched  through  conquered 
2£jt  of*"  Belgium  into  France.  By  this  time  British  troops 
France.  were  joining  with  the  French,  but  it  was  impossible 

1914.    '  for  the  northern  army  of  the  allies  to  hold  its  own 

against  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  invaders. 
Defeated  at  first  between  Mons  and  Charleroi,  and  later  on  the 
line  between  Cambrai  and  Le  Cateau,  the  Anglo-French  army 
was  driven  back  into  the  heart  of  France.  The  Germans  crossed 
the  Marne  and  threatened  Paris. 

17.  The  French  government  fled  to  Bordeaux.  A  fresh  army, 
assembled  to  defend  Paris,  held  the  line  of  the  Ourcq,  a  northern 
tributary  of  the  Marne.     It  thus  stood  on  the  right  flank  of  the 


I9H-1 


GEORGE    V.  AND   THE  GREAT  WAR 


749 


7$Q>  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [1914. 

advancing1  Germans.  But  the  Germans,  despising  their  enemies, 
pushed  on  southwards.  Thereupon  the  French,  with  wise  daring, 
The  battles  ^e^  fiercely  on  their  flank.  Meanwhile,  the  beaten 
^Tfthe  .  armies  of  France  and  England  made  a  wonderful  re- 
of  the  covery.     Between  6  and  10  Sept.  Paris  was  saved  by 

Aisne.  ^he  fjattie  0ftfie  Manie.   The  Germans  were  beaten  back 

from  the  Marne  to  the  Aisne,  where  they  dug  themselves  in  so 
effectively  that  the  allies  were  brought  to  a  standstill.  After  a 
fortnight  of  hard  fighting,  called  the  battle  of  the  Aisne,  the  French 
and  English  also  entrenched  themselves  opposite  the  Germans. 

18.  With  rare  insight  Kitchener  foretold  three  years  of  war, 
and  set  doggedly  to  work  to  create  a  British  army  that  could  play 
its  fair  share  in  the  defence  of  the  freedom  of  Europe.  The 
danger,  however,  though  less  immediate,  was  still  imminent.  A 
desperate  attempt  to  save  Antwerp  by  a  hastily  levied  British 
force  failed  lamentably,  and  all  Belgium  fell  into  the  Germans' 
hands,  save  a  little  scrap  of  south-western  Flanders,  in  the  midst 

of  which  was  the  historic  town  of  Ypres.  To  pre- 
of  Ypres,  serve  this  fragment,  French's  army  was  skilfully 
Oet^-Nov.,      transferred  from  its  first  position  on  the  Aisne  to  the 

northern  sector,  where  it  joined  hands  with  what  was 
left  of  the  troops  who  had  failed  at  Antwerp.  The  Germans 
desperately  tried  to  break  through  their  thin  lines  in  the  first 
battle  of  Ypres  between  October  20  and  November  11.  But  the 
British,  though  forced  back,  did  not  yield  before  the  sevenfold 
odds  brought  against  them.  Thereupon  both  sides  settled  down 
to  the  monotony  of  winter  trench  warfare. 

19.  The  positions  taken  up  by  the  rival  armies  in  November, 
1914,  remained  substantially  the  same  until  the  summer  of  1918. 

The  allied  line  ran  from  the  North  Sea  near  Nieuport, 
fiefd^of StCPn  al°n&  the  Yser,  and  bending  just  east  of  Ypres,  crossed 
battle.  the  Lys  near  Armentieres  and  continued  southwards, 

west  of  Lille,  to  the  eastern  suburbs  of  Arras,  and 
thence  by  Albert  on  the  Ancre,  tp  the  Somme.  A  few  miles  to  the 
south,  it  bent  eastwards  to  the  Oise,  and  thence  along  the  Aisne 
and  the  Vesle  to  Reims,  whence  the  trenches,  stretched  to  the 
borders  of  Lorraine,  and  then,  bending  southwards  again,  almost 
followed  the  frontier  up  to  the  Swiss  border.  The  Belgians  held 
the  trenches  along  the  Yser  ;  the  British  stretched  from  the  Yser 
to  near  Arras,  and  when  her  new  levies  were  ready,  took  over 
more  of  the  line  until,  within  two  years,  their  posts  extended  to 
the  Somme.     The  rest  of  the  front  was  defended  by  the  French. 


I9I4-]  GEORGE    V.    AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  75 1 


752  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [1915- 

20.  Along  the  400  miles  between  the  sea  and  the  Jura  constant 
engagements  raged,  involving  the  loss  of  myriads  of  lives  but  in 

no  substantial  way  affecting  the  balance  of  fortune, 
of  trench  The  allies  held  on,  hoping  that  time  would  enable  them 
TStSjSti      ^°  ^rmg  their  full  forces  to  the  fight.     The  Germans* 

though  not  anticipating  a  war  of  positions,  showed 
great  skill  in  adapting  themselves  to  its  requirements.  Their 
interest  was  still  to  quicken  the  pace.  By  concentrating  huge 
masses  of  troops  on  weak  places  of  the  enemy's  line,  they  strove 
to  force  their  way  through.  But  none  of  these  attempts  had  any 
real  measure  of  success.  In  the  second  battle  of  Ypres  (22  April- 
13  May,  1915)  they  narrowed  down  the  British  salient,  but  could 
not  capture  Ypres,  much  less  fight  their  way  to  Calais.  In  the 
battle  of  Verdun  (Feb.-April,  1916)  they  advanced  almost  to 
the  walls  of  the  hardly  beset  fortress  city  of  the  Meuse,  but  were 
at  last  brought  to-  a  standstill,  and  soon  to  yield  ground  before 
fierce  French  counter-attacks.  The  allies  were  not  more  fortunate 
in  their  attempts  to  beat  back  the  Germans.  The  French  advances 
involved  huge  sacrifice  of  life.  The  British  attempts  to  break  the 
lines  that  blocked  the  approach  to  Lille  were  almost  as  costly.  The 
unbounded  hopes,  excited  by  such  local  successes  as  the  capture  of 
Neuve  Chapelle  (10  March,  1915),  were  soon  shown  to  be  vain. 
The  most  important  offensive  in  which  British  and  French  shared 
was  that  called  the  battle  of  the  Somme,  which  began  in  July,  1916, 
and  continued  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  The  winter-struggle 
which  succeeded  it,  called  the  battle  of  the  Ancre  (18  November  to 
11  March,  1917),  carried  the  allies  to  the  gates  of  Bapaume  and 
Peronne.  It  was  the  first  offensive  that  seriously  contracted  the 
enemy's  line.  Yet  neither  French  nor  British  were  ready  for  a 
great  advance.  The  British  were  at  a  special  disadvantage  by 
reason  of  weak  numbers,  insufficient  munitions,  and  sometimes  bad 
staff -work  as  well.  But  the  allies  accomplished  at  least  as  much 
as  their  enemies. 

21.  There  was  also  fighting  on  a  vast  scale  in  Eastern  Europe 
between  the  Central  Powers  and  Russia.  The  Russians  began 
The  Cam-  we^  ^J  ^wo  invasions  of  East  Prussia,  but  the  Germans 
paigns  found  a  saviour  in  General  Hindenburg,  who  drove  the 
Kussia,  enemy  back  into  his  own  territories.  Hindenburg 
1914-1917.  then  fought  his  way  through  Russian  Poland  into 
Lithuania  and  the  Baltic  Provinces.  There  were  even  greater 
changes  of  fortune  in  the  struggle  between  the  Austrians  and  the 
southern  armies  of  Russia.      Toe  Austrians  failed    to   overrun 


-191 7-1         GEORGE    V.    AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  753 

the  little  Serbian  Kingdom  and  to  defend  Galicia  from  invasion. 
By  April,  1915,  the  Russians  were  on  the  crest  of  the  Carpathians, 
threatening  the  rich  Hungarian  plain.  But  Germany  came  to  the 
help  of  her  ally,  and  General  Mackensen's  victory  on  the  Dunajec, 
in  May,  1915,  completely  changed  the  situation.  Galicia  was 
rapidly  recovered  and  the  Austro-German  eastern  front  was  soon 
pushed  forwards  from  the  Rumanian  frontier  to  the  Baltic  near 
Riga,  leaving  a  great  extent  of  Russian  territory  in  their 
possession.  There  were  still  ebbs  and  flows  in  the  tide  of  eastern 
warfare  up  to  the  summer  of  1916,  when  a  notable  Russian 
advance  at  the  expense  of  the  Austrians  was  made.  But 
Hindenburg  now  threw  such  strong  forces  on  to  the  eastern 
front  that  the  ill-armed,  ill-equipped  Russian  armies  fled  rapidly 
before  him.  Ignorance,  incompetence  and  treachery  had  sapped 
the  resources  of  the  great  Russian  Empire,  and  the  Tsar,  Nicholas  n., 
was  powerless  to  set  things  right.  It  was  in  vain  that  Rumania, 
after  long  hesitation,  came  to  Russia's  assistance.  Thereupon 
Bulgaria,  which  had  already  joined  Turkey  in  declaring  for  the 
Central  Powers,  helped  Austria  to  crush  Serbia,  and  fell  upon 
Rumania  from  the  south.  Before  long  Mackensen  overran 
Wallachia  and  forced  Rumania  to  accept  a  dictated  peace.  Mean- 
while in  March,  1917,  the  unhappy  Tsar  was  driven  from  his  throne. 
But  the  Russian  revolution  did  not  establish  a  strong  government. 
Attempts  at  constitutional  monarchy  and  a  socialist  republic  proved 
failures,  and  power  was  usurped  by  a  gang  of  bloodthirsty  fanatics 
called  Bolsheviks,  who  reduced  Russia  to  anarchy.  Long  before 
they  made  a  disgraceful  betrayal  of  their  country  and  its  allies  in 
the  treaty  of  Brest- Litovsh  (3  March,  1918),  German  influence  had 
been  established  over  Russia,  and  her  troops  were  free  to  join 
hands  with  their  comrades  in  the  west.  Luckily  the  seething 
confusion  that  prevailed  after  the  treaty  prevented  the  Central 
Powers  from  enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  victory. 

22.  A  third  field  of  war  was  opened  up  when  Turkey  joined  the 
Central  Powers.      Her   threats   against  the   Suez   Canal  forced 
Britain  to  collect  an  army  in  Egypt  to  safeguard  the 
means  of  access  to  India.    The  khedive  of  Egypt,  who    nefles*    &~ 
upheld  the  Turkish  cause,  was  deposed  by  the  British,    ?g,1I5re' 
who  declared  Egypt  a  protectorate  free  from  Turkish 
suzerainty,  and  set  up  as  its  sultan  a  loyal  member  of  the  khedive's 
house.     A  bold  design  was  now  conceived  of  striking  at  the  heart 
of  Turkey  by  seizing  the  Dardanelles.     But  the  plan  was  badly 
executed.    A  futile  naval  demonstration  in  February  and  March, 


754  GEORGE    V.  AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [1915- 

1915,  showed  the  continued  truth  of  the  old  doctrine  that  ships 
were  powerless  against  land-forts.  The  attack  also  gave  the 
Turks  ample  warning  to  prepare  for  the  army  that  only  reached 
the  Dardanelles  late  in  April.  The  new  force  was  conspicuous  for 
the  large  proportion  of  Australian,  New  Zealand,  and  British 
"  territorial  "  troops  which  it  included.  Their  successful  landing 
amidst  the  greatest  difficulties  shewed  that  these  inexperienced 
citizen  soldiers  were  well  worthy  to  fight  side  by  side  with  the 
old  army.  Unluckily  the  initial  success  of  the  landing  was  not 
followed  up.  The  Turkish  lines  cooped  up  the  allied  force  into 
the  narrow  peninsula  which  separates  the  Dardanelles  from  the 
northern  iEgean.  Constantly  exposed  to  shell-fire,  suffering 
cruelly  at  each  gallant  attempt  to  drive  the  Turks  farther  back, 
insufficient  in  number  for  their  terrific  task,  and  inadequately 
directed  by  their  higher  command,  they  more  than  held  their  own 
from  April  to  December.  But,  in  October,  Bulgaria's  entry 
into  the  war  enabled  Germany  to  send  officers  and  munitions 
to  stiffen  the  Turkish  resistance.  The  Greek  king,  Constantine, 
a  brother-in-law  of  William  11.,  dismissed  Venizelos,  who  had  hoped 
to  send  Greek  troops  to  co-operate  with  the  allies,  and  henceforth 
did  all  that  he  dared  to  help  the  Germans.  At  last  the  Dardanelles 
expedition  was  safely  and  ably  withdrawn. 

23.  The  Turks  were  attacked  in  other  quarters.  Russia  con- 
quered from  them  a  great  part  of  Armenia,  and  an  expedition, 

mainly  provided  by  India,  sailed  up  the  Persian  Gulf, 
Armenia.1"  occupied  Basra,  and  by  November,  1915,  marched 
Mesopo-  '  within  twenty  miles  of  Bagdad.  But  it  was  too  small 
Macedonia.     an<l  ill  equipped  for  so  great  an  enterprise.     Finally, 

the  advanced  section  was  besieged  at  Kut-el-Amara. 
The  efforts  to  relieve  it  were  badly  conducted,  and  on  29  April, 

1916,  the  defenders  of  Kut  became  Turkish  prisoners.  The  double 
disaster  on  the  Dardanelles  and  in  Mesopotamia  reduced  British 
reputation  to  a  low  ebb  in  the  East.  Nor  was  any  fresh  credit 
won  by  the  occupation  of  Salonica  by  a  mixed  army  of  the  allies. 
The  Salonica  force  came  too  late  to  save  Serbia,  and  Mras  reduced 
to  helplessness  by  the  treachery  of  the  Greek  king. 

24.  A  fresh  gleam  of  hope  came  in  May,  1916,  when  Italy, 
The  war  which  had,  by  remaining  neutral  in  1914,  broken  away 
j?etween.  from  the  Triple  Alliance,  joined  the  war.  After  that 
Austria,  the  Italians  slowly  fought  their  way  over  the  Austrian 
1916-1917.  frontier  towards  Trent  and  Trieste,  the  chief  towns 
of  that  "  unredeemed  Italy  "  which  they  hoped  to  conquer. 


-1916.]    GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  755 

25.  Of  vital  moment  to  Britain  was  the  struggle  on  the  seas. 
At  first  the  Germans  wrought  much  havoc  upon  allied  merchant 
ships,  raided  the  English  coast,  and  won   a  pitched   _ 

battle  over  a  weak  British  squadron  off  the  coast  of   macy  of 
Chile.     But  before  long  British  naval  supremacy  de-  Seas, 

cisively  asserted  itself.  The  mighty  fleet,  which  Germany  had 
equipped  to  challenge  the  British  sovereignty  of  the  seas,  was  shut 
up  in  the  well-protected  area  of  the  North  German  coast,  of  which 
Heligoland  was  the  outpost.  Its  only  serious  attempt  to  break 
out  was  rudely  checked  by  admirals  Jellicoe  and  Beatty,  whose 
victory  in  the  battle  off  Jutland  on  31  May,  1916,  put  an  end  to 
the  war  between  Dreadnoughts  for  which  both  nations  were  prepared. 

26.  A  first  result  of  British  supremacy  at  sea  was  the  conquest 
of  the  German  colonies  by  the  British  dominions  and  their  allies. 
While  Japan   captured  the  German  strongholds  in    _. 
China,  Australia  and  New  Zealand  laid  hands  on  those   in  the 

in  the  Pacific,  and  British  South  Africa  and  India  Dominions- 
supplied  the  maiu  force  that  expelled  the  Germans  from  Africa. 
German  East  Africa  resisted  the  longest,  but  was  finally  subdued 
by  a  force  commanded  by  General  Smuts,  who,  like  Botha,  the 
South  African  Prime  Minister,  had  fought  against  Britain  in  the 
Boer  War.  German  attempts  to  stir  up  rebellion  in  India,  South 
Africa,  and  elsewhere  failed  lamentably,  and  only  strengthened  the 
ties  which  bound  together  the  British  dominions.  The  large 
armies  sent  to  fight  in  Europe  and  the  East  by  Canada,  which 
established  compulsory  service,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  South 
Africa  shewed,  equally  with  the  great  military  efforts  of  India  in 
nearly  every  field  of  the  war,  the  solidarity  of  the  British  Empire. 

27.  Worsted  on  the  sea  and  in  the  colonies,  Germany  launched 
new  blows  against  Britain.      The  submarine  and  the  mine  made  a 
blockade  in  the  old  sense  impossible,  and  rendered  it    _        . 
difficult  even  to  confine  German  warships  to  the  har-    marine 
bours  to  which  they  had  been  driven.    But  Germany's    perI " 
chief  triumph  was  in  her  discovery  of  the  aggressive  use  of  the  sub- 
marine against  merchant  ships,  through  which  she  struck  a  more 
dangerous  blow  against  British  command  of  the  seas  than  ever 
Napoleon    had    done.      The  British   islands   she    declared  to  be 
blockaded,  and  all  ships  faring  thither  became  liable  to  be  blown 
up  by  torpedoes  or  gunfire  from  unseen  enemies.     A  new  fashion 
of  naval  warfare  had  to  be  devised  to  counteract  the  German  power 
under  the  seas  which  made  nugatory  British  control  over  their  sur- 
face, and  for  the  first  time  in  history  made  Britain  vulnerable  despite 


756  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  [1915- 

lier  insular  position.  One  result  of  German  policy  was  the  gradual 
alienation  of  the  neutral  powers,  and  in  particular  of  the  United 
States,  which  strongly  resented  such  crimes  as  the  sinking  th& 
great  Cunard  liner  the  Lusitania  (7  May,  1915)  and  the  conse- 
quent loss  of  over  a  thousand  innocent  passengers  and  sailors, 
both  British  and  American.  The  most  eminent  victim  of  the  new 
warfare  at  sea  was  Kitchener,  who  perished  on  his  way  to  Russia, 
the  cruiser  on  which  he  was  sailing  being  destroyed,  probably  by  a 
mine,  on  a  stormy  night  off  the  Orkneys. 

28.  The  wholesale  destruction  of  non-combatants,  both  enemies 
and    neutrals,   was,    however,  part    of    the    deliberate    policy    of 
ruthlessriess  by  which  Germany  believed  she  would  terrorize  the 
world  into   submission.     Other  phases  of  the   same  brutality  in- 
cluded the    imprisonment  of  British  subjects  found 

policy  of1*11  *n  Germany  at  the  outbreak  of  war,  the  ill-treatment 
ruthless-  of  both  civilian  and  military  prisoners,  and  the  send- 
ing of  great  air-ships  called  Zeppelins,  and  later 
of  aeroplanes,  to  drop  bombs  at  random  on  British  cities.  None 
of  these  things,  though  adding  immensely  to  human  suffering- 
and  increasing  the  sum  of  material  losses,  had  any  real  effect  in 
altering  the  fortunes  of  war.  The  only  serious  menace  was  that 
of  the  submarine,  which  destroyed  a  large  proportion  both  of 
British  and  of  neutral  merchant  shipping,  and  brought  Britain 
within  measurable  distance  of  famine.  Happily  Britain  could 
effectively  retaliate  by  stopping  all  German  sea-borne  trade.  As 
time  went  on,  she  devised  measures  of  protection  which  made  the 
submarine  war  very  perilous  to  the  German  sailors  engaged  in  it. 
Moreover  the  need  of  fighting  the  submarine  made  every  merchant 
ship  and  seaman  in  effect  a  naval  combatant.  Just  as  the  lands- 
man fought  on  shore,  so  did  every  seafarer  fight  on  the  ocean  in 
the  national  struggle. 

29.  After  three  years  of  world  warfare,  it  looked  as  if  it  were 
impossible  for  either  side  to  secure  a  real  decision.     The  deadlock 

Th  A  ith  *n  ^e  wes^  an<^  ^e  disasters  i*  *ne  eas^  made  men 
National  anxious  whether  all  that  was  possible  was  being  done 
JuneSt1915.  to  bring  about  victory.  These  doubts  resulted  in  two 
successive  reconstructions  of  the  ministry  which, 
though  working  vigorously,  and  in  some  ways  successfully, 
had  not  always  risen  to  the  occasion.  The  first  reconstruction 
was  in  June,  1915,  when  a  "  National  Ministry "  was  formed 
in  which  the  politicians  of  various  parties  took  office  under 
Asquith.      Bonar  Law,    a    Glasgow    merchant,   who    had    been 


-I9i6.]        GEORGE    V.  AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  757 

Conservative  leader  since  Balfour's  resignation  of  that  post  in 
1911,  became  Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  and  Balfour  himself  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty.  Room  was  also  found  for  several  of  the 
Labour  Leaders.  At  the  same  time  a  Ministry  of  Munitions  was 
established  under  Lloyd  G-eorge,  whose  efforts  soon  put  an  end  to 
the  lack  of  shells,  which  had  stayed  our  early  offensive.  Equip- 
ment was  thus  provided  for  our  rapidly  increasing  armies. 

30.  The  new  ministry  did  not  work  much  better  than  its 
predecessor.  It  had  less  unity :  its  cabinet  was  even  larger,  and 
therefore  more  incapable  of  directing  war  policy,  and  it  suffered  from 
the  lack  of  responsible  criticism,  as  there  was  no  longer  a  strong 
opposition.  The  progress  of  the  war  continued  to  be  unsatisfac- 
tory, and  Lord  Kitchener,  though  doing  a  great  work  in  creating 
a  vast  new  army,  was  less  successful  as  head  of  a  great 

political  department.    The  millions  of  soldiers  required    Rebellion, 
for  the  war  could  not  be  acquired  by  voluntary  en-    fffger' 
listment,  and  the  ministry  carried,  in  Jan.,  1916,  an 
act  authorising  compulsory  service  for  Great  Britain,  but  excluding 
Ireland  from  the  Act,  in  deference  to  Irish  Nationalist  opinion. 
But  the  extreme  school  of  Irish   Nationalists,    called  the   Sinn 
Feiners,  repudiated  Redmond's  leadership,  and   declared  for  an 
Irish  Republic.     German  intriguers  strove  to  stir  up  a  rebellion, 
and  Sinn  Fein  played  into  their  hands.     On  Easter  Monday,  1916, 
there  was  fierce  fighting  in  the  streets  of  Dublin,  where  the  Sinn 
Feiners  were  only  put  down  after  grievous  bloodshed. 

31.  After  Kitchener's  tragic  death,  Lloyd  George  became  War 
Minister.  He  had  already  shown  gifts  of  imagination,  leadership, 
and  insight  that  gave  him  a  foremost  position  among 

his  colleagues  and  a  still  greater  hold  over  a  public    Lloyd 
opinion,    increasingly    impatient    of    half    measures    becomes  the 
and  failures.     Lloyd   George  soon  convinced  himself   j^ader 
that  the  methods  of  Government  that  had  grown  up 
in  peace  time  were  ill  adapted  for  a  struggle  for  existence.     In 
Dec,  1916,  he   offered   the   alternative  of   extensive  changes  or 
his  retirement.     Thereupon  Asquith  resigned  and  many  official 
Liberals  withdrew  with  him. 

32.  Lloyd  George  became  Prime  Minister  of  a  comprehensive 
Coalition,  united  by  the  intent  to  win  the  war.     The   The  li0V(j 
conduct  of  the  war   was  entrusted  to  a  special  war    George 
cabinet  of  five,  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  act  with  the    Ministry, 
necessary  unity  and  promptitude,  while  the  heads  of   Dec-»  1916. 
the   great  departments  were  left  free  to  devote  themselves  to 


758  GEORGE    V.   AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  [1917- 

their  particular  business.  Special  features  of  the  new  govern- 
ment were  its  creation  of  new  departments  to  supply  war  needs, 
such  as  controllerships  of  shipping-  and  food  supply,  and  its  inclu- 
sion of  ministers  who  had  hitherto  taken  no  part  in  political  life. 

33.  A  great  change  was  soon  brought  about  by  the  new  ministry. 
A  new  spirit  was   given  to  the  conduct  of  the  war  when  the 

headquarters  general  staff,  destroyed  by  Kitchener, 
zafion  of  w^°  sen*  a^  ^s  cnie^s  *°  France,  was  reconstituted, 
the  nation       Jellicoe  was    called  from    the  Grand  Fleet  to  do  a 

similar  work  for  the  Navy,  leaving  his  command  at 
sea  to  Admiral  Beatty.  Energetic  steps  were  taken  to  grapple 
with  the  submarine  peril,  the  supply  of  food,  and  the  replacing  of 
the  lost  merchantmen  by  new  tonnage.  It  was  found  necessary  for 
the  state  to  control  the  supply  of  bread,  meat,  coal,  wool,  fats,  and 
many  other  articles  in  universal  use.  The  crucial  problem  of  the 
supply  of  labour  was  seriously  grappled  with,  and  power  was  taken 
to  settle  compulsorily  trade  disputes.  The  State  enormously 
widened  its  powers,  and  in  so  doing  necessarily  made  many  bad 
mistakes.  But  this  was  the  inevitable  penalty  of  our  unprepared- 
ness,  and,  despite  much  friction,  the  new  system  of  the  subordination 
of  the  individual  to  the  needs  of  society  worked  sufficiently  well  to 
make  easier  the  continued  progress  of  the  war.  To  end  the  war 
by  an  honourable  peace  was  still  a  far-  away  hope ;  but  the  spirit  in 
which  the  nation,  with  rare  exceptions,  rose  to  the  emergency 
destroyed  every  craven  fear  of  defeat  and  every  wish  for  a  patched- 
up  peace.  Thus  the  greatest  crisis'Of  British  history  was  met  by 
exertions  worthy  of  the  times. 

34.  Under    these    changed   conditions,    the    allies   approached 
the  campaign  of  1917  with  renewed  hopes.     At  first  all  seemed  to 

go  well.  The  Somme  offensive  of  1916  had  hit  the 
andCfaUures  enemy  so  hard  that  in  March,  1917,  he  voluntarily  with- 
Vti  r7 e  West'    drew  his  troops  eastwards,  staying  his  retreat  on  the 

line  between  Cambrai  and  Saint  -  Quentin,  where 
Hindenburg,  called  from  the  east  to  conquer  the  west,  fortified 
the  elaborate  Hindenburg  line  which  was  believed  to  be  impreg- 
nable. There  was  progress  too  in  Artois,  whe^e  in  April  the 
commanding  Vimy  ridge  was  captured,  and  in  Flander3,  where 
the  Ypres  salient  was  widened  by  General  Plumer's  army  storm- 
ing the  Messines  ridge  in  June.  Again  at  Yerdun  and  in 
Champagne  the  French  made  slow  but  decided  progress.  These 
were  greater  successes  than  the  allies  had  ever  won,  but  they  were 
still  too  weak  to  follow  them  up.     A  sharp  check  on  the  renewed 


-191 8.]    GEORGE    V.  AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  759 

British  offensive  happened  in  November,  after  our  arms  had  pene- 
trated to  Cambrai.  Horrified  at  their  losses,  the  French  resolved 
not  to  repeat  the  offensive  on  a  large  scale.  Worst  of  all,  the 
Italians  received  an  unexpected  check.  In  October  the  Austro- 
Germans  broke  through  the  Italian  line  at  Caporetto  and  overran 
the  Venetian  plain  as  far  as  the  Piave.  But  the  Italians,  helped 
by  British  and  French  troops,  made  a  gallant  recovery  and  the 
Austro-German  advance  was  stayed. 

35.  In  the  west  the  war  of  1917  began  well  and  ended  badly ; 
in  the  east  it  began  badly  and  ended  well.  Russia  made  her 
last  vain  efforts  and  slowly  drifted  out  of  the  war.  However,  in 
Greece  King  Constantino's  treachery  was  punished  in  June  by 
his  deposition  and  Venizelos  as  the  minister  of  his 
successor,  reconstituted  the  Greek  army  and  put  it    Eastern 

at  the  disposal  of  the  allies.  Yet  the  collapse  of  vLcf£?!?s 
Rumania  set  free  large  German  and  Bulgarian  troops, 
and  the  allied  Macedonian  force  was  reduced  to  inaction.  But 
the  army,  long  kept  idle  in  Egypt,  was  transferred  to  the  Pales- 
tine frontier,  where  at  first  natural  difficulties,  and  sluggish 
leadership,  made  its  progress  slow.  In  October  a  fresh  spirit 
was  put  into  the  army  by  its  new  commander,  General  Allenby, 
who  defeated  the  Turks  between  Gaza  and  Beersheba.  In  Meso- 
potamia a  new  general,  Sir  Stanley  Maude,  avenged  the  capitulation 
of  Kut  by  recapturing  the  scene  of  the  Turkish  triumph.  On 
15  March  he  penetrated  to  Bagdad. 

36.  Most  important  of  all  the  events  of  1917  was  the  addition 
of  the  United  States  to  our  allies.     From  1  Feb.  onwards   the 
Germans  declared  an  "unrestricted   submarine  cam-    America 
paign,"  by  which  all  shipping,  trading  with  any  of  the  joins  the 
allied  nations,  was  to  be  sunk  at  sight.     This  policy 

was  intensely  resented  by  the  Americans,  already  aggrieved  by 
the  loss  of  many  American  ships  and  seamen  and  by  the  plots  of 
the  Austrian  and  German  embassies  at  Washington.  It  required 
gross  blundering  on  the  Germans'  part  to  force  America  to 
abandon  her  long  tradition  of  abstention  from  European  politics. 
The  American  President,  Woodrow  Wilson,  wisely  allowed  matters 
to  move  slowly,  so  that  when  the  Germans  had  filled  up  the  cup  of 
their  offences,  it  was  at  the  head  of  a  united  nation  that,  on 
6  April,  1917,  he  declared  war.  Lika  Britain,  America  set  to 
work,  with  extraordinary  success,  to  make  a  great  army.  The 
submarine  menace  was  shown  to  be  illusory  when  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  American  soldiers  were  safely  convoyed  across  the 


760  GEORGE  V.   AND    THE  GREAT  WAR  [1918. 

Atlantic.  The  adhesion  of  America  was  much  more  than  a  com- 
pensation for  the  collapse  of  Russia.  It  was  the  more  valuable 
since  America  joined  the  war,  as  her  President  said,  "  to  make  the 
world  safe  for  democracy."  It  was  more  clear  than  ever  that  the 
war  was  a  fight  of  freedom  and  right  against  autocracy  and  might. 

37.  The  beginning  of  1918  saw  the  allies  weakened  by  their 
recent  offensive  and  tho  Germans  strengthened  by  fresh  troops 
and  cannon  from  the  east.  The  Germans'  game  was  now,  as  in 
1914,  to  strike  hard  and  quickly  before  the  Americans  arrived  in 
force.  The  first  step  of  a  general  German  offensive  began  on 
21st  March,  when  the  thin  line  of  the  fifth  British  army,  between 
the  Sensee  and  Saint- Quentin  was  broken  through.    In  a  few  days 

the  Germans  were  back  in  the  old  battlefields  on  the 
German*1  Somme  and  Ancre,  and  pushed  their  advance  to  within 
offensive,  a  few  miles  of  Amiens,  so  that  there  was  danger  of 
1918.  their  working  down  the  Somme  to  the  sea,  and  cutting 

off  the  British  from  the  French.  This  serious  blow 
was  followed  by  others.  Though  the  British  front  at  Arras 
stood  firm,  the  Germans  farther  north  nearly  drove  a  wedge 
between  the  British  in  Flanders  and  their  army  in  Artois.  Against 
the  French  the  Germans  advanced  down  the  Oise  nearly  to  Com- 
piegne.  Finally,  a  successful  offensive  farther  east  brought  them 
from  the  Aisne  to  beyond  the  'Marne.  It  was  a  crisis,  almost  as 
acute  as  that  of  Sept.,  1914. 

38.  It  was  well  that  the  resisting  power  of  France  was  still 
great,  while  that  of  Britain  had  been  multiplied  tenfold.  All 
The  unitv  ^e  threatened  armies  made  a  surprising  recovery, 
of  com-  In  their  offensive  the  Germans  had  abandoned  the 

indecisive  war  of  trenches,  but  the  allies  soon  learnt 
to  meet  their  new  tactics  and  to  improve  upon  them.  The  allied 
soldiers  had  never  failed  in  courage  and  hopefulness;  the  real 
difficulty  was  that  each  army  had  acted  as  a  separate  unit,  and  that 
there  had  been  no  single  directive  mind  to  plan  and  order  the 
whole  campaign.  At  this  crisis  Lloyd  George  once  more  shewed 
rare  insight  and  leadership.  He  insisted  that  a  single  general 
should  be  appointed  to  co-ordinate  and  direct  the  whole  of  the 
allied  armies.  Undaunted  by  the  resignation  of  both  the  Chief 
of  the  British  General  Staff  and  the  British  "War  Minister,  he 
persevered  until  he  gained  his  point.  Marsh<_ .  Foch  was  chosen 
as  the  generalissimo  of  all  the  British  and  French  armies,  the 
British  Commander,  Sir  Douglas  Haig,  who  had  succeeded  French, 
loyally  falling  in  with  the  new  situation.     For  the  first  time  a 


19 1 8.]    GEORGE    V.  AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  76 1 

concerted  plan  of  campaign  was  executed  to  meet  the  German 
attack.  The  Germans  made  no  more  progress.  Amiens  was  saved 
and  Paris  preserved  from  danger.  Meanwhile  the  armies  were 
strengthened  and  reorganised ;  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  fresh 
Americans  took  up  their  posts  beside  their  war-worn  allies. 

39.  Foch  bided  his  time,  but  by  the  middle  of  July  he  began  his 
counter-offensive,  and  the  whole  situation  changed  as  if  by  magic. 
Swinging  blows  were  dealt  against  the  enemy,  now  on  one  part  of 
the  line,  then  on  another.  Overstrained  by  their  great  effort  of 
the  spring,  the  Germans  had  few  fresh  resources  to  meet  the 
new  danger.  They  still  fought  magnificently,  but  their  own  new 
methods  were  bettered  and  turned  against  them.  The  first  stage 
of  Foch's  campaign  was  the  second  battle  of  the  Marne, 

fought  under  similar  conditions  to  those  of  the  first   Fi?Cvu'tUItern 
Marne  battle  of  1914.     The  two  sides  of  the  German   tide,  July- 
salient  towards  the  Marne  were  attacked  with  such   f|?8?m 
success  that  by  the  end  of  July  the  French  were  back 
on  the  Aisne.     Meanwhile  the  French  moved  slowly  up  the  Oise, 
while  between  Ypres  and  the  Somme  the  British  fought  their  way 
eastwards  with  almost  uniform  success.    In  August  the  pace  was 
quickened,  and  it  became  more  rapid  with  each  succeeding  month. 
By  the  end  of  September  the  line  of  1917  was  more  than  restored. 

40.  Meanwhile  there  was  even  more  rapid  progress  in  the  East. 
In  Mesopotamia  Maude  died  in  the  midst  of  his  triumphs ;  but  his 
successor,  General  Marshall,  pushed  northwards  to- 
wards Mosul.     In  Palestine  Allenby,  a  born  cavalry   2*2J|5n(if 
leader,  out-manoeuvred  the   Turks   by  rapid  sweeps   Turkey  and 
of  his  great  force  of  Indian,  Colonial,  and  Yeomanry    191s. r    ' 
horse.    After  occupying  Jerusalem,  he  advanced  to 
Damascus  and  Beirut,  and  on  26  October  he  completed  the  con- 
quest of  Syria  by  seizing  Aleppo,  cutting  thus  the  railway  line 
that  fed  the  Turks  in  Mesopotamia.     Most  surprising  of  all,  the 
Macedonian   army  broke  its  long  spell  of  inaction,  and  drove  a 
wedge  through  the  Bulgarian- German  armies  so  successfully  that 
on   29    September    Bulgaria    made    an  unconditional  surrender. 
This  completed  the  isolation  of  Turkey,  already  severely  tried  by  ' 
the  loss  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia.    After  the  delays  inevitable 
from   Turkish  indecision  and  procrastination,  the  Sultan  made 
his  complete  submission,  and  obtained  from  the  allies  a  cessation 
of   hostilities,   dating  from   1  November.     With  the   collapse  of 
Bulgaria  and  Turkey  the  eastern  designs  of  the  Central  Powers 
were  utterly  frustrated. 


762  GEORGE    V.   AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  [1918 

41.  Austria  meanwhile  had  long  been  struggling  against 
threatened  insurrection  and  extreme  exhaustion  at  home.  She 
now  saw  Serbia  and  Montenegro  gradually  reconquered  by  the 
allies,  while  Albania  was  overrun  by  the  Italians  and  the  Adriatic 
ports  made  useless  by  the  naval  activity  of  her  enemies.  More- 
TheSubmis-  over>  la^°  ^  October  an  Italian  advance  from  the 
sion  of  Piave  undid  the  work  of  October,  1917,  and  soon  won 

such  prodigious  success  that  a  mere  remnant  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  army  was  driven  in  panic  flight  from  the 
Piave  into  Austrian  territory.  Thereupon  Slavonic  Austria  rose 
in  revolt,  and  even  Hungary  saw  that  the  game  was  up.  The 
Austrian  government  now  declared  itself  eager  to  accept  peace  on 
conditions  laid  down  by  the  American  President.  On  3  November 
it  thankfully  accepted  an  armistice  on  terms  that  left  unredeemed 
Italy  and  Dalmatia  in  the  allies'  possession,  and  made  impossible 
its  further  participation  in  the  war.  Since  then  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  state  has  dethroned  its  sovereign  and  broken  up  into 
its  natural  national  elements. 

42.  The  most  important  result  of  the  triumph  of  the  allies  against 

Bulgaria,  Turkey,  and  Austria  was  its  decisive  effect  on  the  situation 

in  France  and  Flanders.     In  October,  while  the  allies 
The 
reconquest     were  driving  their  eastern  enemies  out  of  the  field, 

of  Northern    their  successes  in  the  west  became  more  marvellous 

France  and 

Flanders,        than   ever.      The   much    vaunted   Hindenburg    line, 

1918.er'  defended  with  stubborn  courage  by  the  Germans,  did 

not    keep   back  for    long  their  victorious  progress. 

During  October  the  tide  of  war  swept  eastwards  beyond  Cambrai 

and  Saint- Quentin,  northwards  beyond  La  Fere  and  Laon.     The 

Americans,  operating  as  an  independent  force  for  the  first  time, 

destroyed  the  dangerous   German  salient  of   Saint-  Mihiel  on  the 

Meuse,  and  then  fought  their  way  desperately  through  the  defiles 

of  the   Argonne,  and   down   the   Meuse    valley.      The  Belgians, 

led  by  their  King  Albert,  began  to  win   back  their  plundered 

homes.     Early  in   October,  the  Germans   made  overtures  for  an 

armistice  to   President   Wilson,    but   were  told   that  they  must 

evacuate  all  conquered  territory,  and  give  evidence  that  they  could 

be  trusted,  before  negotiations  could  even  begin.    Even  this  austere 

Peace  answer  was    not  rejected,   for   Germany  clearly  ap- 

Proposals.       pr6ached  the  end  of  her  resources,  and  the  autocratic 

Emperor  was  compelled  by  German  opinion  to  accept  new  ministers 

professing  anxiety  for  peace.     Meanwhile  the  allied  forces  moved 

on  from  success  to  success.     On  one  astounding  day,  17  October, 


1918.]  GEORGE    V.   AND    THE   GREAT  WAR  ?6$ 

the  Belgians  regained  Ostend  and  advanced  to  the  outskirts  of 
Bruges,  while  the  British  entered  unopposed  into  Lille  and  Douai. 
By  the  end  of  October  all  West  Flanders  was  conquered,  while 
further  south  the  German  occupation  of  France  was  reduced  to 
very  restricted  limits. 

43.  So  long  as  the  Germans  continued  to  resist  stubbornly, 

there  was  little  progress  in  the  negotiations.     But  the  collapse  of 

Austria  forced  the  Germans  to   see   that  further  resistance  was 

useless,  so  that  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  military   The  Armls- 

class  to  rally  the  nation  to  defend  its  threatened  fron-    tice,  Nov., 

1918 
tier3  fell  flat.   On  9  November  German  envoys  appeared 

at  Foch's  headquarters,  and  transmitted  home  the  conditions  on 

which    he  would    grant    an  armistice.      The   German  surrender 

was  now  hastened  by  a  revolt  of  the  fleet,  risings  in  the  large 

towns  and  the  flight  of  William  n.  to  Holland.     On  November  11 

Germany  accepted  the  armistice,   and    on  the  last  morning  of 

hostilities  the  British  entered  Mons,  where  more  than  four  years 

earlier  they  had  fired  their  first  shots,  and  the  French  and  Americans 

advanced  to  Sedan.     By  the  terms  imposed  by  Foch  the  allies  were 

to  hold  the  line  of  the  Rhine,  and  Germany  was  to  surrender 

most  of  its  military  stores  and  fleet.      There  may  still  be  delay 

before  a  formal  treaty  can  be  settled,  but  the  armistice  shows  the 

certainty  of  an  honourable  peace  upon  terms  that  will  remove  from 

the  world  the  perils  of  German  domination. 

44.  The  strenuous  military  effort  of  Britain  was  the  more 
wonderful  since  many  home  problems  seemed  so  pressing  that  the 
Lloyd  George  government  felt  compelled  to  deal  with    „ 

them,  even  at  the  risk  of  diverting1  attention  from    Problems, 

•   •  191 6- 1918 

getting  on  with  the  war.     These  were  the  condition  of 

Ireland,  the  reform  of  parliament  and  the  establishment  on  broader 

lines  of  a  national  system  of  education. 

In  Ireland,  the  military  government,  set  up  after  the  Dublin 
rebellion,  maintained  order  but  increased  discontent.  Bye  elections 
showed  that  the  Nationalist  voters  were  abandoning  Ireland  and 
their  old  leaders  in  favour  of  Sinn  Fein,  and  it  was  Sinn  Fein, 
to  little  purpose  that  the  M  parliamentary  party  "  vied  with  the 
Sinn  Feiners  in  their  denunciations  of  the  government.  This  was 
especially  the  case  when,  after  the  death  of  John  Redmond,  who 
had  supported  the  war,  his  place  as  Nationalist  leader  went  to  John 
Dillon,  who  refused  to  help  recruiting,  and  strongly  opposed  a 
tardy  proposal  of  the  government  to  extend  compulsory  service  to 
Ireland.    Under  such  conditions  attempts  at  conciliation  necessarily 


764  GEORGE    V.  AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  [1917- 

broke  down.  An  Irish  Convention,  in  which  Unionists  and 
Nationalists  discussed  the  possibility  of  a  common  policy  of  Irish 
reform,  produced  no  result.  Meanwhile  the  party  of  Dillon, 
though  clamouring  for  the  execution  of  the  Home  Rule  Act, 
declared  that  no  conscription  was  acceptable  unless  imposed  by  an 
Irish  Parliament.  This  demand  involved  the  repudiation  of  the  Act 
of  1914,  which  had  reserved  national  defence  to  the  Westminster 
parliament.  The  vacillations  of  the  government,  which  first  pro- 
posed and  then  postponed  indefinitely  a  plan  for  Irish  conscription, 
only  made  matters  worse.  It  became  clear  that  the  Irish  question 
could  only  be  settled  after  the  peace.  Meanwhile  the  centraliza- 
tion of  all  administration  in  London  as  a  result  of  war  conditions 
was  creating  a  reaction  in  favour  of  some  federal  scheme  for  all 
parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  as  a  result  of  which  some  of  the 
more  obvious  Irish  complaints  might  be  remedied.  Beyond  that, 
the  magnificent  part  played  by  the  Dominions  beyond  the  seas  in 
the  great  war,  brought  to  thoughtful  minds  a  more  distinct  vision 
of  some  Imperial  federation  by  which  the  various  units  of  the 
Empire,  while  each  living  in  perfect  freedom,  could  be  brought 
together  by  a  common  machinery  to  formulate  imperial  policy  and 
defence. 

45.  General  agreement  made  easy  the  passage  of  a  new  Reform 
Act  in  1917.     By  it  a  further  approach  was  made  towards  universal 

suffrage  in  three  chief  directions.  The  number  of 
mentary  voters  was  increased,  notably  by  the  simplification  of 
of  1918  ACt     registration,  the    shortening  of  the  qualifying  term 

of  residence,  by  giving  votes  to  all  sailors  and  soldiers, 
even  when  on  service  abroad,  and  by  extending  the  f  ranchise  to  all 
women  over  thirty  years  of  ago,  who  had  the  qualifications  of  male 
voters  or  were  the  wives  of  voters.  This  latter  change  was  yielded 
by  general  consent  as  a  recognition  of  the  work  done  by  women  for 
the  national  defence,  though  fear  of  the  women  outvoting  the  men 
led  in  their  case  to  an  illogical  postponement  of  the  voting  age. 
A  further  approach  towards  equality  of  representation  was  made 
by  depriving  towns  of  under  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  of  their 
members,  by  redistributing  the  constituencies  according  to  popu- 
lation, a  process  which  largely  increased  the  number  of  repre- 
sentatives of  the  great  towns  and  industrial  districts.  No  voter 
was  allowed  to  vote  for  more  than  two  constituencies,  and  the 
freehold  franchise  for  counties  was  abolished.  The  Irish  members 
were  kept  at  their  old  number,  so  that  Ireland  became  more  over- 
represented  then  ever.     All  elections  were  henceforth  to  be  held 


-I9i8.]     GEORGE   V.   AND   THE   GREAT  WAR  765 

on  the  same  day,  and  the  first  general  election  nnder  the  franchise 
was  subsequently  fixed  for  14  December,  1918. 

46.  Among  the  new  men  brought  into  politics  in  1916  was 
Herbert  Fisher,  a  University  teacher,  who  was  made  Minister  of 
Education  on  the  novel  ground  of  his  acquaintance 
with  the  subject.     The  Education  Act  of  1918,  and    Education 
the  administrative  reforms  attending  it,  extended  the    National 
principle  of  the  Act  of  1902  by  which  the  counties   [^"'gi'j^' 
and  county  boroughs  were  made  responsible  for  educa-    191& 
tion  within  their  areas.     The  full  results  of  the  new 
policy  can  only  be  seen  after  the  war.     But  an  immediately  bene- 
ficial result  followed  from  the  increased  sums  devoted  by  the  State 
to  education  by  which  teachers'  salaries  were  improved,  staffs  were 
strengthened,  and  schools  opened,  extended,  and  better  co-ordinated. 
Such  measures  are   but  one  aspect    of  the    general  problem  of 
reconstruction  after  the  war,  on  the  right  solution  of  which  will 
depend  not  only  the  future  of  our  education,  but  the  necessary 
social  and  economic  changes  which  are  needed  to   improve  the 
relations  of  capital  and  labour,  the  housing  of  the  people,  and  the 
material  and  moral  well-being  of  the  whole  of  the  empire.     It  is 
only  by  a  vigorous  policy  of  reconstruction  that  the  means  can  be 
found  to  enable  the  British  Empire  to  face  a  future  which  should 
make  the  democracy  united,  happy,  prosperous,  serious,  and  free. 


766 


LIST    OF   MINISTRIES 


[1689- 


LIST  OF  MINISTRIES  AFTER  1689 

1689-1696.  Mixed  Ministry  of  Whigs  and  Tories. 

1696-1701.  First  Whig  Ministry  of  the  Junto. 

1701-1708.  Mixed  Ministries  of  varying  character  under  Marlborough  and 

Godolphin. 

1708- 1710.  Whig  Ministry  under  Marlborough  and  Godolphin. 

1710-1714.  Oxford  and  Bolingbroke  Ministry  (Tory). 

1714-1717.  Townshend  Ministry  (Whig). 

1717-1720.  Stanhope  Ministry  (Whig). 

1720-1742.  Walpole  Ministry  (Whig). 

1742  1744.  Carteret  Ministry  (Whig). 

1744-1754.  Pelham's  or  the  Broad  Bottom  Ministry  (Whig). 

1754-1756.  Newcastle  Ministry  (Whig). 

1756-1757.  Devonshire  Ministry  (Whig). 

1757-1761.  Pitt-Newcastle  Ministry  (Whig). 

J.761-1763.  Bute  Ministry  (Wbigs  and  Tories). 

1763-1765.  Grenville  Ministry  (mainly  Whig). 

1765-1766.  First  Rockingham  Ministry  (the  Whig  houses). 

1766-1768.  Chatham  Ministry  (no  definite  party  colour). 

1768-1770.  Grafton  Ministry  (no  definite  party  colour). 

1770-1782.  North  Ministry  (Tory). 

1782.  Second  Rockingham  Ministry  (Whig). 

1782-1783.  Shelburne  Ministry  (King's  Friends  and  Chathamites) . 

1783.  Coalition  Ministry  of  North  and  Fox  (Whigs  and  Tories). 
1783-1801.  First  Pitt  Ministry  (Chathamites  and  King's  Friends,  and 

gradually  becoming  Tory). 

1801-1804.  Addington  Ministry  (Tory). 

1804-1806.  Pitt's  Second  Ministry  (Tory). 

1806-1807.  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents  (Whigs  with  some  Tories). 

1807-1809.  Portland  Ministry  (Tory). 

1809-1812.  Perceval  Ministry  (Tory). 

1812-1827.  Liverpool  Ministry  (Tory,  becoming  wider  after  1822). 

1827.  Canning  Ministry  (Liberal  Tory). 

1827.  Goderich  Ministry  (Liberal  Tory). 

1828-1830.  Wellington- Peel  Ministry  (Tory). 

1830-1834.  Grey  Ministry  (Whig). 

1834.  First  Melbourne  Ministry  (Whig). 

1834-1835.  First  Peel  Ministry  (Conservative). 

1835-1841.  Melbourne  Ministry  (Whig). 

1841-1846.     Second  Peel  Ministry  (Conservative). 

1846-1852.  Lord  J.  Russell's  Ministry  (Whig). 

1852.  First    Derby-Disraeli    Ministry    (Protectionist    and    Con- 

servative). 


-19 18] 


LIST  OF  MINISTRIES 


767 


1852-1855.  Aberdeen  Coalition  Ministry  (Peelites  and  Whigs>. 

1855-1858.  First  Palmerston  Ministry  (Whig). 

1858-1859.  Second  Derby- Disraeli  Ministry  (Conservative) . 

1859-1865.  Second  Palmerston  Ministry  (Whigs  and  Peelites,  Liberals). 

1865-1866.  Earl  Russell's  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1866-1868.  Third  Derby-Disraeli  Ministry  (Conservative). 

1868-1874.  First  Gladstone  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1874-1880.  Disraeli  Ministry  (Conservative). 

1880-1885.  Second  Gladstone  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1885-1886.  Salisbury  Ministry  (Conservative). 

1886.  Third  Gladstone  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1886-1892.  Salisbury    Unionist    Ministry    (Conservative    and    Liberal 

Unionist). 

1892- 1894.  Fourth  Gladstone  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1894- 1895.  Rosebery  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1895-1902.  Salisbury  Ministry  (Unionist) . 

1902-1905.  Balfour  Ministry  (Unionist). 

1905-1908.  Campbell-Bannerman  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1908-1915.  Asquith  Ministry  (Liberal). 

1915-1916.  Asquith  Ministry  (National). 

1916-1918.  Lloyd  George  Ministry  (Coalition). 


INDEX 


Aachen-,  treaty  of  (1748),  559. 

Abbeville,  255,  292. 

Abbot,  George,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

427,  430,  441. 
Abdur,  Rahman,  amir  of  Afghanistan,  716. 
Aberdeen,  Lord,  Prime  Minister,  600,  664, 

607,669,  671. 
Aberdeen,  university  of,  307. 
AbTiiethy,  93. 
Abhorrers,  the,  486. 
Aboukir  Bay,  600. 

Absolom  and  Avhitop'iel,  Dryden's,  63a. 
Acadie,  518,  561.     6ee  also  Nova  Scjtia. 
Acre   1 33. 
Act  of  Union,  of  1707,  the,  523. 

of  1801,  605. 

Addiugton,  prime  minister,  602,  608,  610, 

612.     See  also  Sidmouth,  Lord. 
Addition.  Joseph,  531.  542,  637. 
Adela,  daughter  of  William  I.,  111. 
Adelaide  of  Louvain,  queen  of  Stephen,  108. 
- —  qujen  of  William  ;v.,  657,  724. 

town  of,  724. 

Adrianople,  746. 

Adriatic,  the,  761. 

Adullamites,  the,  675. 

Adwalton  Moor,  battle  oi,  451. 

iEgean,  the,  746,  753. 

yKlfgar,  E.  of  Mercia,  65. 

yKlfheah,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  58. 

yElle,  Saxon  chieftain,  18. 

Aeroplanes,  756. 

jEthelfrlth,  K.  of  Bernicia,  21,  27,  30. 

Afghanistan,  650,  682,  711-712. 

Afghan  War,  the  first,  711-712;  the  second, 

716. 
Africa,  423,  478,  720,  755. 
South,  683,  691,  724-727,  729,  730,  735, 

740,  741,  756. 

West,  393,  394. 

Afridis,  tribe  of  the,  716. 

Agadir,  745. 

Age  of  Reason,  the,  632. 

Agincourt,  battle  of,  265-206. 

Agrarian  revolution,  the,  630. 

Agricola,  Julius,  in  Britain,  9. 

Allan,  bishop  of  Northumbria,  32. 

AiguillO'i,  battle  of,  216. 

Aire,  the  river,  628. 

Aislabie,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  545. 

Aisne,  the  river,  7*8,  750,  760,  761. 

Akbar  Khan,  Afghan  leader,  712. 

Akeman  Street,  the,  11. 

Alabama,  the,  privateering  cruiser,  672,  678. 

Alaric,  the  Goth,  14. 


Alban,  St.,  Christian  Martyr,  12. 

Albania,  747,  762. 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  543. 

Albert,  D.  of  iJajwony-Coburg  Gotha,  consort 
of  Qu»en  Victoria,  657,  658,  666,  673, 695. 

Albert,  King  of  the  Belgians,  762. 

Albert  on  the  Ancre,  760. 

Albigenses,  th:>.  163. 

Alcuia,  of  York,  35. 

A  ldermen .  royal  officers,  78.   See  also  Earls. 

Aleppo,  761. 

Alexander  in.,  pope,  120. 

m.,  K.  of  Scots.  185-187. 

i. ,  tsar  of  Russia,  601,  607,  6U. 

Alfred  the  Great,  43-49 

Alien  Act,  the,  597. 

Allectus,  his  rule  over  Britain,  12. 

Allegbanies,  the,  587. 

Allen,  William.  Cardinal,  386,  397,  399. 

Allenby,  general,  759,  761. 

All  the  Talents,  Ministry  of,  612-613. 

Alma,  battle  of  the,  669. 

Almanza,  battle  of,  515. 

Alnwick,  195,  127 ;  battle  of,  99. 

Alphege,  St.,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  58. 

Alps,  the,  596. 

Alsac,  678. 

Althorp,  Lord,  leader  of  the  Commons,  651. 

Alva,  the  duke  of,  386. 

Amboyna,  424. 

Amending  Bill,  the,  74  i. 

AmeriCH,  325,  392-394,  396.  401,  423,  519, 
635,  645,  692,  »69,  760,  762.  See  also 
United  States,  the. 

North,  478-480,  564,  569,  577-584,  720. 

South,  396,  431,  520,  644-645. 

Amherst,  general,  568,  569. 

Lord,  711. 

Amiens,  189,  265,  292,  760-761. 

cathedral  of,  245. 

Miseof,  171. 

treaty  of  (1279),  189. 

treaty  of  (1802),  602,  607-608. 

Anabaptists,  the,  365.    See  also  baptists. 

Aners,  the,  750;  battle  of  the,  752,  759. 

Anderida,  fort  of,  14, 18.    See  also  Pevensey. 

Andrewes,  Lancelot,  bishop  of  Winchester, 
427. 

Angers,  108. 

Angles,  the,  their  settlement  in  Britain,  16. 

Anglesey,  181.    See  also  Mona. 

Angus,  E.  of,  380. 

Anjou,  108,  125.  116,  126.  139,  169,  277. 

,  Francis,  D.  of,  391.  See  also  Mar- 
garet of. 

769 


770 


INDEX 


Annan,  209. 

Anne,  of  Bohemia,  queen  of  Richard  11.,  233, 

234. 
queen,  daughter  of  James  n  ,  495, 

504;  reign  of,  511-523.    See  also  Boleyn, 

Anne ;  Cleves,  Anne  of;  Neville,  Anne  ; 

and  Hyde,  Anne. 
Antelm.  St.,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  97- 

99,  103,  117,  119. 
Anson,  Captain,  559,  566. 
Anti-Corn  Law  League,  the,  662. 
Antoninus  Pius,  emperor,  the  wall  of,  10. 
Antrim,  402. 

Antwerp.  392,  609,  618,  780. 
Aosta,  97. 

Apprentices,  Act  of  (1563),  412. 
Aqua  Sulit,  11.  See  alto  Bath. 
Aquitaine,  203,  206,  219,  221,  271 :  Eleanor 

of,  queen,  115,  126.     See  Eleanor. 

Richard,  dike  of,  127.    See  Richard  i. 

Edward,  prince  of,  219.    See  Edward 

the  Black  Prince. 
Arabi  Pasha,  683. 
Arcot,  siege  of,  563. 
Archers,  70,  215,  249,  303. 
Architecture,    153,    215-247,  302-303,    529, 

636,  701-705. 
Argaum,  battle  of,  609,  710. 
Argonne,  the,  762. 
Argyll,  house  of,  502. 
Archibald  Campbell,  E.  of,  444,  447, 

457,  464,  465,  476. 

E.  of  (son  of  above),  487,  490. 

D.  of,  Whig  lord,  521,  540-541. 

Arkwright,  inventions  of,  627. 
Arlington,  Henry  Ben  net,  Lord,  482-484. 
Armada,  the,  398-399. 
Armagnacs,  the.  259    260, 267,  271. 
Armed  Neutrality,  the,  of  1780,  583. 

of  1801,  601. 

Armenia.  691,  746,  754. 

Armenians,  the,  746,  754. 

Armentieres,  750. 

Arminians,  the,  followers  of  Arniinius,  427, 

430,  439,  633. 
Arniinius,  427. 
Armistice,  The  (1918),  763. 
Arms  and  armour,  152,  248,  303. 
Army,  the,  48,  60,  78, 85, 148,  248-249,  411, 

458,  467,  497,  677-678,  696-697,  645,  748, 
757,  758. 

Arras,  750,  760. 

Congress  at  (1435),  276. 

Artevelde,  James  van,  of  Ghent,  21L 
Arthur,  K..  28. 

of  Brittany.  137,  138,  139. 

Prince  of  Wales,  son  of  Henry  vn., 

313,  314. 
Articuli  super  Cartas,  195. 
Artois,  758,  760. 
Arundel  family    (see  also  Fitzalan),  233, 

234.  235. 

lordship  of,  103. 

archbishop  of  Canterbury,  256,  260, 

262. 
Ascbam,  Roger,  415. 
Asbdown,  battle  of,  44. 
Ashini.ti.in,  battle  of,  59.    See  Assandun. 
Asquith,  H.  H.,  735,  736,742,  743,  744,  756, 

75T. 


Asia,  Western,  746. 

Asiento,  the,  518,  626. 

Aske,  Robert,  344. 

Assam.  711. 

Assandun  (Ashing ton),  battle  of,  59. 

Assaye,  battle  of,  609,  710. 

Asser,  bishop,  biographer  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  49. 

Assize  of  Clarendon,  123. 

of  Northampton,  123. 

the  Grand,  123. 

of  Aries,  124. 

of  Woodstock,  or  of  the  Forest,  124, 160. 

the  Bloody,  490. 

Athelney,  Alfred  the  Great  at,  44. 

Athelstan,  reign  of,  51,  02. 

Atblone,  capture  of,  500. 
■    Atholl,  the  Stewarts  of,  556. 
j    Atlantic,  the,  701,  702,  759,  760. 

Auberoche,  battle  of,  216. 

Auckland,  Lor.),  711. 
I    Audley,  Lord,  282. 
I    Aughrim,  battle  of,  500. 
!    Augusta,  mother  of  George  in  ,  572. 

Augustine,  St  ,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
mission  of,  29-31. 

Aurangzeb,  Mogul  Emperor,  562. 

Austerlitr,  battle  of,  612. 

Australia,  720,  722-724,  741,  754,  755. 

Australians,  the,  754,  755. 

Austria,  325,  513,  551,  552,  565,  573,  596, 
598,  600-601,  607,  612,  617,  623,  644,  660, 
666,  672,  678,  681,  688,  746,  747,  752,  753- 
754,  759,  761.  762. 

Austrian  Succession,  war  of  the.  552-559. 

Authorised  Version,  the,  of  the  Bible,  426. 

Auvergne,  mountains  of,  126. 

Avebury,  megalithic  monuments  at,  3. 

Avignon,  residence  of  the  Popes  at,  195, 
223,  229. 

Avranchin,  the,  100. 

Aylesbury,  574. 

Azincourt,  265.    See  Agincourt. 

Azores,  the,  400. 


BaBIXGTON  ,  ASTOHT,  389. 

Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  Lord  St.  Albans  and 

Chancellor,  370,  418,  430,  4  3,  434 ,  528. 

Sir  Nicholas,  lord  keeper,  369. 

Badajos,  fortress  of,  620. 

Bagdad,  754,  759. 

Balaclava,  battle  of,  670. 

Balance  of  Power,  the,  326,  327,  400,  469, 

503,  520,  608,  744. 
Baldwin,  archbisrop  of  Canterbury,  125. 
Balfour,  Arthur  J.,  686,  690,  730,  734,  735, 

756. 
Balkan  league,  the,  746. 

Peninsula,  the,  68C-681,  748,  746. 

Ball,  John,  230,  232. 

Ballard,  John,  238. 

BallioL  John,  lord  of  Galloway,  188-189  ; 

K.  of  Scots,  191,  192,  209. 

Edward.  209. 

Ballot  Act,  the,  678. 
Baltic,  the,  752. 

Provinces,  the,  752. 

Baltimore,  Lord,  423. 
Bamburgb,  castle  of,  95. 


INDEX 


77 1 


Banbury,  289. 

Bancroft,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  427. 

Bank  of  England,  the,  504,  544,  646. 

Banuernun.    See  Catnpbell-Bannerman. 

Baunockburn,  battle  of,  200-201. 

Bapaume,  752. 

Baptists,  the,  335,  468,  475. 

Barbados,  the  settlement  of,  423. 

Barbour,  John,  bis  Scottish  Chronicle,  252, 

307. 
Barcelona,  515. 
Barnet,  battle  of,  291. 
Barons'  War,  the,  170. 
Basra,  754. 

Bastile,  the,  storming  of,  595. 
Batavian  republic,  the,  602. 
Bath,  184,  490,  627.     Sec  also  Aqua:  Sulis. 
Battle,  the  abbey  of,  154. 
Bavaria,  512,  513-514,  554. 

the  Emperor  Louis  of,  211. 

— —  llaria  Antonia,  electress  of,  507. 
Joseph  Ferdinand,  electoral  prince  of, 

508. 
Charles,  elector   of,  654.      See   also 

Charles  vn.,  emperor. 
Baylen,  battle  of,  616. 
Bayonue,  126,  221,  222,  273. 
Baxter,  Richard,  474. 
Beachy  Head,  battle  of,  502. 
Beaconsfleld,  E.  of,    679,  681,    682.      See 

also  Disraeli. 
Beatty,  Admiral,  755,  758. 
Beaucharup,  Thoma*,  K.  of  Warwick,  234. 

See  also  Warwick. 
— —  Lord,   son  of  Lady  Catharine  Grey, 

407. 
Beaufort,  house  of,  260,  297-298. 
John,  £.  of  Somerset,  260.     See  also 

Somerset. 
Henry,  bishop   of   Winchester,  260, 

262,  272,  275,  277. 

Thomas,  chancellor,  260,  697. 

Jane,  wife  of  James  i.  of  Scotland, 

271. 
Edmund,  D.  of  Somerset,  277.    See 

also  Somerset. 

Margiret,  298. 

Beauge,  battle  of,  268. 
Beauliea,  abbey  of,  312. 
Beaumaris,  castle  of,  247. 
Beaumont,  Krancis,  dramatist,  530. 
Bee,  in  Normandy,  monastery  of,  90,  97. 
Becket,  St.,  Thomas,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 117-122.  150. 
Bede,  English  historian,  35. 
Bedford,  castle  of,  161. 

John,  D.  of,  270-276. 

John  Russell,  E.  of,  356. 

D.  of,  head  of  the  Bloomsbury  Gang, 

574. 
Baersbeba,  759. 
Behar,  710. 
Beirut,  761. 
Belfast,  661. 
Belgium,  kingdom  of,  651,  655,  748,  760, 

752,  762. 
Belleme,  Robert  of.     See  Robert. 
Ben'Klict,  of  Nursia,  St.,  55. 
Bengal,  710,  714,  715;  the  nawdb  of,  664. 
Bengeworth,  village  of,  174. 


Bentinck.  Lord  George,  664. 

Sir  WilHam,  711. 

Berar,  surrender  to  England  of,  713. 
Berengariaof  Navarre,  queen  of  Richard  I., 

132. 
Beresford,  marshal,  620. 
Berkeley,  628;  castle  of,  204. 

George,  phil.  >sopLer,  637. 

Berlin,  614  ;  congress  at,  681. 

Bermudas,  the,  720. 

Bernicia,  19,  27,  32,  51. 

Beitha,  wife  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  28,  29. 

Bertrand  de  Born,  131. 

Berwick,  on  Tweed,  189,  209,  258,  411. 

treaty  of,  445. 

near  Shrewsbury,  258. 

Biionslas,  the,  713. 

Bigod,  Roger,  E.  of  Norfolk,  193. 

Bill  of  Rights,  the,  of  1689,  496. 

Birinus,  Wessex  converted  by,  33. 

Birmingham,  630,  652,  653,  675,  683,  702, 

736. 
Biscay,  Bay  of,  126. 
Bishops'  War,  the  first,  444 ;  the  second. 

445. 

Bismarck,  prince,  672,  688. 

Black  Death,  the,  216. 

Blackheath.  279,  312. 

Black  Sea,  the,  669,  671,  678. 

Blair  Atholl.  501. 

Blake,  Robert,  admiral,  465,  469. 

William,  poet,  638. 

Blanche,  duchess  of  Lancaster,  225. 

Blanchetaque,  214,  264. 

Blangy,  265. 

Bleddyn,  Welsh  prince,  65. 

Blenheim,  battle  of,  513-514. 

Bloemfontein,  727. 

Blois,  domains  of  the  counts  of,  111. 

Charles  of,  213,  216. 

Henry  of.   See  Henry,  of  Blois,  bishop 

of  Winchester. 

Stephen  of.     See  Stephen,  K. 

Blore  Heath,  battle  of.  282. 

Bliicher,  marshal,  622. 

Boadicea.    See  Boudicca. 

Board  of  Trade,  the,  696. 

Boccaccio,  251. 

Boers,  the,  720,  724-727,  730,  732. 

Boer  War,  the,  694,  697,  724-727,  729,  730, 

755. 
Bohemia,  366,  431,  432,  554. 

Hubs  in,  267. 

Anne  of,  queen  of  Richard  n.,  232- 

234.    See  Anne. 
Bohun,  Humphrey,  E.  of  Hereford,  193. 

See  Hereford. 
Boleyn,  Anne,  queen  of  Henry  vm.,  334, 

336,  339,  345,  379. 

Sir  Thomas,  334. 

Boliogbroke,  viscount,  536,  549-550.     See 

also  St.  John. 
Bolsheviks,  the,  753,  759. 
Bombay,  478,  562,  710,  715. 
Bonar  Law,  756. 
Bond  of  Association,  the  (1584),  388. 

tbe  (1696),  505. 

Boniface,  English  missionary  in  Germany, 

34 
viir.,  pope,  192, 195. 


772 


INDEX 


Boniface  of  Savoy,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 164. 

Bonn,  512. 

Bonner,  Edmund,  bishop  of  London,  348, 
357,  361,  364,  370. 

Bordeaux,  126,  165,  166,  217,  219,  221,  222, 
218,  748. 

Born,  Bertrand  do,  131. 

BorouRhbridge.  battle  of,  202. 

Bosnia,  681,  746,  747. 

Boston,  Massachusetts,  424,  580,  581. 

Boswortb,  battle  of,  299. 

Botha,  Louis,  730,  755. 

Bothwell,  James  Hepburn,  K.  of,  381,  383. 

Bothwell  Bridge,  battle  of,  487. 

Bourn  cea,  quem  of  the  Iceni,  8.  9. 

Boulogne.  100,  HI,  114,  349,  354,  609. 

Godfrey  of.    See  Godfrey. 

Stephen  of.    -See  Stephen,  king. 

Matilda  of.     See  Matilda,  queen. 

Bourbons,  the,  400,  572,  576,  612. 

Bourges,  "  the  king  of,"  271. 

Bouvines,  battle  of,  140. 

Boxers,  Chinese  rebels,  694. 

Boyne,  battle  of  the,  499. 

"  Boys,"  the,  549. 

Brabant,  D.  of,  211. 

Bradsbaw,  John,  president  of  the  court 
which  tried  Charles  1.,  462. 

Braganza,  Catharine  of.  Ste  Catharine  of 
Braganza,  queen. 

Bramhain  Moor,  battle  of,  259. 

Brandenburg,  502,  512,  Ia9.  See  also 
Prussia. 

Branxton  Hill,  323. 

Brazil,  392. 

Brecon,  100,  297. 

Breda,  the  declaration  of,  471,  473. 

the  peace  of,  478. 

Brentford,  451. 

Brest,  222,  611. 

Brest-Litovsk,  treaty  of,  753. 

Bretigni,  treaty  of,  210. 

Bridgnorth,  castle  of,  104. 

Bridgwater,  490. 

Francis,  D.  of,  628. 

Canal,  628. 

Brigantes,  tribe  of  the,  8,  9. 

Brigham,  the  treaty  of,  188. 

Bright,  John,  662,  664,  676. 

Brighton,  636. 

Brihuega,  battle  of,  516. 

Brindley,  engineer,  628. 

Bristol,  114,  151,  203,  345,  393,  451,  490, 
526,  626. 

Britain,  early,  1-17  ;  church  of,  28,  29. 

Britannia,  Superior,  Inferior,  Prima,  Se~ 
cunda,  10. 

British  Columbia,  723. 

British  South  African  Company,  establish- 
ment of  the,  725. 

Britons,  the,  4-21. 

Brittany,  298. 

Geoffrey  of,  127. 

D.  of,  271. 

John  of,  196. 

Francis  of,  310. 

Anne  of,  310. 

Brittany,  disputed  succession  to,  213,  216. 

Broad  Church,  the,  599. 


Broke,  Captain,  622. 

Bronze  Age,  the  3. 

Brooklyn,  battle  of,  582. 

Brougham,  Henry,  Lord,  chancellor,   614, 

651. 
Brown,  Robert,  founder  of  the  Brownisis 

or  Independents,  374. 
Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  physician,  532. 
Browning,  Robert,  po.t,  706. 
Brownists,  the,  374. 
Bruce,   Divid,   K.  of  Scots,   son  of  King 

Robert,  205,  208-210,  216. 
Edward,  brother  of  King  Robert  Bruce, 

225. 

Robert.  Lord  of  Annandalo,  188. 

E.  of  Canick,  grandson  of  the 

above,  afterwards  K.  of  Scots,  196,  200- 

202,  205,  206,  208,  225. 
Bruges,  61,  211,  763. 
Brunanburb,  bittle  of,  52. 
Brunswick,  House  of,  520   636,  728,  740. 
Brussels,  622. 

Brythons,  the,  2.    See  Britons. 
Bucer,  Martin,  357. 
Buch,  the  Captal  de,  217. 
Buckingham,  Htnry  Stafford,  D.  of,  295, 

296   297 

Edward  Stafford.  D.  of,  328. 

George  Villiers,  D.  of,  430,  432,  433, 

431,  436,  438. 
George  V  tillers,  D.  of  (eon  of  the  above  )■ 

482,  483. 
Buckingham  Palace,  744. 
Budget  of  19in,  the,  739. 
Budget  of  1911,  the,  742. 
Bulgars.    See  Bulgaria. 
Bulgaria,  680,  681,  746,  753,  754,  759,  701, 

762. 
Bulgarians,  the,  746.    See  Bulgaria. 
Bulls,  papal.  92. 
Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  581. 
Bnnyau,  John,  475,  532. 
Buonaparte,  Napoleon,  698-607,  744,    755. 

See  also  Napoleon  1.,  emperor   of  the 

French. 
Joseph,  K.  of  Spain,  612, 615, 616, 618- 

621. 
Louis  Napoleon,  666.    See  also  Na- 
poleon in.,  emperor  of  the  French. 
Burbage,  James,  theatre  of,  416. 
Burgh  Castle,  14.    See  Gariannonum. 
Burgh-on-Sands,  196. 
Burgh,  Hubert  de,  justiciar,  160, 161, 162. 
Burghley,  Lord.     See  Ce<il,  Sir  William. 

house,  built  ly  Hr  Wiliiani  Cecil,  414. 

Burgoyne,  general,  582. 

Burgundians,  the,  259,  267,  271,  275,  288. 

Burgundy,  133,  366. 

John  the  Fearless,  D.  of.  259,  267. 

Philip  the  Good,  D.  of,  267,  271,275, 276. 

Charles  the  Rash,  D.  of,  288-292. 

Mary  of,  292. 

Bnrke,   Edmund,    statesman   and    writer, 

575,  576,  580,  587.  591,  596,  597,  603. 

T.  H.,  Irish  under-secretary,  682, 687. 

Burma,  annexation  of,  713. 
Burnell,  Robert,  bishop  of  Wells  and  chan- 
cellor, 179,  182,  184,  185. 
Burns,  John,  735. 
Bums,  Robert,  638. 


INDEX 


773 


Burrard,  Sir  Harry,  616. 
Bury  St.  Edmunds,  231. 
Busaco,  batile  of,  620. 
Bute.  John,  E.  of,  572,  574. 
Buxton,  527. 
Bye  Plot,  the,  426. 
Byng,  admiral,  543. 

admiral,  son  of  the  above,  566. 

Byron,  George  Gordon,  Lord,  poet,  639,  645. 


Cabal,  the,  482-484. 
Cabot,  John,  39:s. 

Sebastian.  393. 

Cade,  Jack,  279. 

Cadiz,  397,  401,  436.  611. 

Cadwallon,  Welsh  King,  31. 

Caedmon,  Anglo-Saxon  pott,  35. 

Caen,  93 ;  capture  of,  214. 

Caerleon-on-Usk,  8.    See  Isca  Silurum. 

Caerphilly,  castle  of,  248. 

Gesar,  Gains  Julius.  6,  7. 

Caithness,  Norse  settlers  in,  42. 

Calais,  222    235,  264,  266,  291.321,367.378, 

411,  750 ;  siege  of,  216 ;  treaty  of,  219. 
Calcutta,  562.  564,  710,  740. 
Calder,  admiral,  611. 

the  river,  628. 

Caledonian  Canal,  the,  628. 
Caledonians,  the,  9, 10,  12. 
Calendar,  reform  of  tte,  559. 
Calvin,  John,  333,  366,  372-373. 
Calvinism,  377. 
Calvinists,  the,  633. 
Cambrai,  748,  758,  762. 
Cambrai,  league  of.  320. 
Cambridge,  244,  301,  357,  700,  708. 

Uichard,  E.  of,  264. 

Cambuskennetb,  abbey  of,  194. 
Camerons,  the,  510,  540,  556. 
Canipbeli-Banneiman,  Sir  Henry,  691,  735, 

730. 

Campbells,  the,  457,  501,  502,  540.  See 
also  Argyll. 

Campeggio,  Cardinal,  335. 

Camperdown,  battle  of,  599. 

Campion,  Edmund,  Jesu.t,  338. 

Camulodunum,  7,  8. 

Canada,  561,  568.  569,  573.  577,  621,  659, 
669.  719,  722-723,  741,  755. 

Canadian  Pacific  Hailway,  the,  723. 

duals,  62<. 

Canning,  George,  613,  613,  644-647,  720. 

Lord,  viceroy  of  India  (son  of  the 

above),  714,  715. 

Canons  Regular,  the,  154. 

Canterbury,  30,  75,  117,  120,  121,  122,  125, 
140. 

archbishops  of.  See  Augustine,  Theo- 
dore, Dunstan,  Alpnege,  Juinieges 
William  i>f,  Stigand,  Lanfranc,  Anselm, 
Corbeil  William  of.  Becket  St.  Thomas, 
Hubert  Walter.  Laugton  Stephen,  Rich 
Edmund,  Boniface  of  Savoy,  Kilwardy 
Robert,  Peckham  John,  Winchelsea 
Robert,  Arundel  Thomas,  Morton,  Cran- 
nier  Thomas,  Pole  Reginald,  Parker 
Matthew,  Grindal  Edmund,  Whitgift 
John,  Bancroft,  Abbot,  Laud  William, 
Sheldon  Gilbert,  Sancroft,  Tillotson. 


Canterbury  Tales,  Chaucer's,  251. 
Cautreds,  the  four,  of  North  Wales,  176. 
Cape  Breton,  island  of,  565,  568,  573. 

Colony,   725,  727.    .see  alio  Africa, 

South. 

of  Good  Hope,  the,  396,  425,  623. 

Pa>saro,  battle  of,  543. 

St.  Vincent,  battle  of,  599 

Caporttto,  758. 

Curnctacus,  son  of  Cunobelinus,  7,  8. 
Carausius,  Roman  admiral,  12. 
Carberry  Hill,  battle  of,  383. 
Cardiff,  castle  of,  93. 
Cardigan,  181. 

Cardinal  College,  Oxford,  331. 
Cardwell,  war  minister,  677,  697. 
Carisbrook,  cas'le  of,  152,  461. 
Carlisle,  9,  fc9.  556. 

Carlos,  Don,  652.    See  also  Charles  m.  of 
Spain,  572. 

(nineteenth  century),  655. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  writer,  707. 
Carmarthen,  181 ;  bay  of,  166,  258. 
Carnarvon,  181.   .See  also  Segontium. 
castle  of,  247. 

Edward  of,    182,  187.    &e  also  Ed- 
ward n. 

Carolina?,  colonies  of  the,  478,  584. 
Caroline  of  Anspacb,  queen  of  George  n., 
546. 

of  Brunswick,  quetn  of  George  iv., 

642,  643. 

Carpathians,  the,  753. 

Can  icklergus,  499. 

Carson,  Sir  Edward,  742,  743. 

Carteret,  Sir  George,  founder  of  New  Jersey, 

479. 
,  Lord,  prime  minister,  548,  553.    See 

also  Granville,  E.  of. 
Cartwright,  Thomas,  Puritan  leader,  373. 

inventor,  627. 

Cassivellaunus,  7. 
Castile,  K.  of,  129. 

civil  war  in,  219-221. 

Ca-tillon,  battle  of.  278. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  613,  613.  615.    See  also 

Londonderry,  E.  of. 
Castles,  83,  135,  152-153,  247-248. 
Catalans,  tb«>,  515,  516,  518. 
Cateau-Cambresis,  le,  748. 

treaty  of  le,  378 

Catesby,  Robert,  427-428. 

Catharine  of  Aragon,  queen  of  Henry  vnt., 

313,  326,  334-340,  346. 

of  Braganza,  queen  of  Charles  n.,  477. 

of  France,  quetn  of  Henry  v.,  267,  298. 

n.  tsarina  of  Russia,  573,  583,  591,  594. 

Howard,  queen  of  Henjy  vni..  349. 

Parr,  queen  of  Henry  vni.,  349. 

de'   Medici,  queen  of  Henry  n.   of 

France,  37  P. 

Catholic  Association,  the,  6)8. 

Emancipation,  605,  648-649,  700. 

Cato  5-treet  Conspiracy,  the,  643 
Cavaliers,  the,  450. 
Cavendish,  House  of,  409. 

,  Lord  Frederick.  682,  684. 

,    See  also  Hurting  ton  and  Devonshire. 

Cawnpur.  1)4. 

Caxton,  William,  printer,  305-306. 


774 


INDEX 


fradda,  Northumbrian  missionary,  32,  33. 
Ceawlin,  K.  of  Wessex,  21,  27. 
Cecil,  House  of,  409 

Edward,  Lord  Wimbledon,  436. 

Sir  William,  Lord  Burgbley,  369,  385, 

388,  405. 
Sir  Robert,  E.  of  Salisbury,  369,  405, 

406,  426,  427,  429.    See  also  Salisbury. 
Robert,  M.  of  Salisbury,  prime  minister. 

See  Salisbury. 
Cedd,  St.,  missionary  in  Essex  and  bishop 

of  London,  33. 
Celis;  the,  2-4,  20,  94. 

Central  Powers,   the.      See   Austria,  Ger- 
many, Turkey,  Bulgaria. 
Cenulf,  K.  of  Mercia,  38. 
Cerdic,  West  Saxon  chief,  18. 
Cessation,  the,  treaty  of  Charles  I.  with  the 

Irish,  452. 
Cetcbwayo,  Zulu  King,  725. 
Ceylon,  602,  623,  710,  720. 
Chad,  St.,  bishop  of  Lichfield,  32,  33.    See 

also  Ceadda. 
Chalgrove  Field,  battle  of,  451. 
Chalmers,  Dr.  Thomas,  Scotch  divine,  700. 
Chalus,  135. 

Cnamberlain,  Austen,  734. 
Joseph,  politician,  684,  6*6,  690,  734, 

736. 
Champagne,  273,  275,  75S. 
Chancellor,  Richard,  navigator,  393. 

office  of,  119,  147,  242,  300. 

Chancery,  the  Court  of,  242. 

Channel  Islands,  the,  169. 

Charleroi,  748. 

Charles  I.,  K.  of  England.  429,430,  435-461. 

,  II.,  461-465,  471-472,  473-488. 

Edward,  the  Young  Pretender,  555-553. 

iv.,  K.  of  trance,  203.  206. 

v.,  218,  219,  221,  228. 

VI.,  228,  259,  267,  210. 

VII.,  267,  268,  271. 

VIII.,  310,  311,  313. 

IX.,  379,  355. 

X.,  649,  650. 

K.  of  Spain,  i.,  324.    See  Charles  v., 

the  Emperor. 

II.,  482,  507. 

in.,  572,   583.    See  also  Carlos, 

Don. 

IV.,  611,  615. 

i.,  the  Great,  emperor,  35.  37, 39. 

v.,  the  emperor,  324-327,332,337, 

348,  357,  366. 

Vf.,  emperor,  543,  551,  554. 

— —  vn.  of  Bavaria,  emperor,  554-555. 

of  Anjou,  K.  of  Sicily,  169. 

the  archduke,  508.  515,  516,  518.    See 

also  Charles  vi.,  emperor. 

xii.,  K.  of  Sweden,  543. 

Charlestown,  479. 

Charlotte,  princess,  daughter  of  George  iv., 

042. 
Charterhouse,  monks  of  the,  London,  311. 
Chartists,  the,  659,  662,  666. 
Chateau  Gaillard,  135, 139,  153,  247. 
Chatham,  town  of,  478. 

Countess  of,  572. 

,  E.  of,  676,  577,  578,  580-583.    See 

also  Pitt,  William,  the  elder. 


Chatham,  the  second  E.  of,  618. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  251,  252,  306-307. 

Cherbourg,  222. 

Chesapeake,  the  American  ship,  622. 

Cheshire,  240,  409. 

Chester,  8,  21,  27,  54,  75,  90,  114,  236,  304, 

345.     See  also  Deva. 

battle  of,  21. 

palatine  earldom  of,  87,  167,  170,  182, 

351. 
Chichfster,  lordship  of,  103. 

Sir  Arthur,  422. 

Children's  Act,  the  (1908),  737. 

Chile,  756. 

Cbilianwala,  battle  or,  713. 

China,  393,  396,  671,  693,  730,  7E5. 

Chinon,  272,  273. 

Chivalry,  249. 

Christ  CUurch,  Oxford,  336. 

Canterbury,    121,   140-141.    See 

also  Canterbury. 
Christian  iv.,  K.  of  Denmark,  436,  437. 
Christian  Tear,  Keble's,  698. 
Church,  the,  especially  the  English,  29-35, 

49,  54-55,  79-80,  90-92,  112, 140-143,  242, 

300,  329-333,  468,  698,  700.  731. 
the  Scotch,   12,  28-29,  32-34,  375-376, 

421,  443-444,  459-460,  476,  523,  634,  661, 

700,  701. 
Church,    Disestablishment  of   the  Welsh, 

742-743,  744. 

of  the  Irish,  650,  676,  700. 

Churchill,  John,  Lord,  afterwards  D.  of 

Marlborough,  490,  495.  504,  511-517. 

Lord  Randolph,  736. 

Winston,  736. 

Cinque  Ports,  the,  151. 

Cintra,  the  convention  of,  616. 

Circars,  the,  710. 

Circumspecte  Ayatis,  law  called,  184. 

Cistercians,  order  of  the,  153,  154. 

Cludad  Rodrigo,  fortress,  620. 

Clare,  Richard  of,  E.  of  Gloucester,  169-170. 

See  alto  Gloucester,  E.  of. 
Gilbert  of,   E.  of  Gloucester,  son  of 

above,  170,  174,  176.   See  a Iso  Gloucester, 

E.  of. 
E.  of  Gloucester,  son  of  above,  199, 201. 

See  also  Gloucester,  E.  of. 

Lord.     See  Fitzgibbon. 

election  for  the  county  of,  648,  649. 

Clarence,  John,  D.  of,  268. 

Lionel,  D.  of,  28C. 

George,  D.  of.  287,  288,  290,  292,  293. 

William,  D.  of,  643.    See  also  William 

rv. 
Clarendon,  Constitutions  of,  119. 

Code,  the,  475. 

Earl  of.    See  also  Hyde,  Edward. 

Ciarkson,    Thomas,    anti-slavery  agitator, 

635. 
Clandius,  emperor,  conquest  of  Britain  in 

the  reign  of,  8. 
Clement,  the  anti-pope,  98. 

v.,  pope,  195. 

VII.,  pope,  229,  327,  332,  335,  337. 

CUricis  Laicos,  bull,  192. 

Clerkenwell  prison,  the,  676. 

Clevee.  Anne  of,  queen  of  Henry  vin.,  347.. 

Cliflord,  house  of,  286. 


INDEX 


77S 


Clifford,  Ixird,  of  Chudleigh,  482-484. 

Clitheroe,  287. 

<  live,  Robert,  5S3-56M,  666,  708-709. 

Cloth  of  ( ; i >ld.  field  of  the,  326. 

I'luny,  teaching  of  the  monks  of,  91. 

Clwyd,  the  vale  of,  65,  176. 

Cnut,  K.  of  England  and  Denmark,  59-60 ; 

earldoms  of,  60,  78. 
Coalition  Ministry  (1783),  the,  587-589 

(1862),  the,  667-668. 

the  Lloyd  George  (1916),  757-758. 

Cotxien,  Klohard,  politician,  662,  664,  671, 

673. 
Cobbam,  Eleanor,  wife  of  Humphrey  of 

Gloucester,  276. 

Lord,  426.   Seealso  Oldcastle,  Sir  John. 

Coburg,  658,  728-729, 

Cock,  the  river,  287. 

Cod,  Cape,  424. 

Colchester,    capture    of,    461.    See    also 

Camulodunum. 
Coldstream,  322. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  poet,  638. 
Colet,  John,  Dean  of  St.  haul's,  330,  331. 
Collier,  Jeremy,  his  attack  on  the  stage,  531. 
Colman,  Scottish  bishop,  33. 
Cologne,  elector  of,  512. 
Colonial  Federation,  722,  764. 
Colonies,  the  British,  401,  423-424,  479-480, 

506,  518,  523,  562,  564-569,  577-581,  -615, 

623,  659,  719-727,  729,  730,  741,  765,  761. 

German,  755. 

Columba,  St.,  24,  29. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  307,  392. 
Combination  Laws,  repeal  of,  703. 
Common  Pleas,  the  Court  of,  241. 
Commons,  House  of,    173,    191,   202,  240, 

256,  406-407,  408,  438-440,  445,  446,  462, 

476,  486,  439,  605-506,  537,  541,  560,  651, 

675,  679,  682,  634,  741,  742,  764. 
Commonwealth,  the,  462-472. 

of  Australia,  the,  724. 

Comorin,  Cape,  710. 
Compiegne,  275,  760. 
Compulsory  military  service,  757. 
Comyn,  John,  of  Badenoch,  196. 
Concordat  of  Napoleon  and  the  Pope,  607. 
Confirmatio  Cartarum,  the,  193. 
Conisborough,  castle  of,  152. 
CoDnaught,  600. 

Duke  of,  740, 

Conscription,  757. 

Irish,  763. 

Conservatives,  the,  655,  656,  660,  664,  667, 

671,  675,  679,  681,  686,  690. 
ConsU,ium  Ordinarium,  the,  241. 
Conspiracy  to  Murder  Bill,  the,  671. 
Constable,  John,  painter,  705. 

office  of,  147. 

Constance  of  Castile,  wife  of  John  of  Gaunt, 

232. 

cauncil  of,  266. 

Constantino,  the  first  Christian  emperor,  12. 

king  of  Greece,  752,  759. 

Constantinople,  29,  680,  681,  746. 
Continental  system,  Napoleon's,  614. 
Couventicle  Act,  the,  475. 
Convention,  ihe  Irish  (1916),  763. 

Parliament  (1660),  471-474. 

(1688),  495-497. 


Convocation,  239. 

Conway,  the  treaty  of,  179 ;  castle  of,  247. 

Cook,  captain,  720. 

Co-operation,  703. 

Coote,  colonel  Sir  Eyre,  56  J,  585. 

Cope,  general,  556. 

Copenhagen,  battle  of,  601. 

Corbeil,  William  of,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 111. 

Corea,  733. 

Cork,  125,  661. 

Com  Laws,  the,  631,  662,  663-664. 

Cornwall,  3,  14,  77,  312,  451. 

Richard,  E.  of,  166. 

Gaveston  made  E.  of,  199. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  68 »,  604. 

Corporation  Act,  the,  475,  543, 547,  648, 699. 

Corufia,  battle  of,  617. 

Cotentin,  the,  sold  by  Robert  of  Normandy, 
100,  103. 

Edward  m.  lands  in,  214. 

Counter-Reformation,  the,  377. 

County  Councils,  696. 

Courtenay,  bishop,  of  London,  227. 

Henry,  Marquis  of  Exeter.  346. 

Covenant,  the  Scottish  National,  444. 

the  Solemn  League,  and,  452-453. 

of  Ulster  Protestants,  743. 

Covenanters,  the,  476,  487,  490. 

Coventry,  Parliament  at,  282. 

Cowper,  William,  poet,  634,  638. 

Cravant,  battle  of,  271. 

Crabbe,  George,  poet,  638. 
j    Cranborne,  Lord,  675.    See  also  Salisbury, 

Robert,  marquis  of. 
i    Cranmer,  Thomas,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 339,    345-319,  354,    355,  357,   361, 
364-365. 

Crecy,  battle  of,  214-215. 

Crete,  691. 

Crimea,  the,  669-671. 

Croatia,  746. 

Cromer,  Lord,  in  Egypt,  692. 

Crompton,  inventions  of,  627. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  Protector,  452,  453,  456, 

458,  460-470. 

Kichard,  Protector,  470. 

Thomas,  E.  of  Essex,  341-347. 

Crusade,  the  First,  100, 101 ;  the  third,  131- 

133. 
Culloden  Moor,  battle  of.  558. 
Cumberland.  21,  52,  99,  541,  556. 

Ernest,  D.  of,  657. 

William,  D.  of,  555,  558,  566. 

Cumbria,   the    northern   division    of    the 

Welsh.  21. 
Cunobelinus,  7. 
Customs,  the,  183. 
Curia  Regis,  the,  107,  117,  147. 
Cynric,  son  of  Cerdic,  Saxon  chief,  18. 
Cyprus,  681. 

DALHOusre,    M.    of,    governor-general    ot 

India,  713. 
Palmatia,  762. 

Dalrymple,  John,  the  Master  of  Stair,  502. 
Damascus,  761. 
Dauby,  Thomas  Osborne,  E.   of,  484-486, 

489,  494,  505.    See  also  Leeds,  D.  of. 
|    Danegeld,  levy  of,  58. 


776 


INDEX 


Danelaw,  the,  45,  46,  50,  74. 

Danes,  the,  40-48,  5.-52,  57-58,  8P,  84,  125, 

672. 
Daniel,  first  bishop  of  Bangor,  28. 
Dante,  251. 
Danube,  the.  513,  669. 
Dardanelles,  the,  669,  753,  754. 
Darien  Scheme,  the,  506,  521. 
Darlington,  702. 
Darnell,  the  case  of,  437,  447. 
Darnley,  Henry  Stewart,  E.  of,  330-381. 
Darwin,  Charles,  naturalist,  705. 
David,  Saint,  28. 

i.,  K.  of  Scots,  106,  112. 

II.,  K.  of  Scots,  205,  203-210,  216.    See 

also  Brace,  David. 

ap  Griffith,  prince  of  Wales,  180,  181. 

E.  of  Huntingdon,  188. 

Davison,  Secretary  of  State,  389. 
Deccan,  the  nizam  of  the,  710. 
Declaration  of  Indulgence,  the  (1673),  484. 

(1688),  494. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 

Gibbon's,  638. 
Defoe,  Daniel,  writer,  637. 
Deira,  19,  30,  51. 
Deists,  the,  632. 
Delaware,  the  river,  479. 
Delhi,  562,  609,  710,  714,  715,  741. 
Demerara,  720. 
Denmark,  60,  672. 
Deorham,  battle  of,  21. 
Deptford,  396. 

De  Quincey,  Thomas,  writer,  706. 
Derby,  50.  656;  earldom  of,  175. 
Edmund  of  l^incaster,  E.  of,  175.    See 

also  Edmund  of  Lamaster. 
Henry  of  Lancaster,  E.  of,  225,  234, 

235.     ..ve  also  Henry  rv. 
Stanley,  Thomas,  first  E.  of,  311.    See 

also  S:anley. 
Stanley,  Edward,  E.of,  Prime  Minister 

under  queen  Victoria,  fc67,  675 
Dermot,  K.  of  Leinster,  125. 
Derry,  siege  of,  499. 
Desmond,  earl  of,  402. 
Despensers,  the,  father  and  6on,  202,  203. 
Dettingen,  battle  of,  554. 
Deva,  Koman  garrison  at,  8,  11.    See  also 

Chester. 
Devon,  county  of,  451. 

Commission,  the,  661. 

Devonshire,  E.  of,  494. 

D.  of,  prime  minister  under  George 

ii.,  561. 
D.  of,  minister  under  Victoria,  690, 

731.    See  also  Hartington. 
Devolution  in  Ireland,  737. 
Dickens,  Charles,  706. 
Diocletian,  the  Emperor,  10,  12. 
Dillon,  John.  763. 
Directory,  the,  598,  600. 
Disestablishment  of  Welsh  Church,   742, 

743,  744. 

of  Irish  Church,  650,  676 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  663,  664,  667,  671,674, 

675,  676,  679.     See  also  Beaconsfield. 
Dissenters,  the,  493,  494,  497,  516,  547,  699. 
Doab,  the  Upper  and  Lower,  710. 
Domesday  Bottk,  the,  89. 


Dominic,  St.,  243. 

Dominica,  battle  near,  584. 

Dominicans,  the,  167,  243. 

Dominion  of  Canada,  the  723,  741,  764. 

Dominions,  the,  719-723,  741,  764. 

Domremi,  273. 

Doncaster,  343. 

Dorchester,  bishops  of,  90. 

Dordogne,  the  liver,  126,  273. 

Dorset,  Thomas  Grey,  Slarquis  of,  320. 

Dost  Muhammad,  Amir  of  Afghanistan, 

712. 
Douai,  763. 

college  at,  387. 

Douglas,  E.  of,  258. 

Dover,  142,  151,  393.    See  also  Dubrae. 

treaty  of,  482,  483. 

Dovey,  the  i  iver,  166. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  sai'or,  396,  393,  400. 

Dreadnoughts,  the,  755. 

Drogheda,  capture  of,  463. 

Druids,  the,  4. 

Drumalbao,  22,  24. 

Dryden,  John,  poet,  531.  532. 

Dual  Alliance,  the,  6S8,  744. 

Dublin,  125,  126,  309,  499,  609. 

Rebellion,  the,  757. 

Pubrae,  11.    See  Dover. 

Dudley,   Edmund,   extortioner,   d.    1510... 

314, 318. 
John,  E.  of  Warwick,  354,  357,  and 

D.  of  Northumberland,  358-361. 

Lord  Guildford,  360,  362. 

Lord  Robert,  370.    See  also  Leicest  er, 

E.of. 
Dumfries,  196. 

Dunajec,  the  battle  on  the,  753. 
Dunbar,  battle  of,  464. 
Dunblane,  541. 
Duncan,  admiral,  599. 
Dunchurch,  427. 

Dundee,  Viscount,  501.    See  Graham,  John. 
Dunes,  battle  of  the,  459. 
Dungannon,  meeting  of  Irish  at,  586. 
Dunkirk,  469,  477. 
Duns  Scotus,  schoolman,  245. 
Dunstable,  339. 
Dunstan,   St.,  abbot  of   Glastonbury  and 

archbishop  of  Canterbury,  63-56. 
Dupleix,  governor  of  Pondicherri,  563. 
Dupplin  Moor,  battle  of,  2(J9. 
Duquesne,  Fort,  565,  568. 
Durb.ir,  the,  741. 
Durham,  b7,  90,  240,  702,  736. 

cathedral  of,  153. 

Lord,  723. 

Dutch,  the,  424,  465,  463,  478,  432-484,  5C3, 

513,  518,  524,  559,  598,  623,  720,  724. 

Republic,  foundation  of  the,  386. 

Dyvrig,  St.,  bishop  of  Llandaff,  28. 


Ealdgtth,  daughter  of  jElfgar,  65. 
Earldoms,  of  Cnut,  60;  of  William  L,  86- 

87 ;  of  Norman  times,  148. 
EastAnglia,19,27,28,  33,40,43, 51, 60, 77,  90. 
Easterlings,  the,  302. 
East  India  Company,  the,  424,  478,  588, 

591,  711,  715. 
Ebro,  the  river,  617. 


INDEX 


777 


Eburacum,  9, 11,  12.  See  York. 
Ecclesiastical  Commission,  the   Court  of, 

372,  442,  446. 

of  James  n.,  493. 

of  1836.  699. 

Ecgfritb,  K.  of  Northumbria,  35. 
Edgar,  the  Peaceful,  King.  53-55. 
Edgar  the  .tttheling,  66,  71,  84,  101,  104. 

K.  of  Scots,  103. 

Edgecote,  battle  of,  289. 

Edge 'Hill,  battle  of,  450. 

Edinburgh,  54.  125,  306,  354,  381,  383,  443, 

500,  550-551,  556,  628. 

treaty  of,  375. 

Edington,  battle  of,  44. 
Edith,  sister  of  Athelstan,  52. 

wife  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  62,  64. 

(Matilda)  ofScotland.queeu  of  Henry  I., 

1 03.     See  also  Matilda. 
Edmund,  the  Magnificent,  King,  52. 

Ironside,  King,  59. 

son  of  Henry  in.,  E.  of  Lancaster,  167, 

175,  179,  189. 
—  E.  of  Kent,  son  of  Edward  I.,  208. 
Edred,  King,  52,  53. 
Education  Act,  the,  of  1870,  677,  70T. 

of  1902,  708,  730. 

Act  of  1918,  762-3. 

Bills  under  Edward  vu.,   730,   731, 

736,  737. 
Edward  the  Elder.  King.  50-51. 

the  Martyr,  King.  55-56. 

the  Confessor,  King,  61-62,  153, 179. 

I.,  169,  170,  172-176,  178-197,  247. 

II.,  182,  187,  198-204,  240. 

III.,  203,  204,  205-227,  249. 

IV.,  285-294. 

v.,  295,  296. 

VI.,  346,  352-360. 

vu.,  694.  728-739. 

Edward  the  Black  Prince,  214-222. 

prince  ot  Wales,  bon  of  Henry  vi.,  280, 

289,  291. 
Edwin,  K.  of  Northumbria,  30-31. 

E.  of  Mercia,  65,  68,  69,  71,  84,  85. 

Edwy,  King,  53. 

Egbert,  bishop  of  York,  35. 

K.  of  Wessex,  39-40. 

Egypt,  599,  600,  660,  681,  683,  692-693,  732, 

746,  753,  759. 
Eilcon  Basilikt,  463. 
Eikonoklastes,  463. 
Elba,  Isle  of,  621,622. 
Eleanor,  of  Aquitaine,  queen  of  Henry  n., 

115,  126,  127,  137,  138,  139. 

of  Castile,  queen  of  Edward  i.,  189. 

of  Provence,  qne.n  of  Heury  m.,  162, 

173. 
princess  of  Wales,  179.   See  also  Mont- 
fort,  Eleanor. 
Eliot,  Sir  John,  parliamentary  leader,  436, 

437-439. 
Elizabeth,  queen,  340,  346,  359,  362,  368- 

407. 
queen  ofBohemia.daughter  of  James  i., 

427,  432. 

Woodville,  queen  of  Edward  iv.,  296. 

of  York,  queen  of  Henry  vu.,  297, 308. 

tsarina  of  Russia,  565. 

Ellandune,  battle  of,  40. 


Elphinstone,  goneral,  712. 

Eltham,  263. 

Ely,  island  of,  84,  176. 

monastery  of,  153. 

Nigel,  bishop  of,  112,  117. 

Emma,  of  Normandy,  wife  of  Ethelred  XL, 
68.  59. 

Emmet,  Robert.  Irish  rebel.  609. 

Empress  of  India,  title  of.  715. 

Erupson,  Richard,  extortioner,  314,  318. 

Enclosure  Acts,  the,  631. 

Eudjwed  Schools  Acts,  the,  707. 

England,  the  beginnings  of,  17. 

united  under  one  king,  51. 

English,  the,  characteristics  of  their  settle- 
ment, 20. 

Entail,  Law  of,  184,  185. 

Entente  cordiale,  the,  732,  745. 

Ennisklllen,  499. 

Equity,  the  Court  of,  242.  See  Chancery, 
Court  of. 

Erasmus,  writer.  330. 

Ermine  Street,  the,  11. 

Essex,  Anglo-Saxon  Kingdom  of,  19  27 
28,  30,  33. 

shire,  of,  77,  461. 

Geoftrey,  Fitzpeter,  E.  of.     See  Fitz- 

peter. 

Robert  Devereux,  second  E.  of,  401 

404,  405. 
Robert       Devereux,      parliamentary 

general,  third  E.  of.  4i0, 451, 456, 457,  458. 

\V  alter  Devereux,  first  E.  of,  402. 

Etaples,  treaty  of,  310. 
Ethelbald.  K.  of  Mercia,  36. 

K.  of  Wessex,  43. 

Ethelbert,  K.  of  Kent,  28-30,  43. 
Ethelburga,  of  Kent,    wile    of  Edwin  of 

Northumbria,  30. 
Ethelflaed,  the  Lady  of  the  Mercians,  45, 50. 
Ethelred,  K.  of  Wessex,  43. 

alderman  of  the  Mercians,  45,  50. 

It.,  56-59. 

Ethelwulf,  K.  of  Wessex,  11-43. 
Eton,  301. 

Eugene,  prince,  of  Savoy,  513,  515. 
Eustace,  son  of  King  Stephen,  115. 
Evangelical  movement,  the,  633-634,  698. 
Evangelicals,  the,  698. 
Evesham,  battle  of,  174-175. 
Evolution,  doctrine  of,  705-706. 
Exchequer,  the,  107,  117,  147,  241. 

the  stop  of  the,  483. 

Exclusion  Bill,  the,  486-487. 

Excise,  Walpole's,  550. 

Exeter,  11,  83,  151,  312,  495.    See  also  Isca 

Dumnoniorum. 
cathedral  tf,  247. 


Factory  Acts,  the,  703. 

system,  the,  630. 

Faerie  Queen.  Spenser's,  416. 

Fairfax,  Lord,  parliamentary  general,  451, 

453. 
Sir  Thomas,  parliamentary  general, 

son  of  the  above,  451,  453,  458,  461,  464. 
Falaise,  treaty  of,  125. 
FaUes  of  Breaute,  foreign  adventurer,  161. 
Faikirk,  battle  of  (1298),  194. 


778 


INDEX 


Falkirk,  battle  of  (1746).  558. 

Falkland,  Lucius  Cary,  Viscount,  447,  44?, 

452. 
Family  Compact,  the,  572. 
Farnese,  Elizabeth,  queen  of  Spain,  551. 
Faroe  islands,  Norse  settlers  In,  42. 
Fasboda,  693. 

Fawkee,  Guy,  conspirator,  427-428. 
Felix,  a  Burguitdtan,  East  Auglia  converted 

by,  33. 
Felton,  the  murderer  of  Buckingham,  438. 
Fenians,  tbe,  675. 
Ferdinand,  K.  of  Aragon,  310, 313, 319, 320, 

324. 

1.,  emperor,  366. 

it.,  emperor,  431. 

the  Infant  of  Spain,  615. 

Fere,  La  (town),  762. 

Ferrar,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  364. 

Feudalism,  85-86.  96. 

Feversham,  E.  of,  490. 

Fielding,  Henry,  novelist,  638. 

Fife,  541, 

Finisterre,  cape,  battle  of,  611. 

Finland,  614.      , 

Fire,  tbe  Great,  of  London,  481. 

Fisher,   Herbert,   Minister   of   Education, 

764-5. 
Fisher,  John,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  340,  341. 
Fishguard,  599. 

Fitzalau,  Richard,  E.  of  Arundel,  233, 234. 
Thomas,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

called  archbishop  Arundel,  235,  236,  256. 
Fitzgerald,   house  of,   309,   311,  350,  402. 

See  also  Desmond,  E.  of,  and  Kildare,  E. 

of. 

Vesey,  648. 

Fitzgibbon,  Lord  Clare,  604,  605. 
Fitzosbero,  William,  Norman  baron,  83. 
Fitzpeter,  Geoffrey,  E.  oi  Essex,  135,  138, 

144. 
Fitzwilliam,  Lord,  603,  604. 
Five  Articles  of  Perth,  the,  421. 
Five-Mile  Act,  the,  475. 
Flambard,  Ranulf,  justiciar,  96,  102,  103. 
Flam  borough  Head,  259. 
Flamboyant,  Gothic,  306. 
Flammock,  Cornish  leader,  312. 
Flanders,  193,  216,  21g,  306,  310,  312,  397, 

750,  758,  760, 762,  763. 
Ftavia  Caxariensit,  10. 
Flaxman,  John,  sculptor,  636. 
Fleet,  the  Grand,  757,  758. 
Fleetwood,  general,  470. 
Flemings,  the,  106,  116. 
Fletcher,  Andrew,  of  Salton,  522. 

John,  dramatist,  530. 

Fleury,  Cardinal,  551. 

Flodden,  battle  of,  322-323. 

Flint,  surrender  of  Richard  11.  at,  237. 

Flintshire,  182. 

Florida,  564,  573,  587. 

Flying  Squadron,  the,  522. 

Foch,  Marshal.  760,  761,  763. 

Fontenoy,  battle  of,  555. 

Ford,  John,  dramatist,  530. 

Forest  Charter,  of  Henry  nr.,  160. 

Forster,  Thomas,  Jacobite  lender,  539,  541. 

W.  E.,  politician,  677,  707. 

Fort  St.  George,  562. 


\    Fort  William  (India),  562,  5P4. 

; (Scotland),  628. 

Forty-two  Articles,  the,  359. 
Fosse  Way,  the,  11. 
1    Fotheringhuy.  castle  of,  389. 
I    Fountains  abbey,  153. 
!    Fox,  Richard,  bishop  of  AVinchester,  314, 

318. 

J    Henry,  lord  Holland,  560,  573,  577. 

*    Charles  James.  577,  586,  587-589,  596, 

597,  610,  612-613. 
France,  115,  119,  120, 126,  189-191,  258,  433, 

436,  440,  469,  482.  502,  603,  508,  512,  542, 

543,  551,  552,  555,  559,  562-566,  572,  587, 

591,  593-602.  615,  621-623,  660,  666,  669, 

678,  6il,  693,  732,  734,  744,  745,  747-75*, 

757,  758,  760,  762,  763. 
Francis  1.,  of  France.  324,  325-327, 337,  357. 

H.,  of  France,  378. 

St.,  of  Assisi,  243. 

of  Lorraine,  afterwards  the  emperor 

Francis  1.,  554,  555. 
Francis  Ferdinand,  archduke  of  Austria, 

747. 
Franciscans,  the,  167,  243-244. 
Franco-German  War,  the,  678. 
Frankfort,  666. 
Franks,  the,  their  settlement  in  northern 

Gaul,  14. 
Fraser  Clan,  tbe,  540. 
Frederick  1.,  Barbarossa,  emperor,  120, 131. 
— —  11.,  emperor.  164. 
prince  of  Wales,   son  of  George  ji., 

549. 

D.  of  York,  son  of  George  in. ,  598. 

elector,  palatine,  and  K.  of  Bohemia, 

431,433,  436,  410. 

i.,  K.  of  Prussia,  512. 

11.,  the  Great,  K.  of  Prussia,  554,  565, 

568,  573,  583. 
Free  Ciiurch,  the,  of  Scotland,  661,  700. 
Free  Companies,  the,  219. 
French,  Marshal,  744,  748,  750,  760. 
French  literature  in  England.  156,  250. 

Revolution,  the,  593-600. 

Friars,  the,  242-244. 

Friedland,  battle  of,  614. 

Friends,  the  society  of,  468,  479. 

Frobisher,  Mar.in,  navigator,  396,  398. 

Froissart,  John,  251. 

Fuentes  de  Ofioro,  battle  of,  620. 

Fulford,  battle  of,  68 

Fyrd,  the,  military  levy  of  tbe  shire,  78. 

Gaekwab,  thf,  710. 

Gage,  general.  581. 

Galgacus,  Caledonian  chieftain,  9. 

Galicia,  762. 

Galloway,  14,  22,  209. 

Galway,  661. 

Ganges,  the,  710. 

Gardiner,  Stephen,  bishop  of  Winchester, 

318,  357,  361,  362,  366,370. 
Gariannonum,    fort   of,   14.      See    Burgh 

tastle. 
Garnett,  Henry,  a  Jesuit,  428. 
Garonne,  tbe  river,  217. 
Garrick,  David,  actor,  637. 
Garter,  the  Order  of  the,  217. 


I.VDEX 


779 


Gascony,  126,  166,  167,  169,  179,  185,  189, 

190,  192-194,  206,  222,  278,  280,  320. 
Gates,  American  general,  582. 
Gatton,  In  Surrey,  636. 
Gauls,  the,  5. 
Gaunt,  John  of,  1).  of  Lancaster,  222,  225- 

232,  234-236. 

Gaveston.  Peter  of,  E.  of  Cornwall,  198-199. 

Gaza,  759. 

Geneva,  372,  375. 

Geoflrey  Plantagenet,  count  of  Anjou,  108. 

cuunt  of  Brittany,  son  of  Henry  n., 

127. 

of    Monmouth,    wrots     History    of 

Britain,  106,  107,  155,  156. 

George  i.,  520,  521,  536-545. 

II.,  542,  546-569. 

III.,  570-625,  740. 

iv.,  588,  642-619. 

v.,  739-765. 

of  Denmark,  husband  of  Q.  Anne,  511. 

David  Lloyd.    See  Lloyd  George. 

Georgia,  colony  of,  564,  58  ^  633. 

Gerberoy,  battle  of,  88. 

Germany,  16,  431,  596,  607,  612,  617,  621, 

666,  672,    678,   688,  692,   732,   734,    744- 

768. 
Ghent,  211. 

the  pacification  of,  386. 

Treaty  of,  622. 

Gibbon,  Edmund,  historian.  638. 
Gibbons,  Grinling,  Dutch  wotdcarver,  530. 
Gibraltar,  515,  518,  584,  587. 
Gilbert,   Sir  Humphrey,    navigator,    401, 

423. 
Gildas,  Welsh  monk,   his  description   of 

Britain,  21. 
Ginkel,  general,  500. 
Gladstone,  William  Ewart,  prime  minister, 

664,  668,  673,  674,  676-679,  682,  084-685, 

689. 
Glamorgan,  lordship  of,  100,  106,  174. 
Glasgow,  626,  628,  630,  675,  683. 

General  Assembly  at,  444. 

university  of,  307. 

Glastonbury,  abbey,  54. 
— —  lake  villages  discovered  near,  4. 
Glencoe,  the  massacre  of,  502. 
Glendower,  Owen,  Welsh  leader,  257-259, 

262. 
Globe  theatre,  the,  417. 
Gloucester,  106,  114,  451,  452,  628. 

bishopric  of,  345. 

cathedral  of,  247. 

statute  of,  183. 

Gloucester,  Gilbert  of  Clare,  E.  of.  6on  of 

Richard  of  Clare,  170,  174.  176,  248. 
Gilbert  of  Clare,  E.  of,  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, 199,  201. 

Humphrey.  D  of,  270,  277,  304. 

Richard  of  Clare,  E.  of,  169-170. 

Richard,   D.   of,  287,    291,  293.    See 

Richard  in. 

Kobert,  E.  of,  106,  112-114,  155. 

Isubella  of.     See  Isabella.  ■ 

Thomas   of  Woodstock,  D.  of,   225, 

233,  23 1,  235. 

Gloucestershire,  included  in  th3  kingdom 

of  Wessex,  27. 
Goderich,  Lord,  prime  minister,  647. 


Godfrey  of  Boulogne,  K.  of  Jerusalem,  100. 

Godolpbin,  Ix>rd,  lord  high  treasurer,  509, 
511,  616-517,  522. 

Godwin,  E.  of  Weseex,  60-62,  64. 

house  of,  60-65. 

Goidels,  the,  or  Gaelic  race,  2, 3. 

Golden  Hind,  the,  396. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  man  of  letters,  637, 
638. 

Gondomar,  Spanish  ambassador,  431. 

Gordon,  Lady  Catharine,  311. 

Lord  George,  586. 

General,  083. 

Gordon  riots,  the,  585. 

Goree,  587. 

Goring,  Lord,  royalist  general,  453. 

Goscbeo,  G.  J.,  statesman,  686,  688. 

Gothic  architecture,  153-154,  245-247,  302- 
303,  414,  529,  636,  701. 

Gougb,  Lord,  113. 

Grafton,  D.  of,  prime  minister.  576. 

Graham,  James,  M.  of  Montrose.  See 
Montrose. 

John,  of  Claverhouse,  Viscount  Dun- 
dee, 501.    See  also  Dundee. 

Grand  Alliance,  the,  510,  512. 

Remoufrtrunce,  the,  448. 

Juries,  In  Ireland,  696. 

In  England,  123. 

Granville,  E.,553.    See  Carteret. 

Grasse,  Admiral  de,  584. 

Grattan,  Henry,  Irish  orator,  585,  587, 
602-605. 

Graupius  Mons,  8. 

Gravelines,  326,  399. 

battle  off,  399. 

Great  Council,  the,  147,  239,  241. 

at  York  (1640),  445. 

Great  Custom,  the,  183. 

Greco-Turkish  war,  691,  746. 

Greece,  746,  759. 

Constantine,  king  of.  754,  759. 

Greeks,  the,  644,  645-646,  649,  668,  680, 
691,  746,  754,  759. 

Greenland,  Nor»e  settlers  in,  41. 

Gregory  i..  the  Great,  pope,  sends  miselon- 
aiies  to  England,  29. 

vii.,  pope,  91,  92.    See  Hildebrand. 

ix.,  pope,  163. 

Grenville,  Sir  Richard,  400. 

George,  574-575,  578. 

Lord,  612,  614. 

Grey,  Lady  Catharine,  405,  407. 

Sir  Edward,  afterwards  viscount,  734, 

735,  747. 

Lady  Jane,  360, 362. 

Sir  John,  288. 

John  de,  bishop  of  Norwich,  141. 

Sir  Richard,  295-296. 

Lord,  of  Ruthin,  257. 

Thomas,  Marquis  of  Dorret,  295-296. 

See  also  Dorset. 

Walter,  archbishop  of  York,  179. 

Lord,  Whig  prime  minister,  644,  651, 

655. 

Grey  Friars,  the,  243     SeeaUo  Franciscans. 

Griffith  ap  Llewelyn,  prince  of  Wales,  65, 
166. 

Grindal,  Edmund,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 374. 


780 


INDEX 


Grossteste,  Robert,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  164. 

Guaio,  papal  legate,  159. 

Guelph,  bouse  of,  728. 

Guesclin,  Bertram!  du,  219,  221. 

•iuiana,  43!,  691,  720. 

Guienue,  126.   See  also  Gascony  and  Aqui- 

taine. 
Guinea,  391. 

Guinegatte,  battle  of,  321. 
Guilds,  301-302. 
Guipuscoa,  508. 
Gujnit,  battle  of,  713 
Gulliver's  Travels,  Swift's,  637. 
liunpowder,  use  ot,  303. 

Plot,  the,  427-428. 

Gurtb,  E.  of  East  Anglia,  65,  71. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  K.  of  Sweden,  440. 
Gutenberg,  Joho,  print -r,  305. 
Guthrum,  44, 45. 
Gwyuedd,  106,  117,  124. 


Habeas  Coepus  Act,  the,  486  ;  suspension 

of,  597. 

writ  of,  437. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  the  wall  of,  9, 10,  14. 
Haesten,  attempts  the  conquest  of  VV  esses, 

48. 
Haiclar  AK,  sultan  of  Mysore,  581,  585. 
Haig,  Marshal  Sir  Douglas,  760. 
Hainault,  203,  211,  270. 
Hakluyt,  his  Principal  Navigations  of  Vie 

Enylish  Kation,  418. 
Haldane,  R.  B.,  afterwards  Viscount,  735, 

738,  745. 
Hales,  Alexander,  schoolman,  245. 

Sir  Edward,  492. 

Halldon  Hill,  battle  of,  209. 
Halifax,  Yorkshire,  487. 

N.  America,  581,  723. 

(Savile)  Lord,  487. 

Charles  Montague,  Lord,  505.     See 

also  Montague. 
Hamilton,  the  bouse  of,  383. 
Hammersmith,  451. 

Hampden,  John,  440,  445,  417-449,  451. 
Hampton  Court,  conference  at,  426. 
Handel,  Frederick,  musician,  636. 
Hanover,  542,  545,  566,  568,  625,  657. 

house  of,  520,  536-728,  740. 

treaty  of,  551. 

Hanse  Merchants,  the,  302. 
Hapsburg,  the  bouse  of,  325,  366. 
Harcourt,  Sir  William,  politician,  690,691. 
Harding,  John,  chronicler,  304. 
Hardinge,  Lord,  governor-general  of  Inoia, 

712. 
Harfleur,  264,  298. 
Hargreaves,  inventions  of,  627. 
Harlech,  castle  of,  247. 
Harley,  Robert,  E.  of  Oxford,  516,  517-521, 

544.     See  also  Oxford. 
Harold  Fairhair,  K.  of  Norway,  41. 

Harefoot,  king,  60,  61. 

son  of  Godwin,  king.  62-64,  65-71. 

Hardrada,  K.  of  Norway,  68. 

Harrogate,  527. 

Harthacnut,  king,  60,  61. 

Hartington,  marquis  of,  684,  686,  690.     See 

also  Devonshire,  D.  of. 


Harvey,  William,  physician  of  Charbs  i , 

528. 
Hastings,  battle  of,  69-71. 
Lord,  296. 

Warren,  governor-general  of  India, 

585,  691,  708-709. 

marquis  of,  711. 

Hatfield  House,  built  by  Rob?rt  Cecil,  414. 

Havana,  572,  573. 

Havelock,  General,  715. 

Havre,  le,  379,  609. 

Hawke,  admiral,  568. 

Hawkins,  William,  seaman  393. 

Sir  John,  son  of  the  above,  394,  397, 

398,  400. 
Hawley,  general,  558. 
Haye,  la,  farm  of,  622. 

Sainte,  la,  farm  of,  622,  613. 

Heathfleld,  battle  of,  31. 

Heavenfield,  battle  of,  32. 

Hebrides,  ibe,  Norse  settlers  in,  43. 

Hedgeley  Moor,  battle  of,  287. 

Heights  of  Abraham,  the,  569. 

Heligoland,  6*8,  754. 

Hengist,  traditional  leader  of  the  Jutes,  18. 

Hengston  I'own,  bittle  of,  41. 

Henrietta   Maria,    of    France,    queen    of 

Charles  i.,  41*3,  435. 
Henry  i.,  of  Anjou,  K.of  England,  94, 100. 

102-110. 

II.,  115,  116-136. 

III.,  159-177. 

IV.,  225,  234,  235-237,  255-260. 

v.,  260,  262-269. 

VI.,  270-283,  586,  287,  289,  291. 

VII.,  298-299,  308-316. 

viii.,  313,  317-351. 

ii.,  K.  of  Fiance,  366,  378. 

III.,  391,  399. 

IV.,  400,  430. 

iv.,  Emperor,  91. 

v.,  108. 

vi.,  133. 

of  Blois,  bishop  of  Winchester,  111, 

114. 
the  young  king,  son  of  Henry  n.,  120, 

129. 

piince  of  'Wales,  son  of  James  i.,  429. 

Stewart,  cardinal  of  York,  558. 

the  Lion,  D.  of  Saxony,  129. 

Henryson,  Robert,  Scots  poet,  306. 

Herbert,  George,  poet,  531. 

Heieford,  earldom  of,  87. 

Humph)  ey,  E.  of,  193.   See  also 'Bohun. 

Henry  of  Lancaster,  D.  of,  225,  234, 

235,  236.     See  also  Derby,  E.  of,   and 
Henry  iv. 

Hereward,  Anglo-Saxon  leader,  84,  93. 

Herrick,  Robert,  poet,  531. 

Hertford,   Edmund  Seymour,  E.  of,  348, 

352-358.    See  also  Somerset,  D.  of. 
Hesdin,  265. 
Hexham,  battle  of,  287. 
High  Church,  487,   489,  494,  497-498,  516, 

517,  520,  632-633,  698-689. 
High  Commission,  Court  of,  372,  410,  446, 

493,  495. 
Highlanders,  the,  186,  501.  5?9,  556. 
Highlands,  the,  307, 457,  459,  501-502,  539- 

540,  555,  558-559. 


INDEX  78 I 


Highwaymen,  702. 

Hilda,  abbess  of  Whitby,  35. 

Hlldebrand,  Pope  Gregory  vu.,  91. 

Hill,  Rowland,  postal  reformer.  660. 

Uind  and  the  Pantner,  the.  Diy.len  s,  532. 

Hind.'nbuig,  Marshal,  752,  758,  762. 

Hindus,  the,  711. 

Hispaniola,  394.  469. 

History  «f  the  Rebellion,  Clarendon  s,  532. 

HochstSd't.  513. 

Hogarth,  William,  painter,  636. 

Holbeacb,  in  Staffordshire,  423. 

Holbein,  Hans,  painter,  414. 

Holiushead,  chronicle*  of,  418. 

Holkar,  Maniiha  prince,  710,  715. 

Holland,  386.  464,  478,  480,  483,  502,  508, 
512,  542,  543,  562,  683,  587,  591,  598,  602, 
612',  616,  763.  Ann 

Holies,  D'Dzil,  parliamentary  lealer,  439. 

Holmby  House,  460. 

Holstein,  672. 

Holy  Alliauce,  the,  644,  655. 

Holy  League.  th<\  320. 

Holyrood.  381,  556.  oo„ 

Home  Rule  for  Ireland.  680,  682,  680,  63o, 
\6S9,  712,  743,  744.  763-764. 

Hooker,  Richard,  on  the  Laws  of  Ecclcsi- 
asticxl  Polity,  374,  418. 

Hooper,  John,  bishop  of  Gloucester,  357, 

Horsa,  traditional  leader  of  the  Jutes.  18. 

Hotspur,  Harry,  258.    See  also  Percy. 

Hougoumont,  622. 

Hougue,  la.  214  ;  battle  of,  503. 

Hounslow  Heath,  493. 

House  carles,  the,  60,  69. 

Hoveden,  Roger  of,  English  chronicler,  155. 

Howard,  Catharine,  queen  of  Henry  TBI, 

347,  349. 
»—  Lord,  of  Effingham,  397-399,  401. 
— —  Lord  Tnomas,  400. 

Henry,  E.  of  Surrey.    See  Surrey. 

John,  philanthropist,  635. 

Thomas,  D.  of  Norfolk.    See  Surrey 

and  Norfolk. 
Howe,  general,  568. 

Sir  William,  582. 

admiral,  684. 

Hubert  de  Burgh,  justiciar,  160-161. 
Hubert  Walter,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

134,  137.  140. 
Hudson,  the  river,  4T9. 
Hugh  Capet,  kiug  of  France,  election  of,  66, 

Hugh  of  Avalon,  St.,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  134, 

154,  247. 
Huguenots,  the,  379,  437,  493,  525. 
Hull,  449,  451,  452,  733. 
H  umber,  the  river,  84. 
Humble  Petition  and  Advice,  the,  470. 
Humbleton.  battle  of,  258. 
Hume,  David,  philosopher  and  historian, 

637.  638. 
Hundred,  courts  of  the,  77.  147. 
Hungary,  366,  513.  753,  762. 
Huntingdon,   earldom  of,    106.    See   also 

David,  E.  of. 
Hurstmonceaux,  303. 
Huskisson,  statesman,  614,  617. 
Huss,  Jolin,  Bohemian  reformer,  267. 


Hyde,  Edward,  E.  or  Clarendon,  447,  448, 
475,  481,  532. 

Anne,  first  wife  of  James  n.,  481. 

Hyde  Park,  Exhibttiou  in,  666. 

Iberians,  the,  in  Britain,  2,  3. 
Iceland,  Norse  settler*  io,  41. 
Iceni,  tribe  of  tue.  8, 
Idle,  battle  of  the,  30. 
Imperial  Federation,  722,  764. 
Incident,  the.  447. 
Indemnity  Act,  the  (1630),  473. 

(1727),  547. 

Independents,  the,  374,  459,  460,  461,  468, 

475. 
India,  421,  562-561,  584-5''5.  588,  491.  600, 
609-610,  659,  682,  688,  709-718,  740-741, 
746,  754,755,  761. 

Bill,  Fox's,  588  ;  Pitt's,  501 ;  Derby  s 

(1858),  715 
Indies,  the,  366,  392. 
In  lulgence,  declaration  of  (1673),  484. 

(1688),  494. 

Industrial  revolution,  the,  628-630. 
Inkerman,  battla  of,  670. 
Innocent  in.,  pope,  139, 141-143. 

iv.,  pope,  164. 

Inquisition,  the,  377. 
lustrument  of  Government,  the,  466-467. 
Iusurauce,  National,  742. 
Inverlochy,  battle  of,  457. 
Inverness,  628. 

Investiture  contest,  the,  91,  104-105. 
lona,  abbey  of,  24,  28,  32. 
Ipswich,  318,  331. 

Ireland,  2,  12,  22,  24,  43,  74,  83,  93,  125- 
127,  159-161,  199,  236,  280,  282,  309,  311, 
316,  350,  401-404,  421-423,  443,  447,  452, 
463,  476-477,  498-500,  685,  599,  602-605, 
644,  648,  650,  659,  661,  663,  665,  666,  675- 
677,  678,  682,  687-689,  691,  731,  736,  742, 
743,  757,  763-764. 

conversion  of,  12. 

Churcli  of,  disestablishment  of,  650, 676. 

Land  Act  in,  the  first,  677. 

the  second,  682. 

Ireton,  parliamentarian  general,  4C8. 
Iron  Age,  the,  3. 
Irwell,  the  river,  628. 
Isabella,  of  Angouleme,  queen  of  John,  138, 
165. 

of  France,  queen  of  Edward  II.,  203- 

208. 

queen  of  Richard  n.,  235,  258. 

of  Gloucester,  first  wife  of  King  John, 

138. 

queen  of  Castile,  313. 

queen  of  Spain,  655. 

daughter  of  David,  E.  of  Huntingdon, 

189. 
I  sea  Dumnoniorem,  11.    See  Exeter. 

Silurum,  8,  11.    SeeCaerleou-on-TJsk. 

Italy,  313,  319,  327,  366,  378,  413,  612,  543, 
572,  598,  601,  612.  66«,  672.  678,  688,  745, 
746,  747,  754,  768,  761,  762.  See  also 
Rome  and  Romans. 

Jacobiks,  the,  595,  596. 

Jacobites,  the,  498,  539-541,  555-559,  634. 


/  82  INDEX 


Jacqueline  of  Bavaria,  wife  of  Humphrey, 

D.  of  Gloucester,  271. 
Jacquetta  of  Luxemburg,  wife  of  John,  D. 

of  Bedford,  275. 
JalakJbtid,  712. 
Jamaica,  469,  479,  584. 
James,  K.  of  England,  I.,  381,  420-434. 

II.,  478-484.  489-495,  498. 

K.  of  Scotland,  I.,  259,  271,  306. 

IV.,  311,  314,  321-323. 

v.,  348. 

vi.,  381,  383,  389,  407.     See  also 

James  i.  of  England. 

vii.     See  James  n.  of  England. 

the  Old  Pretender.  494,  510,  521. 

Jameson,  Dr.,  raid  of,  692,  725. 

Jamestown,  423. 

Japan,  693,  732,  733,  755. 

Jefferies,  Chief  Justice,  490. 

Jellico,  admiral,  748,  755,  758. 

Jena,  battle  of,  614. 

Jerusalem,  131,  133,  277,  668,  761. 

Jervis,  admiral,  699. . 

Jesuits,  the,  377,  388. 

Jews,  the,  150,  185,  468. 

Joan  of  Arc,  272-275. 

of  Kent,  princess  of  Wales,  225. 

sister  of  Edward  m.,  queen  of  David 

Bruce,  205. 
queen  of  Spain,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 

and  Isabella,  31 1.  324. 
Johannesburg,  725,  727. 
John.  K.  of  England,  127,  129,  134, 137-145. 

K.  of  France,  217.  218.  219. 

Don,  of  Austria,  386,  391. 

of  Gaunt.    See  Gaunt,  John  of. 

Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  637,  638. 
Jones,  Inigo,  architect,  529. 

Paul,  American  privateer,  584. 

Jonson,  Ben,  dramatist,  530. 

Joseph  ii ,  Emperor,  594. 

Ferdinand,  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria, 

508. 

Jubilee,  the,  of  1887,  688. 

the  Diamond,  694. 

Judicature  Act,  Selborne's,  678. 
Judith,  niece  of  William  i.,  88. 
Julius  ii.,  pope,  313,  320,  323,  335. 
Junius,  anonymous  writer,  576. 
Junot,  general,  615,  616. 
Junto,  the  Whig,  505.  516. 
Jura  mountains,  the,  750. 
Jury  system,  the,  123,  148,  173. 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  411.  696. 
Justiciar,  office  of,  96,  107,  112,  117,  134, 

144,  147,  162. 
Jutes,  the,  first  Teutonic  settlers  in  Britain, 

16,  18. 
Jutland,  battle  off,  755. 
Juxon,  bishop  of  London,  442.   . 

Kabul,  712,  716. 

Kaiser,  the.  See  William  I.  and  William  n., 

German  emperors. 
Karnatik,  the,  563,  564,  710. 
Keats,  John,  poet,  639. 
Keble,  John,  poet  and  divine,  698. 
Kelso,  541. 

Ken.  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  494,  498. 
Kenilwortb,  castle  of,  175. 


Kenilworth,  dictum  de,  176. 

Kenmure,  Lord,  539,  541. 

Kenneth  MacAlpine,  K.  of  Picts  and  Scots, 

24. 
Kennington  Common,  chartist  meeting  on, 

666. 
Kent,  18,  27,  28,  30,  40,  77,  231,  279,  311, 

362,  461,  630. 
Kentigern,  first  bishop  of  Glasgow,  28. 
Ker,  Kobert,  E.  of  Somerset,  429-430. 
Ket,  Robert,  of  Wymondham,  356. 
Khaibar  pass,  the,  712. 
Khalifa,  the,  692-693. 
Khartum,  683,  693. 
Khurd-Kabul  pass,  the,  712. 
Kildare,  earls  of,  309,  310,   311,  316,    350. 

See  Fitzgerald. 
Kilkenny,  statute  of,  225. 
Kflliecrankie,  battle  of,  501. 
Kilwardby,  Robert,  archbishop  of   Canter- 
bury, 245. 
Kimberley,  725. 
Kimbolton,  Lord,  448.    See  also  Manchester 

E.  of. 
King's  Bench,  the,  241. 
King's  College,  Cambridge,  301,  303. 
King's  County,  401. 
Kirk  o'  Field,  the,  381. 
Kirkstall  abbey,  153. 
Kitchener.  Herbert,  Lord,  692-693,  727,  789, 

748,  750,  756,  757. 
Klondike,  723. 

Kloster  Zeven,  the  capitulation  of,  566. 
Kneller,  Godfrey,  painter,  530. 
Knighthood,  orders  of,  249. 
Knights,  148. 

of  the  shire,  173. 

Knox,  John,   Scottish  reformer,  375,  376, 

380,  707. 
Kruger,  Paul,  Boer  president,  725,  726. 
Kut-el-Amara,  754,  759. 


La  Fkre,  762. 

Labour  Party,  the,  735,  741. 

Labourers,  the  statute  of,  222,  230. 

Labrador,  393. 

Ladysmitb,  siege  of,  726,  727. 

Lake,  general,  604,  609. 

I  ,ake  School,  the,  338,  706. 

Lamb,  Charles,  essayist,  706. 

Lambert  ^imuel,  impostor,  309-310. 

Lambert,  general,  471. 

Lambeth,  treaty  of,  160. 

Lancashire,  240,  541,  556,  628,  652,  672. 

Lancaster,  earldom  of,  175. 

house  of,  201  225,  255-283,  286. 

Thomas,  E.  of,  201,  202. 

Htnry,  E.  of,  203,  204,  205,  208. 

son  of  above,  216. 

See  Blanche  of,  and  Gaunt,  Johu  of,  D.  of. 

Land  League,  the  Irish,  680,  682. 

Lanfranc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  90-92, 
94,  95. 

Langland,  William,  poet,  252. 

Langside,  battle  of,  383. 

Langton,    Stephen,   archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 141-142,  144,  160,  161. 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  731. 

Laun,  762. 


INDEX 


783 


Latimer.  Lord.  226. 

Hugh,  bishop  of  Worcester,  345,  358, 

364. 
Latin  literature,  154-156,  250. 
Latitudinarianlsm,  487,  498,  632.  634. 
Laud,  William,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

427,  430.  441-443,  446,  457. 
Lauderdale,  John  Maitland,  E.of,  476,  ->82. 
Law,  A.  lionar,  756-757. 
Lawrence,  Henry  and  John,  In  India,  713. 
Leeds,  652,  653,  675. 
Thomas  Osborne,  D.  of  505.     See  also 

Danby. 
1-eicester,  50. 

abbey  of,  236. 

earldom  of,  163. 

Robert,  E.  of,  justiciar  of  Henry  n., 

117. 

Robert  Dudley,  E.  of,  370,  392,  398. 

See  Montfort,  Simon,  E.  of. 

House,  549,  570. 

Leighton,    Alexander,    Scottish  physician, 

442. 
Leinster,  604  ;  Dermot,  K.  of,  125. 
Leipzig,  battle  of,  621. 
Leith,  375. 
Leix,  40. 

Lely  Peter,  painter,  530. 
Lennox,  E.  of,  380,  381. 
Leo  x.,  pope,  323. 
Leofric,  E.  of  Mercia,  60,  6  4,  65. 
Leofwine,  E.  of  Kent,  65,  71. 
Leopold,  1).  of  Austria,  133. 

1..  Emperor,  607. 

of  Saxony- Coburg,  K.  of  the  Belgians, 

651. 
Leslie,  Alexander,  Lord  Leven,  444,  453. 

-,  David,  453,  456,  459,  464. 

Levellers,  the,  463. 

Lewes,  battle  of,  171, 172  ;  the  Mise  of,  172. 

Lexington,  battle  of,  581. 

Liberal    Unionists,     686,    690.     See    also 

Unionists. 
Liberals,  the,  664,  676,  684,  735-738,  741, 

756-757. 
Licensiug  Act  (1904),  731. 
Licensing  Bill  (1908),  737. 
Lichfield,  33,  37,  38,  75,  90. 
Liege,  512. 
Ligny,  battle  of,  622. 
Lille,  515,  750,  752,  763. 
Limerick,  125,  500 ;  treaty  of,  500. 
Limoges,  222. 
Limousin,  the,  219. 
Lincoln,  50,  75,  90,  114;    bishop  of,  112; 

castle  of,  152;    cathedral  of,  154,  245; 

battle  of,  160. 
Lindisfarne,  32,  33. 
Lindsey,  E.  of,  450. 
Lindum,  11, 12.    See  also  Lincoln. 
Lionel,    D.    of   Clarence,    225,    282.     See 

Clarence. 
Lisbon,  400,  620. 
Liverpool,  626.  628,  675,  684,  702. 

Lord,  613,  644,  647. 

Llewelyn  apiorwerth,  prince  of  Wales,  166. 
ap  Griffith,  prince  of  Wales,  166,  174, 

176.  179-181,222. 
Lloyd  George,  David,  735,  736,  738,  742, 

757-758,  760,  763. 


Local  Government  Board,  the,  696. 

Lorbleven,  castle  of,  383. 

Locke,  John,  philosopher,  637. 

Loire,  the  river,  115,  126,  271,  272,  273. 

Lollards,  the,  229,  256,  262-263. 

Londinium,  8,  11,  12.    See  also  London. 

London.  64,  69,  71,  75,  114,  117,  150,  231, 

243,  263,  279,  283,  287,  289,  291.  296,  302, 

312,  336,  344,  360,  362,  417,  450,451,462, 

471,  481,  495,  525-526,  585,  626,  652,  683, 

702. 

treaty  of  (1359),  218. 

Londonderry,   Lord,   643,    645.      See   also 

Castlereagti. 
Longcbamp,  William,  bishop  of  Ely  and 

chancellor,  132,  134. 
Lords,  House   of,  239,  462,  470,  472,   518, 

537,  690,  643,  653,  658,  689,  737,  738,  739, 

741-742,  744. 

Appellant,  the,  234,  2C8,  256. 

Ordainers,  the,  199. 

Lorraine,  273,  678,  750. 

Rene  of,  277. 

Francis,  D.  of,  554,  555. 

Losinga,  Herbert   of,   bishop  of  Norwich, 

153. 
Lothian,  64,  186,  209. 
Louis,  K.  of  France,  vi.,  107,  115. 

vii.,  127. 

viii.,  140,  145,  159-160. 

IX.,  162,  165,  170,  177. 

XL,  288,  289,  291,  292. 

XII.,  319,  323. 

XIII.,  430,  433,  438,  440. 

XIV.,  469,  477-485,  493,  502,  503, 

507,  508,  510-515,  518-520,  744. 

XV.,  539,  543,  594. 

XVI.,  583,  594,  595. 

XVIII.,  621,  623. 

Philippe,  K.  of  the  French,  600,  655, 

660,  666. 

son  of  Louis  xiv.,  507. 

of  Bavaria,  the  emperor,  211. 

Louisburg,  568. 

Louisiana,  French  colony  of,  865,  573. 

Lovel,  Lord,  309,  310. 

Lovett,  William,  Chartist,  659. 

Low  Church,  487,  498,  632,  633,  699. 

Lowlands  of  Scotland,  the,  186,  540. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  377. 

Lucknow,  714,  715. 

Lucy,  Richard  of,  justiciar  of  Henry  II., 

117. 
Ludlow,  282,  295,  315,  350,  410. 
Luneville,  treaty  of,  601. 
Lusignan,  Hugh  of,  138, 165. 

house  of,  175-166,  170. 

Lusitania,  the  (ship),  756. 

Lather,  Martin,  reformer,  332,  333. 

Lutterworth,  229. 

Lyme  Regis,  490. 

Lyons,  Richard,  merchant,  226. 

Ly.-,  the  river,  750. 

Lytton,  Lord,  novelist,  716. 

Macadam,  engineer,  702. 

Mac Alpiue,  Kenneth,  king  of  the  Scots  and 

I'iets,  24. 
Macaulay,  Thomas   Babington,  bittorian, 

706-707. 


784 


INDEX 


Macdonalds,  the,  501,  502,  540,  556. 

Macedonia.  746,  754,  759,  7G1. 

Marfan,  of  Glencoe,  501. 

Macintosh,  Brigadier,  541. 

Mackay,  general,  501. 

Mackensen,  general,  753. 

Mackenzie*,  the,  540. 

Madras,  425,  562,  563,  564,  710,  714,  715. 

Madrid,  515,  bid,  617,  618,  620. 

Magellan,  straits  of,  396. 

Magna  Carta,  144, 151  ;  reissues  of,  160, 193. 

Magnus  Intercursus,  the,  312. 

Mahdi,  the,  683. 

Maine  (France),  93,  100,  108,  126,  277. 

(K.  America),  660. 

Main  Plot,  the,  426. 
Mainz,  305. 
Maisoncelles,  265. 
Major-generals,  the,  467. 
Majuba  Hill,  battle  of,  725. 
Malakov,  capture  of  the,  671. 
Malcolm  I.,  K.  of  Scots,  52. 

in.,  Canmore,  84,  92,  93,  99. 

iv.,  117. 

Maletote,  the,  193. 

Malmesbury,  William  of.Englishchronicler, 

155. 
Malpkiquet,  battle  of,  515. 
Malta,  599,  602,  681. 
Malus  Intercursus,  the,  313 
Malvoisin,  castle  built  by  William  n.,  95. 
Manchester,  51,  449,  556,  625,  628,  652,653, 

662,  675.  676,  684,  702. 

E.  of,  452,  453,   457,  458.     See  also 

Kimbolton. 

Manchuria,  694,  733. 

Mandeville,  Geoffrey  of,  E.  of  Essex.  114. 

Manila,  572,  573. 

Manitoba,  723. 

Man,  Isle  cf,  Norse  set'lers  in,  43. 

Manorial  system,  the,  149,  150. 

Mans,  le,  capital  of  Maine,  93,  101. 

Mantes,  taken  by  William  I.,  93. 

Mar,  John  Erskine,  E.  of,  540.  541. 

Marithas  the,  562,  584,  609,  710,  711. 

March  of  Wales,  the,  99,  174,  232,  286,  350. 

title  of   E.  of  (see  Mortimer),  208 ; 

earldom  of,  279. 
Edmund  Mortimer,  E.  of  (d.   1381), 

225,  226. 

Edmund  Mortimer,  E.  of  (d.  1424), 

257,  262,  264. 

Edward  of  York,  E.  of,  282,  283.    See 

also  Edward  iv. 

Roger  Mortimer,  first  E.  of,  203-208, 

225. 

Marchand.  major,  693. 

Marchers,  revolt  of  the,  174. 

Marengo,  battle  of,  601. 

Mare,  Peter  de  la,  speaker,  227. 

Margaret, St.,queen  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  99, 

103. 

queen  of  Louis  rx.,  162. 

the  Maid  of  Norway,  queen  of  Scots, 

187,  188. 

daughter  of  Pavid  of  Huntingdon,  188. 

sister  of  Pbilip  iv.,  queen  of  Edward  i., 

194. 
of  Anjou,  que?n  of  Henry  vi.,  277,280, 

289,  291. 


Margaret  of  Burgundy,  sister  of  Edward  iv. , 
288,  309-311. 

Tudor,  quten  of  James  iv.,  of  Scots, 

314,323,  380. 

Theresa,  of  Spain,  queen  of  I-ouis  xiv., 

507. 

the  lady.    See  Beauf>rt,  Margaret. 

Maria,  Infanta  of  Spain,  430,  432-433. 
Theresa,  of  Austria,  552-555,  559,  565, 

573. 

of  Spain,  507 

Marignano,  battle  of,  324. 

Marlborough,  lady.  511. 

John  Churchill,  E.,  and  afterwards  D. 

of,  504,  511-517.     See  Churchill. 
Marlowe,  Christopher,  dramatist,  417. 
Marmont,  general.  620. 
Marmora,  sea  of,  681. 
Marne,  the,  river,  battles  of  the,  748-750, 

761. 
Marseilles.    See  Massilia. 
Marshall,  general,  761. 
Marshall,  the  office  of,  147. 

William,  E.  of  Pembroke,  144,  159- 

160. 

Richird,  E.  of  Pembroke,  161. 

Marsin,  Marshall.  513,  514. 
Marston  Moor,  battle  of,  453,  456. 
Martin  v.,  pope,  266. 
Martin  Marprdate  Tracts,  the,  374. 
Mary,  of  Burgundy,  daughter  of  Charles 
the  Bold,  292,  323. 

Tudor,  d.  of  Henry  vn  ,   queen   of 

Louis  xti.  of  France,  afterwards  duchess 
Of  Suffolk,  323,  359,  360. 

d.  of  Henry  vm.,  queen,  334,   346, 

369,  361-367,  401. 

of  Guise,  375. 

Q.   of  Scots,  348,  353,  354,  376,  379, 

380,  389. 

,  princess  of  Orange,  d.  of  James  n., 

afterwards  queen,  485,  494,  495-504. 

of  Modena,  queen  of  James  n.,  494. 

of  Teck,  queen  of  George  v.,  740. 

Maryborough,  401. 

Maryland,  the  plantation  of,  423. 

Maserfield,  battle  of,  32. 

Masham,  Mrs.,  517. 

Massachusetts,  424,  581. 

Massena,  general,  620. 

Ma8silia,  (Marseilles),    the   trade   of   the 

Britons  with,  5. 
Massinger,  Philip,  dramatist,  530. 
Matilda  of  Flanders,  queen  of  William  I., 

94. 

of  Boulogne,  queen  of  Stephen,  114. 

d.  of  Henry  I.,  tmpre.-s  and  countess  of 

Anjou,  107,  108,  111-115. 
Maude,  general,  Sir  Stanley,  759,  761. 
Mauritius,  623,  720. 
Maxima  Casariensis,  10. 
Maximilian  i.,  the  emperor,  292,  310,  311, 

312,  320,  325. 
Mayflower,  the,  42a 
Mayne,  Cuthbert,  388. 
Maynooth  College,  661. 
Medina  Sidonia,  D.  of,  397. 
Mediterranean,  the,  600,  682. 
Medway,  the  river,  478. 
Meerut,  714. 


INDEX 


785 


Melbourne,  Lord,  prime  minister,  6S1,  653- 

657,  659-660. 

town  of,  724. 

Melrose,  abbey  of,  306. 

Mendicant  Friars,  the,  167,  243. 

Mercantile  System,  the,  525. 

Merchant  Advent  irers,  society  of  the,  302, 

393. 
Merchant-guild'',  150. 
Mercia,  19,  27,  35-37,  38,  40,  50,  51,  53,  59, 

60,  61,  65. 
Meredith,  George,  novelist,  706. 
Merioneth,  181. 
Mersey,  the,  628. 
Merton,    Walter   of,    founder    of    Merton 

College,  Oxford,  245. 
Mesopotamia,  754,  759,  761. 
Messiah,  the,  Handel's,  636. 
Messines  ridge,  758. 
Methodists,  the,  632-633. 
Methuen,  general,  Lord,  729. 

Treaty,  the,  513. 

Meuse,  the  river,  752,  762. 
Mexico,  394. 
Mfanf,  battle  of,  712. 
Miausson,  the  river,  217. 
Middle  English,  156,  252. 
Middlesex,  19,  77,  676. 

Lord,  treasurer  of  James  r.,  434. 

Miguel,  Dom,  of  Portugal,  649,  655. 

Milan,  319,  320,  324,  327,  515,554,  559,  623. 

Milanese,  the,  508. 

Mile  End,  231. 

Milford  Haven,  298. 

Military  Orders,  the.  154. 

Militia  Bill,  the,  449. 

Millenary  Petition,  the,  426. 

Milton,  John,  poet,  463,  531,  532. 

Minden,  battle  of,  568. 

Mine,  the,  755,  756. 

Minorca,  515,  518,  566,  573,  584,  587. 

Minorites,  tbe,  243.    See  also  Franciscans. 

Mirebean,  139. 

Mississippi,  tbe  river,  565,  573. 

Moderates,  the,  of  the  Scotch  church,  634. 

Mogul,  the,  425. 

empire  of  t*e,  526,  711,  740. 

Mohammedans,  in  Syria,  100,  131. 
Moidart,  landing-place  of  Charles  Edward, 

655. 
Moldavia,  668,  669. 
Mornpesson,  Sir  Giles,  433. 
Mona,  8.    See  Anglesey. 
Monastic  orders,  29,  34-35,  49,  54-55,  80, 

154-155,  242-244,  342-315. 
Monk,  George,  471,  479. 
Monmouth,  Geoffrey  of,  156. 

James,  D.  of,  487,  488,  490. 

Monopolies,  406,  433. 

Monroe  doctrine,  the,  645. 

Mons,  748,  761. 

Jfons  Graupius,  battle  of,  9. 

Montagu  (earls  of  Salisbury)  family  of, 

281,  285. 
John  Neville,  Marquis  of,  291.     See 

also  Meville  John,  E.  of  Northumberland. 
Montague,  Charles,  financier,  lord  Halifax, 

503,  505,  506. 
Montcalm,  marauis  of,  563-  66 
Montenegro,  680,  681,  761. 


Montereau,  on  the  Yonne,  267. 

Montfott,  Simon  of,  E.  of  Leicester,  163, 

166,  169.  170,  171-171. 

Eleanor,  179. 

John  of,  Duke  of  Brittany,  213,  216. 

Montgomery,  lordship  of,  100. 

Montreal,  569. 

Montrose,  James  Graham,  E.,  afterwards 

M.,  of,  444,  467,  459,  464. 
Mont-Saint-Jean,  622. 
Moore,  Sir  John,  617. 
Moravians,  the,  633. 
Moray,  James  Stewart,  E.  of,  380,381,38.), 

385. 
Morcar,  E.  of  Northumbria,  66,  68,  69,  71, 

84,  85,  94. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  330,  331,  333,  310,  341. 
Morgan,  William,  bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  404. 
Morley,  John,  afterwards  viscount,  735. 
Morocco,  733,  745. 
Morris,  William,  poet,  706. 
Mortimer,  Roger,  of  Wigmore,  first  E.  of 

March,  203-208,  225 
Edmund,  E.  of  March  (d.  1381),  225, 

226. 
Edmund,  E.  of  March  (d.  1424),  257, 

262,  26 1. 

Sir  Edmund,  257-258. 

Anne,  280. 

Mortimer's  Cross,  battle  of,  283. 
Mortmain,  Statute  of,  183. 
Morton,  Cardinal,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 314. 

E.  of,  Scottish  regent,  385. 

Moscow,  620. 

Mosul,  761. 

Mountjoy,  lord,  Charles  Blount,  484. 

Mousehold  Heath,  356. 

Mowbray,  Robert,  E.  of  Northumberland, 

95. 
Thomas,  E.  of  Nottingham,  234,  235 ; 

D.    of   Norlolk,    235,    236.      See    also 

Nottingham  and  Norfolk. 
Municipal  Corporations  Reform  Act,  654. 
Munitions,  ministry  of,  757. 
Munster,  Plantation  of,  402,  401,  416. 
Muscovy  Company,  the,  393. 
Mutiny  Act,  the,  497. 

the  Indian,  714-715. 

Mysore,  584,  585,  600. 
Mysteries  and  Miracle  Plays,  334. 


NIgpur,  annexation  of,  713. 

Najera,  battle  of,  221. 

Namur,  rapture  of,  503. 

Nand  Sahib,  714. 

Nancy,  battle  of,  292. 

Nantes,  the  edict  of,  400,  493. 

Napier,  of  Merchiston,  inventor  of  loga- 
rithms, 528. 

Sir  Charles,  712. 

Naples,  169,  313,  319,  334,  508,  515,  552, 
612,  664. 

Napoleon  1.,  Emperor  of  the  Fiench,  610- 
623,  744,  756.     See  also  Buonaparte. 

Napoleon  nr..  Emperor  of  the  French, 
Louis  Napoleon,  666-667,  671,  673,  678. 
See  also  Buonapatte. 

Napoleonic  War,  the,  608-625. 


786 


INDEX 


Naseby,  battle  of,  458-459. 
Natal,  724,  726,  730. 
National  Debt,  the,  503. 

Gallery,  the,  705. 

Ministry,  the  (1915),  756. 

University  of  Ireland,  737. 

Nationalists,  Irish,  680,  684,  686-688,  735, 

741,  757,  763,  764.    See  alto  Home  Rule. 
Nationality,  the  principle  of,  615,  620,  625, 

646,  650,  672,  678,  680. 
Navarino,  battle  of,  646. 
Navarre,  320,  400. 
Navigation  Act,  of  1651,  465,  478. 
Navy,  the,  48,  212-213,  345,  393,  397-399, 

411,  440,  465,  469,  478,  502-503,  566,  5.84, 

599,  600,  611-612,  697-698,  748,  754,  758. 
Nebel,  the  river;  513. 
Neckar,  the  river,  513. 
Nectansmere,  battle  of,  35. 
Nelson,  Horatio,  lord,  admiral,  599,  600, 

601,  611. 
Neolithic  Age,  the,  1. 
Netherlands,  the,  212,  288,  289,  292,  301, 

305,  309,  310,  324,  366,  377,  387,391,502, 

503,  514-516,  518,  555,  559,  596.  601,  622, 

625,  651. 
Neuve  Chapelle,  battle  of,  752. 
Neville,  the  house  of,  281. 
Richard,  E.  of  Salisbury,  281,  282. 

Richaid,  E.  of  Warwick,  282.    See 

also  Warwick  and  Salisbury. 

George,  bishop  of  Worcester  and  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  283,  287,  288,  289. 

John,  E.  of  Northumberland,  and 

Marquis  Montagu,  288,  291. 

Cecily,  duchess  of  York,  281. 

Anne,  288,  289,  293. 

Isabella,  288,  293. 

Neville's  Cross,  battle  of,  216. 

New  Amsterdam,  479. 

New  Brunswick,  723. 

JSewburgh,  William  of,  English  chronicler, 

155. 
New  burn,  battle  of,  445. 
Newbury,  first  battle  of,  456. 

second  battle  of,  456. 

Newcastle,  town  of,  9,  445. 

E.  of,  general,  451,  452,  453. 

Newcastle,  Thomas  Pelham,  D.  of,  549, 

560,  561.  566,  572,  573,  574. 
New  College,  Oxford,  301. 
New  England,  the  plantation  of,  423. 
New  Forest,  the,  87, 101. 
Newfoundland,  393,  401,  518,  564,  723,  732. 
New  Jersey,  colony  of,  479. 
Newman,  John  Henry,  cardinal,  662,  698, 

700,  706. 
New  Model  Ordinance,  the,  458,  459. 
New  Orleans,  565. 
Newport,  Monmouthshire,  659. 
New  South  Wales,  720,  724. 
Newton,  Isaac,  mathematician,  529. 
Newtown  Butler,  battle  of,  499. 
New  York,  479,  582,  584. 

Zealand,  724,  741,  755. 

troops,  754. 

Nicholas  r,,  tsar  of  Russia,  616,  668. 

n..  tsar  of  Russia,  753. 

Ni°uport,  750. 
Nile,  the,  683. 


Nile,  battle  of,  600. 

Ninian,  St.,    sent   to   convert   the   Cale- 
donians, 12. 
Nonconformists,  374,  699. 
Non-Jurois,  the,  498. 
Nore,  the,  mutiny  at,  599. 
Noifolk,  19,  77,  631. 
earls  of,  87,  193.    See  also  Bigod  and 

Mowbray. 

Thomas  Howard  (1),  D.  of,  323. 

(2),  D.  of,  son  of,  foregoing, 

336,  344,  348,  349,  361. 
(grandson    of  above), 

384,  385. 
Normandy,  43,  48,  63,  64,  83,  88,  93-95, 

100-104,  108,  111,  114,  116,  126-129,  134, 

135,  138-140,  169,  213-214,  267,  276,  278, 

320. 
Normans,  the,  63-64,  69-72,  83-89,  103,  122- 

123,  125. 
Northallerton,  battle  of,  112. 
Northampton,  460. 

Assize  of,  123. 

battle  of,  282. 

Council  of,  119. 

treaty  of,  205,  208. 

North  Briton,  the,  574. 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  politician,  679. 
North,  Council  of  the,  344,  410,  446. 
North,  Lord,  prime  minister,  576^577,  580, 

585-589. 
Northumberland,  702. 
Henry  Percy,  E.  of,  227,  236,  258-259. 

See  also  Percy. 

John  Dudley,  D.  of,  354,  357,  358-361. 

Thomas  Percy,  E.  of,  384. 

Northumbria,  19,  27,  30-35,  40,  43,  51-53, 

59,  60,  62,  74,  90. 
Norsemen,  migrations  of,  40. 
Norway,  187. 
Norwich,  90,  151,  356,  526. 

cathedral  of,  153. 

Nottiugham,  50,  449. 

castle  of,  208. 

-, —  Thomas  Mowbray,  E.   of,    234,   235. 

See  also  Mow  bray. 

Finch,  E.  of  (queen  Anne),  511,  516. 

Nova  Scotia  (Acadie),  618,  723. 
Novum  Organum,  Bacon's,  528. 


Oates,  Titus,  informer,  485,  489, 
O'Brien,  Smith,  leader  of  Young  Ireland, 

666. 
Occasional  Conformity,  Act  against,  543. 
Ockham,  William  of,  schoolman,  245. 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  Irish  agitator,  648,  649, 

655,  659,  661, 
O'Connor,  Feargns,  chartist,  666. 
Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  83  ;  E.  of  Kent,  87, 

94,  95. 
Offa,  K.  of  Mercia,  36-37. 
Offaly.  district  of,  401. 
Ohio,  the  river,  565,  566. 
Oise,  the  river,  750,  760,  761. 
Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  Lord  Cobham,   262- 

26^. 
Old  Sarum,  636. 
Olney,  treaty  of,  59. 
Omduraian,  battle  of,  693. 


INDEX 


787 


O'Neill,  Shane,  402. 

Hugo,  E.  of  Tyrone,  404,  422. 

Owen  Roe,  447. 

O'Neills,  Earls  of  Tyrone.    See  Tyrone, 

Earls  of. 
Ontario,  province  of.  723. 
Orangemen,  the,  603. 
Orange   River  Free  State,  the,   724,  726, 

729,  730. 
Ordainers,  the  Lords,  199,  202. 
Orders  in  Council,  the,  614,  621. 
Ordinances,  the  (1312),  198 
Ordovices,  triba  of  the,  8. 
Orewyn  Bridge,  battle  of,  180. 
Orford,  Russell,  admiral,  E.  of,  503, 505, 517. 
Robert    Walpol*.   E.    of,    563.      See 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert. 
Origin  of  Specie*,  Darwin's,  705. 
Orinoco,  the  river,  431. 
Orissa,  710. 

Orkney,  Norse  settlers  In,  42. 
Orkneys,  the,  756. 
Orleans,  siege  of,  272-273. 

Philip,  D.  of,  regent,  639,  543. 

Ormonde,  the  duke  of,  476-477,  518. 

Orwell,  in  Essex,  203. 

Osborne,    Sir    Thomas.     See   Danby  and 

Leeds. 
Osteud,  762, 

Oswald,  K.  of  Northumbria,  32. 
Oswin,  K.  of  Northumbria,  32-33. 
Ottawa,  723. 
Otto  i., the  Great,  Empsror,  52. 

iv.,  Empero*,  139, 140. 

papal  legate,  164. 

Oudenarde,  battle  of,  515. 

Oudh,  the  nawab  of,  710,  713,  714. 

Ourcq,  the  river,  748. 

Ouse,  the  river,  17  . 

Outlanders,  the,  725 

Overbury,  Sir  Thomas,  429. 

Owen  tiwynnsd,  prince  of  Wales,  117. 

Sir,  of  Wale*,  222. 

Robert,  socialist,  659,  703. 

Glendower.    See  Glendower,  Owen. 

Oxford,  60,  155,  243,  244,  245, 301,  345,  357, 

451.  45?,  632,  698,  700,  708. 

Provisions  of,  16s,  170. 

Reformers,  the,  330. 

University  of,  155,  244-245,  301,  528, 

632,  700,  70S. 

Robert  de  Vere,  E.  of,  232. 

Robert  Harley,  E.  of,  536.    See  also 

Harley. 


Pacific  Ocean,  the,  396,  559,  723,  755. 
Palaeolithic  Age,  the,  1. 
Palatine  Earldoms,  the,  86. 
Palestine,  100.  132,  177,  758,  761. 
Palladio,  Italian  architect,  529. 
Palmerston,  Viscount,  prim?  minister,  651, 

655,  660,  665-667,  671-673. 
Panama,  the  isthmus  of,  396. 
Pan-Anglican  Synod,  the,  699. 
Pandulf,  papal  legate,  142, 160. 
Panther,  The  (ship),  745. 
Paradise  Lost,  Milton's,  532. 
Paris,  189,  214,  219,  244,  269,  275,  276.  595, 

621,  623,  678,  748,  761. 


Paris,  treaties  of,  169,  206,210,  572, 621,  623, 

671. 

the  parliament  of,  221. 

Matthew,  historian,  250. 

Parker,  Matthew,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

372-373. 

admiral,  601. 

Parker's  Advertisements,  373. 
Parliament,  the  mme  of,  238.    . 

history  of,  238-241,  256,  292,  300,  314, 

328,  406-407,  408-409,  425,  485,  537-538, 
763,  764. 

reform  of,  466-467,  577,  580,  597,  625, 

630,  651-653,  741-742,  743,  744,  764.       Set 
also  Reform  Acts,  the. 

the  Mad,  168. 

of  1265,  173. 

the  Model,  191. 

of  York,  202. 

the  Good,  226,  227,  240. 

the  Merciless,  234,  239. 

the  Reformation,  338-339,  343. 

of  James  1.,  428,  433,  434. 

the  Addled,  429. 

of  Charles  I.,  436,  438-439. 

the  Short,  445. 

the  Long,  446-465,  471. 

Barebones',  466. 

the  Convention  (1660),  472-474. 

at  Oxford,  487. 

the  Convention  (,1689),  495. 

Parliament  BUI,  the,  741-742. 
Parma,  551,  558,  607. 

Alexander  Farnese,  D.  of,  391,  392, 

397. 

Parnell,  Charles  Stewart,  Irish  leader,  68C, 

682,  685,  687-688. 
Parsons,  Robert,  Jesuit,  388. 
Partition  treaties,  the,  508. 
Paschal  11.,  pops,  105. 
Paston  Letters,  the,  304. 
Patay,  battle  of,  273. 
Pat-rson.  his  Darien  scheme,  506. 
Patrick,  St.,  his  conversion  of  the  Irisli 

12. 
Patriot  King,  on  the  idea  of  a,  Boling- 

broke's,  550,  570. 
Patriot  Whigs,  the,  549. 
Patronaie  Act,  of  1712,  70 ). 
Paul,  pope,  111.,  341. 

iv.,  366. 

— —  tsar  of  Russia,  601 . 

Paulinus,  first  archbishop  of  York.  30,  31. 

Paullinus,  Suetonius,  Roman  governor,  9. 

Pavia.  battle  of,  327. 

Peasants'  Revolt,  the,  229-232. 

Peckham.  John,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

184,  192,  245. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  prime  minister,  644,  646- 

649,  655.  656,  660-664. 
Peelites.  the,  664,  667,  671,  673. 
Peerag.;  Bill,  the,  542. 
Pekin,  694. 
Pi'lagius,  the  opponent  of  Saint  Augustine, 

12. 
Pelham,  Henry,  prime  minister,  549,  552, 

559-560. 

Pelican,  the,  396. 

Peloponnesus,  the,  646,  6  47. 

Pembroke,  Palatine  earldom  of.  100,  103. 


788 


INDEX 


Pembroke,  castle  of,  152. 
Ricbard,  E.  of,  125.    See  also  Strong- 
bow. 

Richard  Mar.-hall,  E.  of.   See  Marshall. 

William  Marshall,  E.  of.  See  Marshall. 

Penal  Code,  in  Ireland,  the,  500. 
Penda,  K.  of  Mercia,  27-32. 
Penn,  admiral,  469. 

William,  Quaker,  479. 

Pennsylvania,  479. 

Penny  Postage,  establishment  of,  659. 
Perceval,  S|>e  cer,  prime  minister,  613. 
Percy,  house  of,  286,  288,  304. 

Henry,  E.  of  Northumberland,  227, 

236,  258-259.     .sec  also  Northumberland. 

Henry,  Hotspur,  258. 

Percy's  Hehqaes  of  Ancient  English  Poetry, 

638. 
Peronne,  265,  752. 
Perrers,  Alice,  226,  227. 
Persian  Gulf,  the,  754. 
Perth,  510,  541. 
Peter  des  Roches,  bishop  of  Winchester, 

161. 

the  Cruel,  K.  of  Castile,  219,  221. 

Martyr,  reformer,  357. 

the  Great,  tsar  of  Russia,  343,  373. 

in.,  tsar  of  Russia,  573. 

Peterborough,  75,  153,  156,  345. 
Peterloo,  massacre  of,  625. 
Petitioners,  the,  486. 
Petition  of  Right,  the,  438. 
Petrarch,  Italian  poet,  251. 
Pevensey.    landing   of    William   of    Nor- 
mandy at,  69.    See  also  Anderida. 
Philadelphia,  480,  580,  582. 
Philip,  i.,  K.  of  France,  93. 

II.,  129,  132-134,  137,  133,  160. 

III.,  177,  189. 

IV.,  189-191,  194-195. 

VI.,  206,  210-217. 

i.,  K.  of  Spain,  son  of  Maximilian  of 

Austria,  313,  314.  324. 
It.,  362,  363,  366,  378,  386,  3£ 8, 

390,  392,  394, 397,  400,  424. 

IV.,  430. 

v.,  1).  of  Anjou,  508,  515,  516, 

518,  543,  551. 

,  Don,  son  of  Philip  v.,  559. 

Philip,  captain,  720. 

Philiphaugh,  battle  of,  459. 

Phillppa  of  llatnault,  queen  of  Edward  in., 

203,  225,  251. 

Counters  of  March,   d.  of  Lionel  of 

Clarence,  225. 

Philipstown,  401. 

Physical  Force  l\.rty,  of  chartists,  659. 
Have,  the  river,  759,  762. 
Picquigni,  the  treaty  of,  292. 
Plcts,  the,  14,  15,  22,  24. 
Piedmont,  512,  607. 
Piers  Ptewman,  the  vision  of,  252. 
Pilgrimage  of  grace,  the,  344. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  the,  423. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  Bnnyan's,  475, 532. 
Pilleth,  battle  of,  257. 
Pindarfs,  Indian  freebooters,  710. 
Pinkie,  battle  of,  354. 

Pitt,  William,  E.    of  Chatham,  549.  553, 
560,  561,  566-569,  571,  575,  680,  583. 


Pitt,  William,  the  younger,  5t7,  589,  596- 

602,  603-605,  610-612,  635. 
Pins  v.,  pope,  385,  397. 
Plague,  the  Great,  481. 
Plan  of  campaign,  the,  636-687. 
Plassey,  battle  of,  564. 
Plautius,  Aulus,  Roman  general,  3. 
Plumer,  general,  763. 
Plymouth,  289,  393,  451. 

New,  424. 

Plymouth  Sound,  398. 

Poitevins,  the,  161. 

Poitiers,  capital  of  Poitou,  126. 

battle  of,  217-218. 

PoitOH,  126,  138,  139,  161,  165,  169,  219. 

Poland,  891,  625,  7J2. 

Pole,  Margaret.    Ste  Salisbury,  Margaret, 

Countess  of. 
Pole,  Michael  de  la,  E.  of  Suffolk,  233,  234. 
William   de  la,  E.    (afterwards   D.), 

of  Suffolk,  277-279.    See  alfo  Suffolk. 
Reginald,  Cardinal  and  archbishop  of 

Canterbury,  341,  346,  363,  364-367. 
Polish  Saccessiou,  war  of  the,  552. 
Polltax,  the  (1381),  231. 
Pondicherri,  562,  563,  564,  573. 
Pontefract,  202,  237,  257. 
Ponthieu,  189,  214,  219. 
Poor  Laws,  412,  654. 
Pope,  Alexander,  poet,  636. 
Popes,  the.    See  Gregory  I.,  Gregory  vn., 

Urban  n.,  Clement  (anti-pope),  Alexander 

in.,  Innocent  in.,  Gregory  ix.,  Boniface 

viii.,  Clement  v.,  Urban  vi.,  Martin  v., 

Julius  ii.,  Leo  x.,  Clement  vn.,  Paul  in., 

Paul  iv.,  Pius  iv. 
Porteous  riots,  the,  550-551. 
Port  Jackson,  New  South  Wales,  720. 
Portland,  battle  off,  485. 

D.  of,  prime  minister,  588,  613. 

Portotello,  518. 
Port  Arthur,  733. 
Port  Philip,  723,  724. 
Portsmouth,  103,  107,  43?. 

(New  Hampshire ■>,  Treaty  of,  733. 

Portugal,  392,  424,  477-478,513,  524,615, 

620,  644,  649,  655. 
Porto  Novo,  battle  of,  585. 
Poynings,  Sir  Edward,  316. 
Poynings'  Law,  316,  585,  587. 
Prcemunire,  statnte*of,  223,  338. 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  the,  554. 
Prague,  university  of,  267. 
Prasutagus,  K.  of  the  Iceni,  8. 
Prayer-book,-(if  Edward  vi.,  the  first,  355. 

the  second,  358. 

of  Elizabeth,  371. 

of  James  i.,  425. 

of  Charles  n.,  474. 

Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  the,  705. 
Presbyterianism,   372.  376,  453.   457,  46*, 

522-523.     See  also  Church,  the  Scotch. 
Presbyterians,  the,  459.  461,  465,  468,  474, 

475,  498,  603,  632,  676,  700. 
Pressburg,  the  peace  of,  612. 
Preston,  battle  of  (1648),  461. 

battle  of  (1715),  541. 

Preston  Pans,  battle  of,  566. 
Pretotia  727. 
Pride,  colonel,  461. 


JNDEX 


789 


Prince  Consort,  the,    658,   673.    See  also 

Albert,  prince. 
Prince  Edward's  Island,  723. 
Principality,  the,  of  Wales,  166,  181,  286, 

350.     See  also  Wales. 
Printing,  the  invention  of,  305-306. 
Privy  Couucil,  the,  241,  410,  482,  510. 
Protectionists,  the,  664. 
Protes'ants,  332. 

the  Irish,  602,  604-606,  676,  743. 

Provencals,  the,  162-163. 
Provence,  169. 

Rene,  count  of,  277. 

Provisions,  papal,  163. 

Provlsors,  statute  of,  223. 

Prussia,  512,  520,  555,  565,  566,  563,  573, 

576,  691.  596-598,  614,  622,  625,  644,  657, 

66 ),  672.  678.  752. 
Prynne,  William,  puritan,  442. 
Public  Schools  Act,  the,  707. 
Public  Worship  Regulation  Act  of  1874, 

699. 
Pulceney,  orat  >r,  543. 
Punjab,  the,  710,  713. 
Pnrcell.  Henry,  musician,  530. 
Purit  1113,  the,  367.373,  405,  424,  426,  4il, 

465,  466.468,  474,  631. 
Pussy,   Edward    Bouverie,    High    Church 

leader  698,  699. 
Pym,  John,  politician,  445-419. 
Pyrenees  the,  115, 126. 
Pytheas,  the  voyage  of,  5. 


Quadruple  Alliance,  the,  of  1718. ..543. 

of  1840...660. 

Quakers,  the,  468,  479. 
Quarter  Sessions,  411,  696. 
Quatre  Bras,  622. 
Quebec,  568,  669,  723. 
Queen's  Colleges,  Ireland,  661. 

County,  401. 

Queensland,  724. 
Quia  Emptores  statute,  185. 
Quo  warranto,  writs  of,  183. 
Qulberon  Bay,  battle  of,  568. 
expedition  to,  598. 


Radcot  Bridge,  battle  of,  233. 

Radicals,  the,  654,  655,  664,  671,  674,  685. 

Raglan,  Lord,  669. 

Riijputana,  710. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  401,405,  423,  426,  431. 

Ralph,  E.  of  Norfolk,  87-88. 

Raniillies,  battle  of,  514. 

Rand,  the,  725. 

Randolph,  E.  of  Chester,  114. 

Ranjit  Singh,  monarch  of  the  Punjab,  710, 

711,  713, 
Ranulf  Flambard,  96,  102,  103,  107, 153. 

Glanville,  134. 

Ravenspur,  23  .,  289. 

Raynham,  631. 

Reading,  Abbey  of,  Henry  1.  buried  there, 

108. 
Redesdal",  Robin  of,  289. 
R.'rimond,  John,  Irish  leader,  688,  757,  763. 
Rtd  Sea,  the,  682. 
Redwald,  K.  of  East  Anglia,  28,  30. 


Reflections    on    the    French   Revolution, 

Burke's,  59b 
Reformation,  the,  332-333, 338-319,  370-378, 

408. 

in  Scotland,  376-377. 

R  form  Act,  the  first,  653. 

the  s-jcond,  676. 

the  third,  684. 

of  1918,  764. 

R'gale,  the,  97. 

Reginald,  sub-prior  of  Christchurch,  Canter- 
bury, 141. 
Reign  of  Terror,  th<\  595. 
Reims,  273,  387,  760. 
Renascence,  the,  307,  329,  408,  4 1 1. 
Ren6  of  Anjou.  Count  of  Provence,  277. 
Rescissory  Act,  the  (Scotland),  376. 
Revenge,  the,  400. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  painter,  636. 
Rhine,  tbe  river,  513,  596,  625,  763. 

confederation  of  the,  612. 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  725. 

Rhodesia,  7  25. 

Rhode  Island,  424. 

Rhiwallon,  Welsh  prince,  65. 

Ribblesdale,  287. 

Riccio,  David,  secretary  of  Mary,  queen  of 

Scots,  381. 
Rich,  Edmund,  archbishop  of  Canterburv, 

161,  164. 
Richard  1.,  King,  127,  129,  131-136. 

II.,  228-237. 

III.,  291,  293-298. 

E.  of  Cornwall,  K.  of  the  Romans, 

166,  167,  169, 172. 
D.  of  York,  son  of  Ricbard,   E.    of 

Cambridge,  279-283. 

son  of  Edward  rv  ,  295-296. 

Richardson,  Samuel,  novelist,  638. 

Richborocgh,  14. 

Richelieu,  440. 

Ridley,  Nicholas,  bishop  of  London  ,357,  364. 

Ridolfi,  Italian  banker  and  conspirator,  385. 

lUga,  753. 

Riot  Act,  the,  539. 

Ripon,  33. 

the  treaty  of,  445. 

Ripperda,  Spanish  minister,  551. 
Ritchie,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  734. 
I  ivers  E.,  AuthonyWoodville,  288, 295-296. 
Robert  Fiizhamon,  lord  of  Glamorgan  and 

Gloucester,  106. 

of  Belleme,  103,  104. 

E.  of  Gloucester,  106,  112,  113. 

of  Jumieges,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

63,  6»,  68. 

D.  of  Normandy,  88,  93-95,  100-104. 

Robsrts,  Lord,  general,  7 16.  727,  729,  744. 
Robinson  Crusoe,  Defoe's,  637. 
Robinson,  Sir  Thomas,  d  plomatist,  560. 
Rochdale,  662. 

Roche  au  Moine,  la,  siege  of,  140, 145. 
Roche  Dsrien,  la,  battle  of,  216. 
Roch?lle,  la,  437,  438. 
Rochester,  31,  95  ;  castle  of,  152. 

Robert  Ker,  E.  of,  509. 

Rockingham,  C  mncil  of,  98. 

marquis  of,  prime  minister,  575,  578, 

586,  587. 
Rodney,  admiral,  584. 


790 


INDEX 


Roebuck,  John,  discoveries  of,  627. 
Roger,  E.  of  Hereford,  87-88. 

bishop  of  Salisbury,  107,  111,  112. 

archbishop  of  York,  120. 

Rogers,  John,  Marian  martyr,  364. 

Rohilkhand,  710. 

Romans,  the,  6,  7-12,  14. 

Roman  Catholics,  the,  42-i,  427,   441,  450, 

485,  492-494,  497,  602,  603,  606-609,  634, 

700. 
Romantic  revival,  the,  638-639,  706. 
Rome,  29,  98,  99,   119.   143,  163-164,  228, 

327,  339,  678.    See  also  Popes. 
Roncesvalles,  pass  of,  221. 
Rooke,  admiral,  515. 
Root  and  Branch  Dill,  the,  447. 
Rosebery.  Lord,  politician,  69J,  691. 
Roses,  Wars  of  the,  281-297. 
Rossetti,  1).  G.,  paiuter  and  poet,  705-706. 
Rouen,  93,  131,  135,  139,  267,  275. 
Roumania.    See  Rumania. 
Roumelia,  Eastern.    See  Rumelia. 
Roundheads,  the,  450. 
Roundway  Down,  battle  of,  451. 
Rousseau.  Jean  Jacques,  594,  636. 
Royal  Society,  foundation  of  the,  529. 
Rubens,  Peter  Paul,  painter,  530. 
Rufus's  Stone,  101,  em. 
Rumania.  669,  680,  681,  746,  752,  753,  759. 
Rumelia,  Eastern,  681. 
Rump,  the,  461-465,  471-472. 
Runcorn,  628. 
Runnymede,  144. 

Rupert,  Prince,  450,  453,  456,  458,  478. 
Raskin,  John,  art  critic,  707. 
Russell,  House  of,  409. 

William,  Lord,  488. 

admiral,  503,  505. 

Lord  John,  after waios  E.  Russell,  644, 

653,  663,  665,  667,  668,  671,  S74,  675. 
Russia,  393,  565,   573,    576,  600,  601,  612, 

614,  620,  644,  645,  649,  660,  668-671,  680. 

682,  688,  691,  693,  694,  712,  732-734,  744, 

746,  747,  748,  752,  753,  754,  756,  759. 
Rutland,  the  earl  of,  283. 
Rutupiae  (Richborough),  14. 
Ruyter,  Dutch  admiral,  478. 
Rye  House  Plot,  the,  488. 
Ryswick,  peace  of,  503. 


Sachevkrell,  Dr.,  517. 
Sadler,  Michael,  703. 
Saint- Arnaud,  marshal,  669. 

Mihiel,  762. 

Pol,  265. 

Quentin,  battle  of,  757,  759,  762. 

,  366. 

St.  Albans,  12,  231,  232. 

abbey  of,  37,  250. 

battles  of,  281,  283. 

St.  Andrews,  university  of,  307. 

St.  Asaph,  foundation  of  the  see  of,  28. 

St.  David's,  foundation  of  the  see  of,  28, 

93 ;  William  I.  at,  93. 
St.  Giles',  church  of,  Edinburgh,  306,  443. 

Fields,  London,  263. 

St.  Helena,  424,  623,  720. 

St.   John,  Henry,    517-521.      See   Boling- 

broke. 


St.  John,  island  of,  565.  See  Prince  Edward's 
Island. 

the  knights  of,  599,  602. 

St.  Lawrence,  the  river,  565,  566,  568. 

St.  Paul's,  London,  529 ;  school  of,  330. 

St.  Peter's  Field,  Manchester,  625. 

St.  Stephen's,  at  Caen,  monastery  of,  90, 93. 

Walbrook,  church  of,  52t>. 

Saintes,  165. 

Saladin,  Sultan,  131. 

Salmanaca,  617  ;  battle  of,  620. 

Salisbury,  90,  297  ;  cathedral  of,  245,  636. 

Richard  Neville,  E.  of,  281-283 . 

Margaret,  countess  of,  346. 

Robert  Cecil,  E.  of.    See  Cecil  Robert. 

Robert  Cecil,  marquis  of,  prime  min- 
ister, 675,  681,684,685,686,  688,  690,  730. 

Salonica,  746,  764. 

Sanchia  of  Provence,  wife  of  Richard  of 
Cornwall,  166. 

Sancroft,  William,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 489,  494.  498. 

Sandal,  castle  of,  283. 

San  Domingo,  720. 

Sandwich,  160. 

San  Stefano,  treaty  of,  681. 

Santa  Cruz,  battle  of,  649. 

Saratoga,  the  surrender  at,  582. 

Sardinia,  544,  554,  559,  672. 

Sati,  Hindu  custom,  711. 

Savoy,  512,  513,  518,  520,  596. 

Bona  of,  288. 

Palace,  the,  231 ;  conference  at,  474. 

Savoyards,  the,  162-163. 

Sawtre,  William,  Lollard  martyr,  256. 

Saxons,  the,  14-16,  18,  19. 

Saxon  Shore,  Count  of  the,  14. 

Saxony,  554. 

the  house  of,  728. 

Saxton,  287. 

Scapula,  Ostorius,  Roman  general,  8. 

Scarborough  Castle,  siege  of,  199. 

Schism  of  the  Papacy,  the  Great,  228-229, 
266,  267. 

Schleswig,  672. 

Schomberg,  general,  499. 

Schwarz.  Martin,  soldier,  310. 

Scone,  192,  196,  209. 

Scotland,  22,  24,  54,  93.  99,  106,  124-125, 
188,  195-196,  200-201,  208-210,  283,  287, 
306-307,  377,  421,  443,  452,  463-465,  476, 
498,  500-502,  506,  522-523,  539-541,  634, 
735. 

Scots,  the,  14,  15,  22,  51,  186,  287,  452,  453, 
459,  460,  461. 

Scottish  Church,  the,  12,  29,  32,  33,  375- 
376,  634,  661,  700. 

Scottish  I'rayer-book,  the,  443. 

Scottish  Succession,  claimants  to  the,  188. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  novelist,  638,  706. 

Scrope,  archbishop  of  York,  259. 

Sebastopol,  669. 

siege  of,  670-671. 

Second  Coalition,  war  of  the,  600. 

Secretaries  of  State,  the,  4U9,  695. 

Sectaries,  the,  374. 

Security,  the  Act  of  (Scotland),  522. 

Sedan,  763. 

Sedgmoor,  battle  of,  490. 

Segrave,  Stephen,  justiciar,  162. 


INDEX 


791 


Segontium.    See  Carnarvon,  11. 

Seine,  the  river.  214,  264. 

Selborne,  Lord  Chancellor,  678. 

Self-Denying  Ordinance,  the,  458. 

Seminary  priests,  the,  387. 

Senegal,  687. 

Sensec  river,  the,  760. 

Separatists,  the,  374. 

Sepoys,  563,  714. 

Septennial  Act,  the,  541. 

Serajevo,  747. 

Serbia,  746,  747,  752,  753,  754. 

Serbians,  the,  680,  746,  747,  752,  753,  761. 

Serbs.    See  Serbians. 

Seringapatam.  600. 

Settlement,  Act  of,  of  1661  (Ireland),  477, 

499. 

of  1662,  against  vagrancy,  525. 

of  1701,  509. 

Seven  United  Provinces,  the,  386,  399,  597. 

See  also  Holland. 
Seven  Years'  War.  the,  561,  566-572. 
Severn,  the  river,  27.  36,  174,  297,  628. 
Severus,  Septimus,  Emperor,  10. 
Seville,  the  peace  of.  551. 
Seymour,  Jane,  que  n  of  Henry  vm.,  345, 

346. 

Thomas,  Lord  Seymour  of  Sudeley,  356. 

Edward.    See  Hertford  and  Somerset. 

Shaftesbury,  Anthony  Ashley  Cooper,  E.  of, 

482-484,  4*6-488. 

Lord,  philanthropist,  703. 

Shakespeare,  William,  dramatist,  417,  530. 
Shannon,  the  river,  500. 

the,  British  man-of-war,  621. 

Sharp,  James,  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews, 

476,  487. 
Shaw,  Doctor  296. 
Sheffield,  630,  G52,  653. 
Shelbuine,  E.  .  f.  prime  minister,  586,  587, 

588. 
Sheldon,  Gilbert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

474.  1 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  poet,  539. 
Shepherd's  Calendar,  Spenser's,  416. 
Slier  Ali,  amir  of  Afghanistan,  716. 
Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  politician  and 

dramatist,  591,  636. 
Sheriff,  office  of,  78,  148. 
Sherifrmuir,  battle  of,  541. 
Shetland,  Norse  settlers  in,  42. 
Ship  Money,  440,  441,  445,  447. 
Shipton  Moor,  battle  of,  259. 
Shire  Moot,  the,  77,  147. 
Shires,  the,  77. 

Shirley,  James,  dramatist.  531. 
Shoreditch,  theatre  at,  416. 
Shrewsbury,  87, 103,  104,  181. 

palatine  earldom  of,  87,  104. 

treaty  of,  176. 

battle  of,  258. 

John  Talbot,  E.  of,  278. 

D.  of,  521. 

Shujil,  Shdh,  712. 

Sicily,  129,  167-169,  277,  319,  518,  543,  544, 

552. 
Sid  month,  Lord,  612.    See  also  Addington. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip.  392,  416. 

Sir  Henry,  402. 

Algernon,  488. 


Siglsmund,  the  Emperor,  260. 

Sikhs,  tint,  710,  711,  713,  715. 

Silesia,  554,  565,  559. 

Sllurcs,  tribe  of  the,  8. 

Simon  of  Sudbury,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 231. 

Simony,  91. 

Sind,  Conquest  of,  712. 

Slndhia,  Manitha  prince,  715. 

iSinn  Fein,  757,  76a. 

Si  nope,  669. 

Slnij-ud-Dauui,  nawab  of  Bengal,  564. 

Siward,  E.  of  Nortbnmbria,  62,  64,  65. 

Six  Acts,  the,  of  1819.  .625. 

Six  Articles,  the,  346. 

Slaves,  emancipation  of,  654. 

Slavs,  the,  680r681,  746,  747,  762. 

Sluys,  battle  of,  212. 

Smith,  W.  H.,  leader  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  1886. .686. 

Smithfleld,  231. 

Smollett,  Tobias,  rovelist,  638. 

Smuts,  General,  756. 

Snowdon,  100,  106.  124,  179. 

Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  the,  452. 

Sol  way,  the  river,  Gaelic  element  in  lands 
around,  3. 

Sol  way  Moss,  bat'leof,  348.  353. 

Somers,  Lord,  chancellor,  505,  517. 

Somerset,  John  Beaufort,  E.  of,  260. 

D.  of,  298. 

Edmund  Beaufort,  D.  of,  277,   230, 

281. 

Edward  Beaufort,  D.  of,  291. 

Kdward  Seymour,  D.  of,  352-358.     See 

also  Seymour  and  Hertford. 

Robert  Ker,  E.  of,  429.    See  also  Ker. 

Somerset,  the  countess  of,  429. 

Charles  Seymour,  D.  of,  521. 

Somme,  the  river,  214,  264,  265,  749 ;  battle 
of  the,  752.  758. 

Sonnets,  416 

Sophia,  electress  of  Hanover,  509,  520. 

Soult,  general,  617,  618,  621.    . 

South  Africa  Act,  730. 

South  African  Republic,  the,  724.  See  also 
Transvaal,  the. 

Southampton,  264. 

South  Australia,  colony  of,  724. 

Sea  Bubble,  the,  544-545. 

Sea  Company,  the,  544. 

Southwark,  362,  417,  576,  652. 

Spain,  313,  320,  366,  386,  390,  392,  394-400, 
430-433,  436,  440,  469,  502,  507,  512,  515, 
516,  518,  524,  543,  551,  552,  554,  572,  587, 
598,  602,  611,  614,  615,  617,  618-620,  644, 
645. 

Spanish  Succession,  the  (1700),  507. 

War  of  the,  512-516,  518-520. 

Spectator,  the,  633. 

Spenser,  Edmund,  poet,  403,  416. 

Spice  Islands,  the,  424. 

Spithead,  mutiny  at,  599. 

Spurs,  battle  of  the,  321. 

Staffords.  the,  309.    See  Buckingham. 

Stamiord,  50,  289. 

Stamford  Bridge,  battle  of,  68,  69. 

Stamp  Act,  the,  574,  578. 

Standard,  battle  of  the,  1 12. 

Stanhope,  general,  515,  642-546. 


792 


INDEX 


Stanley,  Thomas,  E.  of  Derby,  298,  299, 

311. 

William,  298.  299,  311. 

Lord,  664,  667.    See  alto  Derby. 

Star  Chamber,  the,  313,  410,  442,  446. 
States  General,  of  France,  the,  494. 
Steele.  Richard,  essayist,  £.33,  637. 
Stephen  of  Blois,  K.  of  England,  111-115. 
Stephenson,  George,  railway  of,  702. 

Robert  (son),  702. 

Sterne,  Lawrence,  novelist,  638. 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  novelist,  706. 
Stewart,  the  house  of,   306-307,  420-535, 

540,  556. 
Stigand,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  64,  68, 

90. 
Stirling,  195,  200  201. 
Stirling  Bridge,  battle  of,  194. 
Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  the,  702. 
Stoke,  battle  of,  310. 

Stonehenge,  megalithlc  monuments  at,  3. 
Strafford,  Thomas  Wentworth,  E.  of,  445- 

446.     See  also  Wentworth. 
Stratford,  John,  archbi*hop  of  Canterbury, 

213. 
Stratford  on- Avon,  417. 
Strathclyde,  21-23,  186. 
Strattou,  battle  of,  451. 
Strongbow,  lord  of  Chepstow  and  earl  of 

Pembroke,  125,  159. 
Strikes,  703-704,  742. 

Colliers'  (1912%  742 

Submarine,  the,  755-756,  758-759. 
Succession,  the  Act  of  (1534),  340. 

the  Austrian,  554-555. 

the  Polish,  552. 

the  Spanish,  507,  512-520. 

Sudan,  the,  683,  692-693. 
Suez  Canal,  the,  681,  715. 
Suffolk,  19,  77. 

Michael  de  la  Pole,  E.  of,  233-234. 

William  de  la  Pole,  E.  of,  277-279. 

Charles  Brandon,  D.  of,  324,  360. 

Mary,  Duchess  of.    See  Mary. 

Suffrage,  the,  653,  675,  .684,  743,  762. 

Women's,  743,  764. 

SufTren,  the  bailli  de,  French  admiral,  584, 

585. 

Sultan  of  Turkey,  745.  761. 

Sunderland,  Robert  Spenctr,  E.  of,  states- 
man, 492.  505,  516. 

(son  of  the  above),  5'  6,  542,  545. 

Supremacy  Act  of  (1534),  338,  361. 

(1559),  371. 

t^urat,  425. 

Surrey,  18,  77. 

Thomas  Howard.  E.  of,  318,  322,  323', 

336.    See  also  Norfolk. 

E.  of,  son  of  above,  350,  385.    iSee  also 

Norfolk. 

Heury  Howard,  E.  of,  poet,  415. 

Suspensory  Act,  the.  744. 

Sussex,  18,  27,  28,  33,  57,  279,  362,  630. 

E.  of,  384,  401. 

Sutherland,  Norse  settlers  in,  42. 

Swan  River,  the,  settlement  of,  723,  724. 

Sweden,  482,  601,  614. 

Swegen,  king  of  the  Danes,  his  conquest  of 
England,  58. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  patirist,  637. 


Swinburne,  Algernon  Charles,  poet,  706. 

Switzerland,  6i»7,  *50. 

Swynford,    Catharine,    wife    of    John    of 

Gaunt,  260. 
Sydney,  town  of,  720,  723. 
Syiia,  ICO.  660,  761. 


Tacitus  his  Life  of  Agricola,  9. 

Tadcaster,  287. 

Tagus,  the  river,  620. 

Taillebourg,  battle  of,  165. 

Talavera,  battle  of,  618. 

Talbot,  John,  E.  of  Shrewsbury,  278. 

Tallard,  marshal,  513,  514. 

Tamburlaine  the  (ireat,  Marlowe'?,  417. 

Tamworth,  royal  city  of  the  Mercians,  75. 

Tangier,  478. 

Tara,  meeting  at,  66. 

Tariff  reform,  734,  736,  738. 

Tasmania,  723,  724. 

Taller,  the,  533. 

Taltershall,  303. 

Taunton,  312. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  theologian,  532. 

Tees,  the  river,  84. 

Tel-el-Kebir,  battle  of,  683. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  poet,  706. 

Ternoise,  the  river,  265. 

Territorials,  the,  753. 

Test  Act,  the,  484,  492,  543,  547,  618,  699. 

Tewkesbury,  buttle  of,  291. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  novelist,  706. 

Thagi,  Hindu  custom,  711. 

Thames,  the  river,  64,  71,  83,  144,  233, 628. 

Theatres,  416-417,  530-531,  637. 

Theodore  of  Tarsus,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 34. 

Thereuanne,  capture  of,  321. 

Thirty-nine  Articles,  the,  369,  371. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  the,  431-433,  436-437, 

440. 
Thistlewood.  Arthur,  plot  formed  by,  643. 
Thomson,  James,  poet,  550,  638. 
Thurlow,  Lord  Chancellor,  589. 
Thurstan,  archbishop  of  York,  112. 
Till,  the  river,  322. 

Tillotson,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  498. 
Tilsit,  treaty  of,  614. 
Times,  the  (newspaper).  687. 
Tinchebray,  battle  of,  104. 
Tipu,  sultan  of  Mysore,  599,  600. 
Tithe  War,  the.  654. 
Titus  Livius,  Italian  writer,  304. 
Tobago,  587,  720. 
Tolbooth,  the,  551. 
Toleration  Act,  the,  1689.. .497. 
Tone,  Theobald  Wolfe,  Irish  rtbel,  603-604. 
Totters  Miscellany,  415. 
Torbay,  495. 
Tories,  486,  488,  495,  505,  509,   510,  516- 

520,  549-550,  613,  655,  662. 
Torres  Vedras,  the  lines  of,  620. 
Torrigiano,  Italian  sculptor,  414. 
Tcstig,  E.  of  Northumbria,  62,  65,  66,  68. 
Toulon,  expedition  to,  598  ;  fleet  of,  611. 
Toulouse,  165. 

count  of,  127,  129. 

battle  of,  621. 

Touraine,  126. 


INDEX 


793 


Toureiles,  the,  attack  on,  273. 
Tuurnai.  capture  of,  321. 
Tournaments,  248. 
Tours,  108. 

the  truce  of,  277. 

Tower  of  London,  the,  103,  152,  289,  296, 

312,  318. 
Townshend,  viscount,  prime  minister,  542, 

545,  548,  631. 

Charles,  576,  578,  680. 

Towton,  battle  of,  287. 

Tractarian  Movement,  the,  698. 

Trades  Unions,  703. 

Trafalgar,  battle  of,  611. 

Tramecourt,  265. 

Transvaal,  the,  632,  724-726,  729,  730. 

Trastamaia,  Henry  of,  King  of  Castile,  219, 

221. 
Treason  Act,  the,  340. 
Treasurer,  the,  147. 
Trtbuchet,  the,  248. 
Trent,  752. 
—  the  council  of,  378. 

the  river,  27,  628. 

Trevithick,  Richard,  steam  locomotive  of, 

702. 
Triennial  Act,  the  (.1611),  447,  474. 

(1694),  505,  541. 

Trieste,  754. 

Trimmer,  origin  of  the  title,  487. 

Trinidad,  602,  720. 

Trinovautcs,  the,  7. 

Triple  Alliance,  the,  of  1668.. .489. 

of  1716.. .542-543. 

of  Germany,  Austria  and  Italy, 

678,  688,  745,  754. 
Tripoli,  746. 

Tromp,  Dutch  admiral,  465. 
Troyes,  treaty  of,  267-268. 
Tsushima,  battle  of,  733. 
Tudor,  house  of,  298,  308-419. 

Edmund,  E.  of  Richmond.  298. 

Henry,  E.  of  Richmond,  298-299.    See 

also  Henry  vii. 

Owen,  298. 

Jasper,  E.  of  Pembroke,  298,  309. 

Tullibardine,  marquis  of,  556. 

Tunbridge  Wells,  527. 

Tunnage  and  poundage,  438,  439,  440,  447. 

Tunis,  Crusade  of  Louis  ix.  diverted  to.  177. 

Turin,  battle  of,  515. 

Turkey,   591,   8(0,  660,   668-68C,  745,  74S, 

747,  753,  754,  759,  761,  762. 
Turks,  the,  100,  645,  646,  619,  691,  745,  746, 

747,  753,  754,  759,  761. 

the  Young,  745. 

Turner,  J.  M.  W.,  painter,  705. 

Turnham  Green,  451. 

Tweed,  the  river,  322. 

Twizel  Brdge.  322. 

Tyler,  Wat,  231. 

Tyndall,  William,  reformer,  333,  345. 

Tyrconnell,  the  E.  of,  493,  498. 

Tyrone,  E.  of,  402,  404,  422. 


Ulster,  279,  402,  404,  422,  477,  499,  603, 

743,  744. 
Uniformity,  Act  of  (1549),  355. 


Uniformity,  Act  of  (1552),  355. 

(1559),  371. 

(1662).  475. 

Union,  Act  of  (1707),  joining  English  and 

Scottish  Parliament*,  523. 
(1800),  joining    the    Irish  and 

English  Parliaments,  t05. 
Union  of  Canada,  723. 

A n.-tralia,  724. 

South  Africa,  730. 

Union  Jack,  the,  523. 
Unionists,  685,  741,  742,  763. 
Unitarians,  the,  497,  632. 
United  Empire  loyalists,  719. 

Free  Church,  of  Scotland,  701. 

Irishmen,  society  of  the,  603. 

Pre^yterians,  of  Scotland,  7l0. 

Provinces,  the,   386,   399,    697.     See 

also  Holland  and  Seven  United  Provinces. 
States  of  America,  the,  581,  587,  621, 

636,  660,  672,  678,  691,  701,  733,  755,  759- 

763. 
Universities,  the,  155,  244,  245,  301,  628, 

708,  737. 
Urban  n.,  pope.  98,  100. 

VI.,  228-229. 

Urbicus,  Lollius,  governor  of  Britain,  10. 

U»k,  the  river,  65. 

Utopia,  More's,  330,  415. 

Utrecht,  the  union  of,  386. 

treaty  of,  518-520,  543,  551,  652. 

Valence,   Aymer  of,   B.  of  Winchester. 

165,  174. 

E.  of  Pembroke,  170,  202. 

William  of,  165,  168,  170. 

Valentia,  10. 

Valentine,  439. 

Vallee  aux  Clercs,  215. 

Valmy,  the  cannonade  of,  596. 

\"alois,  house  of,  400. 

Van  Dyck,  Antony,  painter,  527,  530. 

Venables,  admiral,  469. 

Varna,  669. 

Venetia,  758. 

Venetians,  the,  302. 

Venezuela,  691,  732. 

Venice,  310,  320,  623. 

Venizelos,  Greek  minister,  746,  754,  759. 

Vera  Cruz,  394. 

Verdun,  762,  768. 

,  battle  of,  752. 

Vere,  Robeit  de,  E.  of  Oxford,  232. 

Vcrneuil,  battle  of,  271. 

Versailles,  678 ;  treaty  of,  587. 

Verulamism,  8, 11,  12.    See  St.  Albans. 

Vesle,  the,  750. 

Veto  Act,  the,  741-742. 

resolutions,  the,  738,  739. 

Victor  Amadeus,  D.  of  Savoy,  K.,  first  of 

Sicily,  then  of  Sardinia.  512,  518,  544. 
Victor  Emanuel,  K.  of  Italy,  672,  678. 
Victoria,  colony  of,  724. 
Victoria,  queen,  657-727. 
Vienna,  513. 

treaties  of,  551,  552. 

congress  of,  622-625. 

Vienne,  the  dauphin  of,  267. 

Vigo,  397. 

Villeins,  the,  149,  230,  356. 


;94 


INDEX 


Villeneuve,  admiral,  611. 

Yimiero,  battle  of,  616. 

Viiny  Kldge,  788. 

Vincennes,  268. 

Vinegar  Hill,  battle  of,  C04. 

Vinlund,  Norse  settlement  in  America,  42. 

Virginia,  401,  423,  565. 

Viroconium  (Wroxeter)  Roman    garrison 

at,  8,  U. 
Vitoria,  battle  of,  621. 
Voltaire,  594. 
Voluntary  schools,  730. 
Volunteer,  the  Irish  (1782),  586. 

Irish  National  (1914),  743. 

Ulster  (1914),  743. 

British  (1804),  610,  (1859),  697. 

Vortigeru,  British  king,  18. 

Wadicocrt,  214. 
Wagram,  battle  of,  618. 
Wakefield,  battle  of,  283. 

town  of,  304. 

Walcheren,  expedition  to,  618. 

"Wales,  3,   14,  22,  21,  28,  99,  103,  106,  117, 

124-125,  159,  166,   167,  170,  176,  179-18'-!, 

240,    257,  283,   297,  299,    315,    350,  357, 

404,  409,    450,  629,    630,    633,  742,    743. 

See  also  Principality,  the. 

Church  in,  742,  744. 

Council  of,  the,  350,  410. 

Statute  of,  181-182. 

Wallace,   William,   Scottish  patriot,  194, 

195-196. 
Wallachia,  668,  669,  753. 
Waller,  Sir  William,  parliamentary  general, 

451,  458. 
Wallingford,  71. 

treaty  of,  115, 

Walpole,  Robert,  Sir,  517,  542,  545-553.    See 

also  Oxford,  E.  ot. 
Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  370,  388,  389. 
Walter  of  Coutances,  archbishop  of  Rouen, 

134. 
Waltbeof,  E.  of  Huntingdon,  84,  85,  87 ; 

E.  of  Northumberland,  88. 
Walworth,  Sir  William,  231. 
W  ande wash ,  battle  of,  564. 
Warbeck,  Perkm,  impostor,  311-312. 
W  arenne,  E. ,  183,  194. 
Warrington,  461. 
Warwick,  E.  of,  199. 

Thomas  Beauchamp,  E.  of,  2°  4,  235. 

Richard  Neville,  E.  of,  282,  291. 

Edward,  E.  of,  297,  309,  312. 

-—  John  Dudley,  E.  of,  354,  357.     See 

also  Northumberland. 
Washington  (city),  759. 

George,  565,  581,  584. 

Waterloo,  battle  ol,  622-623. 

Walling  Street,  the,  11. 

Watson,  instigator  of  the  Bye  Plot,  426. 

Watt,  James,  discoveries  of,  627. 

Wavre,  623. 

Webster.  John,  dramatist,  530. 

Wedgewood,  Josiah,  his  potteries,  627. 

Wedmore,  the  treaty  of,  45. 

Welles,  Sir  Robert,  289. 

Wellesley,  Sir  Arthur,   609,  617,  618-623, 

647-649.     See  Wellington,  D.  of. 
marquis,  600,  609,  644,  709,  710. 


Wellinuton,  Arthur  WellesLy,  D.  ot  618, 

023,  647-649,  653. 

Wells,  184. 

Welsh,  the,  21,  28,  31,  36,  40,  51,   65,  93, 

99,  190,  257-259,  262,  286. 
Wentworth,  Sir  Thomas,  437-438,  442-445. 

See  also  Strafford. 
Wesley,  John  and  Charles,  methodists,  632- 

633. 
Wessex,  18,  27,  33,  33,  39,  43-45,  47,  51,  59, 

60,  74. 
Western  Australia,  colony  of,  724. 
West  lndits,  the,  3U7,  423,  424,  611s  720, 

721. 
Westminster,  66,  118,   168,   203,  345,  446, 

449,  461,  652,  742. 

Abbey,  66,  72,  76,  94,  153,  177,  192- 

245,  262,  296,  303,  305,  366,  414. 

Assembly  of  Divines  at,  459-460. 

Statutes  of  (Edward  I.),  183,  184,  185. 

Westmorland,  earldom  of,  281,  286. 

Charlt-s  Nevill?,  E.  of,  384. 

Westphalia,  treaty  of,  469. 

kingdom  of,  61... 

West  Saxons,  shiies  of  the,  77. 

Wettin,  house  of,  728. 

Wexford,  capture  of,  463,  604. 

Whigs,  the,  486,  495,  505,  509,  510,  516-518, 

532-572,  613,  6.*5,  660,  662,  667,  671. 
AVhitby,  Synod  of,  33. 
Whitetield,  George,  methodist,  632-633. 
Whitehall,  palace  of,  461. 
White  Sea,  the,  393. 
Whitgilt,  John,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

374,  405. 
Wicklow,  680. 

Wight,  Isle  of,  Jutish  settlement  in,  18. 
Wilberforce,  William,  634,  635. 
Wilfrid,  St.,  of  Ripon,  33. 
Wilkes,  John,  reformer,  574,  576. 
Willoughby,  explorer,  393. 
William  i.,  the  Conqueror,  63,  64,  67-72, 

82-93. 

ii.  Rufus,  94-101. 

in.  of  Orange.  494,  495,  496-510. 

iv„  642,  650-658. 

D.  of  A  quit ai ne,  101. 

son  of  Robert  of  Normandy,  107. 

son  of  Henry  i.,  107,  108. 

of  Corbeil,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

111. 

the  Lion,  K.  of  Scots,  125,  132. 

1.,  prince  of  Orange,  386,  392. 

in.,  prince  of  Oranpe,  483,  481.      Se6 

also  William  iv.,  K.  of  England. 

i.  of  Prussia,  German  Emperor,  672, 

678,  688. 

ii..  German  Emperor,  688,  692,  744, 

745,  747,  754,  762,  763. 

I).  of  Clarence.    See  William  iv.,  K. 

of  England. 

Wilmington,  Lord,  553. 

Wilson,  Woodrovv,  President  of  the  United 
States,  759-763. 

Wimbledon,  Edward  Cecil,  Lord,  436. 

Winceby,  battle  of,  452. 

Winchelsea,  Robert,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 192,  193,  195,  201. 

Winchester,  royal  city  of  Wessex,  75. 

Winchester,  statute  of,  184. 


INDEX 


795 


Winchester,  cathedral  of,  247. 

school  at,  301. 

Windsor,  267. 

House  or.  740,  728-765. 

Win  wood,  battle  of,  32. 

Witenagemot,  the,  66,  79,  147. 

Wittenberg,  in  Saxony,  332. 

Wolfe,  general,  5G8-&69. 

Wolseley,  general,  683. 

Wolsey,  Tbomas,  cardinal  and  archbishop 

of  York,  318-321,  326-316. 
Women,  Suffrage  for,  742,  764. 
Woodstock,  Thomas  of.    See  Gloucester. 

,  assize  of,  1*4,  160. 

Woodville,  Elizabeth,  queen  of  Edward  iv., 

288,  295-296. 

family  of,  205,  296. 

Worcester,  battle  of,  465. 

Worde,  Wynkyn  de,  printer,  306. 

Wordsworth,  William,  poet,  638. 

Worms,  concordat  of,  105,  108. 

Worsley,  628. 

Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  architect,  529. 

WroKeter.     See  Viroconium. 

Wyatl,  Sir  Thomas,  362. 

(son  of  the  above),  poet, 

415. 

James,  architect.  636. 

Wvcliffe,  John,  reformer,  224,  226-229, 
252. 

Wykebam,  William  of,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, 226,  234,  247, 301. 

Wymondham,  356. 


Yeomanry,  cavalry,  761. 
Yeomen,  412,  631. 

of  the  guard,  411. 

York,  city  of,  11,  68,  75,  150,  287,  304,  344, 

410.    See  also  Eburacum. 
archbishops  of,  30,  120,  319.    See  also 

Paulinus,  Egbert,  Thurston,  Koger,  Grey 

Walter,    Scrope,    Neville    George,    and 

Wolsey  Thomas. 

parliament  of,  202. 

minster,  247. 

great  council  at,  445. 

siege  of,  453. 

house  of,  279-281,  284-299. 

Kichard,  D.  of,  279-283. 

Edward,  D.  of,  283.    See  Edward  rv. 

James,  D.  of,  478-484.     See  James  ii. 

Hichard,  L).  of,  295-296,  311.    See  alio 

Richard  in. 

D.  of,  and  Cardinal,  558. 

Yorkshire,  77,  84,  90,  628,  652. 

Yorktown,  584. 

Ypres,  211,  750;  second  battle  of,  760,  752, 

758. 
Yser,  the  river,  750,  752,  758,  761. 

Zanzibar,  688. 
Zealand,  386. 

.New,  724. 

Zeppelins,  the.  756. 
Zulus,  the,  725. 
Zutphen,  battle  of,  392. 
Zwingle,  Ulrich,  reformer,  333. 


THE   END 


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